The story of c-di-GMP

- a key regulatory molecule in bacteria

Once upon a time in the holy city of Jerusalem,

a group of scientists, led by Moshe Benziman, were waging a war with the bacteriumAcetobacter xylinum

Acetobacter xylinum produces abundant amounts of cellulose and Moshe and his team were interested in the cellulose-synthesizing machinery of this bacterium.

They had broken through the bacterial envelope and were rummaging through the membranes to identify the cellulose-synthesizing machinery.

To demonstrate that the cellulose-synthesizing machinery was active in the isolated membranes, Moshe needed to synthesize cellulose from these membranes.

Unfortunately, the membranes produced very small amounts of cellulose in comparison to the amounts produced by intact cells.

So, Moshe and his team started using heavy stufflike PEG and GTP and the rest is history ----

Modular organization of O2-sensing phosphodiesterases and kinases

From: Chang et al (2001) Biochemistry 40:3420-3426

O2 control of cellulose synthesis in A. xylinum

From: Chang et al (2001) Biochemistry 40:3420-3426

Role of c-di-GMP in virulence

Numbers of genes encoding GGDEF, EAL, dual GGDEF and EAL or PilZ domain proteins in different Vibrio species

c-di-GMP-mediated spatiotemporal control of protein degradation regulates bacterial cell cycle progression