Transmembrane signaling in bacterial chemoreceptors

Joseph J. Falke, Gerald L. Hazelbauer
2001 TIBS -Trends in Biochemical Sciences. Regular ed  
Bacterial chemoreceptors mediate chemotaxis by recognizing specific chemicals and regulating a noncovalently associated histidine kinase. Ligand binding to the external domain of the membranespanning receptor generates a transmembrane signal that modulates kinase activity inside the cell. This transmembrane signaling is being investigated by novel strategies, which have revealed a remarkably subtle conformational signal carried by a signaling helix that spans the entire length of the
more » ... receptor. Multiple, independent lines of evidence indicate that, in the periplasmic and transmembrane domains, conformational signaling is a piston-type sliding of the signaling helix towards the cytoplasm.
doi:10.1016/s0968-0004(00)01770-9 pmid:11295559 pmcid:PMC2895674 fatcat:cxvs7c53g5hzrmsjh4formqou4