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Annual Review of Microbiology

Volume 77, 2023

Past, Present, and Future of Extracytoplasmic Function σ Factors: Distribution and Regulatory Diversity of the Third Pillar of Bacterial Signal Transduction

Abstract

Responding to environmental cues is a prerequisite for survival in the microbial world. Extracytoplasmic function σ factors (ECFs) represent the third most abundant and by far the most diverse type of bacterial signal transduction. While archetypal ECFs are controlled by cognate anti-σ factors, comprehensive comparative genomics efforts have revealed a much higher abundance and regulatory diversity of ECF regulation than previously appreciated. They have also uncovered a diverse range of anti-σ factor–independent modes of controlling ECF activity, including fused regulatory domains and phosphorylation-dependent mechanisms. While our understanding of ECF diversity is comprehensive for well-represented and heavily studied bacterial phyla—such as , , and Actinobacteria (phylum )—our current knowledge about ECF-dependent signaling in the vast majority of underrepresented phyla is still far from complete. In particular, the dramatic extension of bacterial diversity in the course of metagenomic studies represents both a new challenge and an opportunity in expanding the world of ECF-dependent signal transduction.

Keyword(s): comparative genomics, gene regulation, signal transduction, stress response, transcription initiation, σ factor
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2023-09-15
2025-04-25
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/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-micro-032221-024032
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Past, Present, and Future of Extracytoplasmic Function σ Factors: Distribution and Regulatory Diversity of the Third Pillar of Bacterial Signal Transduction
Annual Review of Microbiology 77, 625 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-micro-032221-024032
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-micro-032221-024032
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-micro-032221-024032
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