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Engineering key components in a synthetic eukaryotic signal transduction pathway.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Antunes, MS; Morey, KJ; Tewari-Singh, N; Bowen, TA; Smith, JJ; Webb, CT; Hellinga, HW; Medford, JI
Published in: Mol Syst Biol
2009

Signal transduction underlies how living organisms detect and respond to stimuli. A goal of synthetic biology is to rewire natural signal transduction systems. Bacteria, yeast, and plants sense environmental aspects through conserved histidine kinase (HK) signal transduction systems. HK protein components are typically comprised of multiple, relatively modular, and conserved domains. Phosphate transfer between these components may exhibit considerable cross talk between the otherwise apparently linear pathways, thereby establishing networks that integrate multiple signals. We show that sequence conservation and cross talk can extend across kingdoms and can be exploited to produce a synthetic plant signal transduction system. In response to HK cross talk, heterologously expressed bacterial response regulators, PhoB and OmpR, translocate to the nucleus on HK activation. Using this discovery, combined with modification of PhoB (PhoB-VP64), we produced a key component of a eukaryotic synthetic signal transduction pathway. In response to exogenous cytokinin, PhoB-VP64 translocates to the nucleus, binds a synthetic PlantPho promoter, and activates gene expression. These results show that conserved-signaling components can be used across kingdoms and adapted to produce synthetic eukaryotic signal transduction pathways.

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Published In

Mol Syst Biol

DOI

EISSN

1744-4292

Publication Date

2009

Volume

5

Start / End Page

270

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • Trans-Activators
  • Systems Biology
  • Signal Transduction
  • Rhizobium
  • Protein Kinases
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic
  • Plant Roots
  • Histidine Kinase
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins
  • Glucuronidase
 

Citation

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Antunes, M. S., Morey, K. J., Tewari-Singh, N., Bowen, T. A., Smith, J. J., Webb, C. T., … Medford, J. I. (2009). Engineering key components in a synthetic eukaryotic signal transduction pathway. Mol Syst Biol, 5, 270. https://doi.org/10.1038/msb.2009.28
Antunes, Mauricio S., Kevin J. Morey, Neera Tewari-Singh, Tessa A. Bowen, J Jeff Smith, Colleen T. Webb, Homme W. Hellinga, and June I. Medford. “Engineering key components in a synthetic eukaryotic signal transduction pathway.Mol Syst Biol 5 (2009): 270. https://doi.org/10.1038/msb.2009.28.
Antunes MS, Morey KJ, Tewari-Singh N, Bowen TA, Smith JJ, Webb CT, et al. Engineering key components in a synthetic eukaryotic signal transduction pathway. Mol Syst Biol. 2009;5:270.
Antunes, Mauricio S., et al. “Engineering key components in a synthetic eukaryotic signal transduction pathway.Mol Syst Biol, vol. 5, 2009, p. 270. Pubmed, doi:10.1038/msb.2009.28.
Antunes MS, Morey KJ, Tewari-Singh N, Bowen TA, Smith JJ, Webb CT, Hellinga HW, Medford JI. Engineering key components in a synthetic eukaryotic signal transduction pathway. Mol Syst Biol. 2009;5:270.
Journal cover image

Published In

Mol Syst Biol

DOI

EISSN

1744-4292

Publication Date

2009

Volume

5

Start / End Page

270

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • Trans-Activators
  • Systems Biology
  • Signal Transduction
  • Rhizobium
  • Protein Kinases
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic
  • Plant Roots
  • Histidine Kinase
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins
  • Glucuronidase