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. 1992 Jun 15;89(12):5655–5659. doi: 10.1073/pnas.89.12.5655

The patA gene product, which contains a region similar to CheY of Escherichia coli, controls heterocyst pattern formation in the cyanobacterium Anabaena 7120.

J Liang 1, L Scappino 1, R Haselkorn 1
PMCID: PMC49351  PMID: 1608976

Abstract

In Anabaena 7120, heterocysts (cells specialized for nitrogen fixation) develop at the ends of filaments and at intervals within each filament. We have isolated a mutant Anabaena strain that develops heterocysts mostly at the ends of filaments. This mutant, PAT-1, grows poorly under nitrogen-fixing conditions. The wild-type gene that complements the mutation in PAT-1, called patA, was cloned and sequenced. The predicted PatA protein contains 379 amino acids distributed among three "domains" based on predictions of hydropathy and flexibility. The carboxyl-terminal domain is very similar to that of CheY and other response regulators in two-component regulatory systems in eubacteria. The patA mutation suppresses the multiheterocyst phenotype produced by extra copies of the wild-type hetR gene described previously, suggesting that PatA and HetR are components of the same environment-sensing regulatory circuit in Anabaena.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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