Kinase-phosphatase competition regulates Bacillus subtilis development.

The major regulator of sporulation initiation in Bacillus subtilis is the phosphorelay, a multicomponent signal transduction system. A myriad of signals, both positive and negative, from the environment, cell cycle and metabolism is received and interpreted by the phosphorelay and integrated through the opposing activity of protein kinases and protein aspartate phosphatases to create an extremely sophisticated regulatory network.