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The hybrid histidine kinase DokA is part of the osmotic response system of Dictyostelium.

ABSTRACT: We have used PCR to identify a Dictyostelium homolog of the bacterial two-component system. The gene dokA codes for a member of the hybrid histidine kinase family which is defined by the presence of conserved amino acid sequence motifs corresponding to an N-terminal receptor domain, a central kinase and a C-terminal response regulator moiety. Potential function of the regulator domain was demonstrated by phosphorylation in vitro. dokA mutants are deficient in the osmoregulatory pathway, resulting in premature cell death under high osmotic stress. Under less stringent osmotic conditions, cells grow at a normal rate, but development at the multicellular stage is altered. dokA is a member of a family of histidine kinase-like genes that play regulatory roles in eukaryotic cell function.

SUBMITTER: Schuster SC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC452086 | biostudies-other | 1996 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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The hybrid histidine kinase DokA is part of the osmotic response system of Dictyostelium.

Schuster S C SC Noegel A A AA Oehme F F Gerisch G G Simon M I MI

The EMBO journal 19960801 15

We have used PCR to identify a Dictyostelium homolog of the bacterial two-component system. The gene dokA codes for a member of the hybrid histidine kinase family which is defined by the presence of conserved amino acid sequence motifs corresponding to an N-terminal receptor domain, a central kinase and a C-terminal response regulator moiety. Potential function of the regulator domain was demonstrated by phosphorylation in vitro. dokA mutants are deficient in the osmoregulatory pathway, resultin ...[more]

PMID: 8670893

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Project description:BackgroundHistidine kinases are receptors for sensing cellular and environmental signals, and in response to the appropriate cue they initiate phosphorelays that regulate the activity of response regulators. The Dictyostelium discoideum genome encodes 15 histidine kinases that function to regulate several processes during the multicellular developmental program, including the slug to culmination transition, osmoregulation, and spore differentiation. While there are many histidine kinases, there is only a single response regulator, RegA. Not surprisingly given the ubiquitous involvement of cAMP in numerous processes of development in Dictyostelium, RegA is a cAMP phosphodiesterase that is activated upon receiving phosphates through a phosphorelay. Hence, all of the histidine kinases characterized to date regulate developmental processes through modulating cAMP production. Here we investigate the function of the histidine kinase DhkD.Principal findingsThe dhkD gene was disrupted, and the resulting cells when developed gave a novel phenotype. Upon aggregation, which occurred without streaming, the mounds were motile, a phenotype termed the pollywog stage. The pollywog phenotype was dependent on a functional RegA. After a period of random migration, the pollywogs attempted to form fingers but mostly generated aberrant structures with no tips. While prestalk and prespore cell differentiation occurred with normal timing, proper patterning did not occur. In contrast, wild type mounds are not motile, and the cAMP chemotactic movement of cells within the mound facilitates proper prestalk and prespore patterning, tip formation, and the vertical elongation of the mound into a finger.ConclusionsWe postulate that DhkD functions to ensure the proper cAMP distribution within mounds that in turn results in patterning, tip formation and the transition of mounds to fingers. In the absence of DhkD, aberrant cell movements in response to an altered cAMP distribution result in mound migration, a lack of proper patterning, and an inability to generate normal finger morphology.

Dataset Information

The hybrid histidine kinase DokA is part of the osmotic response system of Dictyostelium.

Publications

The hybrid histidine kinase DokA is part of the osmotic response system of Dictyostelium.

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