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Science 30 October 1998:
Vol. 282. no. 5390, pp. 891 - 892
DOI: 10.1126/science.282.5390.891
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Perspectives

DEVELOPMENT:
How Cyanobacteria Count to 10

Robert Haselkorn

Cell-cell communication is crucial for normal development, and diffusible molecules that regulate differentiation have been identified in several eukaryotic organisms. In this issue Yoon and Golden show that a diffusible inhibitory peptide, PatS, controls pattern formation in a prokaryotic organism, the cyanobacterium Anabaena. Their results, discussed in a Perspective by Haselkorn, provide insight into the mechanisms underlying heterocyst pattern formation and may apply to differentiation in more complex organisms.

The author is in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. E-mail: r-haselkorn{at}uchicago.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The cyanobacterial genome core and the origin of photosynthesis.
A. Y. Mulkidjanian, E. V. Koonin, K. S. Makarova, S. L. Mekhedov, A. Sorokin, Y. I. Wolf, A. Dufresne, F. Partensky, H. Burd, D. Kaznadzey, et al. (2006)
PNAS 103, 13126-13131
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Cyanobacterial response regulator PatA contains a conserved N-terminal domain (PATAN) with an alpha-helical insertion.
K. S. Makarova, E. V. Koonin, R. Haselkorn, and M. Y. Galperin (2006)
Bioinformatics 22, 1297-1301
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The hetF Gene Product Is Essential to Heterocyst Differentiation and Affects HetR Function in the Cyanobacterium Nostoc punctiforme.
F. C. Y. Wong and J. C. Meeks (2001)
J. Bacteriol. 183, 2654-2661
   Abstract »    Full Text »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)