Bacterial Chemoreceptors: High-performance Signaling in Networked Arrays

Overview

Journal Trends Biochem Sci

Specialty Biochemistry

Date 2008 Jan 1

PMID 18165013

Citations 355

Authors

Gerald L Hazelbauer

Joseph J Falke

John S Parkinson

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Chemoreceptors are crucial components in the bacterial sensory systems that mediate chemotaxis. Chemotactic responses exhibit exquisite sensitivity, extensive dynamic range and precise adaptation. The mechanisms that mediate these high-performance functions involve not only actions of individual proteins but also interactions among clusters of components, localized in extensive patches of thousands of molecules. Recently, these patches have been imaged in native cells, important features of chemoreceptor structure and on-off switching have been identified, and new insights have been gained into the structural basis and functional consequences of higher order interactions among sensory components. These new data suggest multiple levels of molecular interactions, each of which contribute specific functional features and together create a sophisticated signaling device.

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