ComX

• Description: competence pheromone precursor, transfers cell density signal to ComP; triggers the production of surfactin
  
  

Gene name	comX
Synonyms
Essential	no
Product	competence pheromone precursor
Function	quorum sensing
Gene expression levels in SubtiExpress: comX
Interactions involving this protein in SubtInteract: ComX
MW, pI	6 kDa, 4.358
Gene length, protein length	165 bp, 55 aa
Immediate neighbours	comP, comQ
Sequences	Protein DNA DNA_with_flanks
Genetic context This image was kindly provided by SubtiList
Expression at a glance   PubMed

Categories containing this gene/protein

genetic competence, quorum sensing

The gene

Basic information

• Locus tag: BSU31700

Phenotypes of a mutant

• the mutation suppresses the mucoid phenotype of motA or motB mutants due to loss of DegU phosphorylation and concomitant reduced expression of the pgsB-pgsC-pgsA operon PubMed

Database entries

• DBTBS entry: [1]

• SubtiList entry: [2]

The protein

Basic information/ Evolution

• Catalyzed reaction/ biological activity:

• Protein family:

• Paralogous protein(s):

Extended information on the protein

• Kinetic information:

• Domains:

• Modification:
  • is synthesized as an inactive precursor, cleaved, and modified (prenylated) by ComQ prior to excretion PubMed

• Cofactors:

• Effectors of protein activity:

• Interactions:
  • ComQ-ComX PubMed

• Localization:
  • secreted (according to Swiss-Prot)

Database entries

• Structure:

• UniProt: P45453

• KEGG entry: [3]

• E.C. number:

Expression and regulation

• Operon: comQ-comX PubMed

• Expression browser: comX PubMed

• Sigma factor: SigA PubMed

• Regulation:

• Regulatory mechanism:

• Additional information:

Biological materials

• Mutant:

• Expression vector:

• lacZ fusion:

• GFP fusion:

• two-hybrid system:

• Antibody:

Your additional remarks

The ComX --> surfactin signaling pathway is an example for paracrine signaling in bacteria

References

Reviews

Elizabeth Anne Shank, Roberto Kolter
Extracellular signaling and multicellularity in Bacillus subtilis.
Curr Opin Microbiol: 2011, 14(6);741-7
[PubMed:22024380] [WorldCat.org] [DOI] (I p)