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Science 30 October 1998:
Vol. 282. no. 5390, pp. 935 - 938
DOI: 10.1126/science.282.5390.935
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Reports

Heterocyst Pattern Formation Controlled by a Diffusible Peptide

Ho-Sung Yoon, James W. Golden *

Many filamentous cyanobacteria grow as multicellular organisms that show a developmental pattern of single nitrogen-fixing heterocysts separated by approximately 10 vegetative cells. Overexpression of a 54-base-pair gene, patS, blocked heterocyst differentiation in Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120. A patS null mutant showed an increased frequency of heterocysts and an abnormal pattern. Expression of a patS-gfp reporter was localized in developing proheterocysts. The addition of a synthetic peptide corresponding to the last five amino acids of PatS inhibited heterocyst development. PatS appears to control heterocyst pattern formation through intercellular signaling mechanisms.

Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3258, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed.

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