A gated relaxation oscillator mediated by FrzX controls morphogenetic movements in Myxococcus xanthus

Nature Microbiology
Mathilde GuzzoTâm Mignot

Abstract

Dynamic control of cell polarity is of critical importance for many aspects of cellular development and motility. In Myxococcus xanthus, MglA, a G protein, and MglB, its cognate GTPase-activating protein, establish a polarity axis that defines the direction of movement of the cell and that can be rapidly inverted by the Frz chemosensory system. Although vital for collective cell behaviours, how Frz triggers this switch has remained unknown. Here, we use genetics, imaging and mathematical modelling to show that Frz controls polarity reversals via a gated relaxation oscillator. FrzX, which we identify as a target of the Frz kinase, provides the gating and thus acts as the trigger for reversals. Slow relocalization of the polarity protein RomR then creates a refractory period during which another switch cannot be triggered. A secondary Frz output, FrzZ, decreases this delay, allowing rapid reversals when required. Thus, this architecture results in a highly tuneable switch that allows a wide range of reversal frequencies.

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Citations

Jul 20, 2019·Physical Review Letters·Guannan LiuJoshua W Shaevitz
Mar 5, 2020·Biochemical Society Transactions·Emilia M F Mauriello
May 2, 2020·Médecine sciences : M/S·Anaïs ScholivetAmel Latifi
Jun 23, 2020·PLoS Genetics·Luís António Menezes CarreiraLotte Søgaard-Andersen
Nov 24, 2019·Nature Communications·Christian GaliciaJacqueline Cherfils
Jan 20, 2021·PLoS Computational Biology·Filipe TostevinUlrich Gerland
Jan 26, 2021·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Céline DinetTâm Mignot
Jul 7, 2021·FEMS Microbiology Reviews·Remy ColinVictor Sourjik
Jul 25, 2021·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Marco J KühnAlexandre Persat

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
fluorescence microscopy
phosphotransfer assay
PCR
PCRs

Software Mentioned

R
Ali2D
ImageQuant LAS 4000
TL
Eléments AR
MicrobeJ
Mafft
ImageJ
BLAST Context Viewer
NIS

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