Bacteria respond to changes in environmental conditions through adaptation to external cues. Frequently, bacteria employ nucleotide signaling molecules to mediate a specific, rapid response. Cyclic di-AMP (c-di-AMP) was recently discovered to be a bacterial second messenger that is essential for viability in many species. In this review, we highlight recent work that has described the roles of c-di-AMP in bacterial responses to various stress conditions. These studies show that depending on the lifestyle and environmental niche of the bacterial species, the c-di-AMP signaling network results in diverse outcomes, such as regulating osmolyte transport, controlling plant attachment, or providing a checkpoint for spore formation. c-di-AMP achieves this signaling specificity through expression of different classes of synthesis and catabolic enzymes as well as receptor proteins and RNAs, which will be summarized. Copyright © 2020 American Society for Microbiology.
Tiffany M Zarrella, Guangchun Bai. The Many Roles of the Bacterial Second Messenger Cyclic di-AMP in Adapting to Stress Cues. Journal of bacteriology. 2020 Dec 07;203(1)
PMID: 32839175
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