The bacterial cell cycle checkpoint protein Obg and its role in programmed cell death

Authors:

Liselot Dewachter1, Natalie Verstraeten1, Maarten Fauvart1,2 and Jan Michiels1

doi: 10.15698/mic2016.06.507
Volume 3, pp. 255 to 256, published 16/03/2016.

PDF Download PubMed Link
Affiliations:

1 Centre of Microbial and Plant Genetics, KU Leuven – University of Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.

2 Department of Life Science Technologies, Smart Systems and Emerging Technologies Unit, imec, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.

M.F and J.M. are joint senior authors.

Keywords: 

Obg, ObgE, CgtA, programmed cell death, apoptosis.

Corresponding Author(s):

Jan Michiels, Centre of Microbial and Plant Genetics, Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems, KU Leuven - University of Leuven; Kasteelpark Arenberg 20 box 2460, 3001 Leuven, Belgium Jan.Michiels@biw.kuleuven.be

Conflict of interest statement:

The authors declare that no competing interest exists.

Please cite this article as:

Liselot Dewachter, Natalie Verstraeten, Maarten Fauvart and Jan Michiels (2016). The bacterial cell cycle checkpoint protein Obg and its role in programmed cell death. Microbial Cell 3(6): 255-256. doi: 10.15698/mic2016.06.507

© 2016 Dewachter et al. This is an open-access article released under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows the unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are acknowledged.

Abstract:

The phenomenon of programmed cell death (PCD), in which cells initiate their own demise, is not restricted to multicellular organisms. Unicellular organisms, both eukaryotes and prokaryotes, also possess pathways that mediate PCD. We recently identified a PCD mechanism in Escherichia coli that is triggered by a mutant isoform of the essential GTPase ObgE (Obg of E. coli). Importantly, the PCD pathway mediated by mutant Obg (Obg*) differs fundamentally from other previously described bacterial PCD pathways and thus constitutes a new mode of PCD. ObgE was previously proposed to act as a cell cycle checkpoint protein able to halt cell division. The implication of ObgE in the regulation of PCD further increases the similarity between this protein and eukaryotic cell cycle regulators that are capable of doing both. Moreover, since Obg is conserved in eukaryotes, the elucidation of this cell death mechanism might contribute to the understanding of PCD in higher organisms. Additionally, if Obg*-mediated PCD is conserved among different bacterial species, it will be a prime target for the development of innovative antibacterials that artificially induce this pathway.