Analysis of Brevundimonas subvibrioides Developmental Signaling Systems Reveals Inconsistencies between Phenotypes and c-di-GMP Levels

Cyclic di-GMP and associated signaling proteins are widespread in bacteria, but their role in physiology is often complex and difficult to predict through genomic level analyses. InC. crescentus , c-di-GMP has been integrated into the developmental cell cycle, but there is increasing evidence that environmental factors can impact this system as well. The research presented here suggests that the integration of these signaling networks could be more complex than previously hypothesized, which could have a bearing on the larger field of c-di-GMP signaling. In addition, this work further reveals similarities and differences in a conserved regulatory network between organisms in the same taxonomic family, and the results show that gene conservation does not necessarily imply close functional conservation in genetic pathways.