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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Nov 1.
Published in final edited form as: Mol Microbiol. 2012 Sep 7;86(3):720–729. doi: 10.1111/mmi.12013

Fig. 1. Schematic model of the Wsp system.

Fig. 1

(A) Genetic organization of the wsp locus in PAO1. (B) Model of the Wsp protein complex. The chemotaxis counterparts of the Wsp proteins are indicated in parentheses. WspA, the receptor, detects a signal associated with growth on a surface. WspB and WspD are CheW-like proteins. WspE is a CheA-like histidine kinase with an additional receiver domain (REC) at the C-terminus. WspR is a REC-GGDEF domain protein that has diguanylate cyclase activity. WspC is a predicted CheR-like methyltransferase with a C-terminal tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR) domain and WspF is a predicted CheB-like methylesterase. In our model, detection of surface growth by WspA results in phosphorylation of WspR. Phosphorylated WspR synthesizes c-di-GMP, which triggers biofilm formation.