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. 2023 Jul;120(1):71-74.
doi: 10.1111/mmi.15065. Epub 2023 Apr 18.

Shining a light on bacterial environmental cue integration and its relation to metabolism

Yue Chen  1 , Natalia F Quirk  1   2 , Shumin Tan  1   2
Affiliations

Shining a light on bacterial environmental cue integration and its relation to metabolism

Yue Chen et al. Mol Microbiol. 2023 Jul.

Abstract

The ability of a bacterium to successfully colonize its host is dependent on proper adaptation to its local environment. Environmental cues are diverse in nature, ranging from ions to bacterial-produced signals, and to host immune responses that can also be exploited by the bacteria as cues. Simultaneously, bacterial metabolism must be matched to the carbon and nitrogen sources available at a given time and location. While initial characterization of a bacterium's response to a given environmental cue or its ability to utilize a particular carbon/nitrogen source requires study of the signal in question in isolation, actual infection poses a situation where multiple signals are present concurrently. This perspective focuses on the untapped potential in uncovering and understanding how bacteria integrate their response to multiple concurrent environmental cues, and in elucidating the possible intrinsic coordination of bacterial environmental response with its metabolism.

Keywords: adaptation; environmental cues; host-pathogen interaction; metabolism; signal integration.

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