This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental material Other Versions of this Article: JB.01135-07v1 190/2/743    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Wuster, A. Articles by Babu, M. M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Wuster, A. Articles by Babu, M. M.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, January 2008, p. 743-746, Vol. 190, No. 2
0021-9193/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01135-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Conservation and Evolutionary Dynamics of the agr Cell-to-Cell Communication System across Firmicutes ^,

MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 0QH, United Kingdom

Received 18 July 2007/ Accepted 28 September 2007

We present evidence that the agr cell-to-cell communication system is present across firmicutes, including the human pathogen Clostridium perfringens. Although we find that the agr system is evolutionarily conserved and that the general functions which it regulates are similar in different species, the individual regulated genes are not the same. This suggests that the regulatory network controlled by agr is dynamic and evolves rapidly.

Published ahead of print on 12 October 2007.

Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://jb.asm.org/.