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Qualitative simulation of the initiation of sporulation in Bacillus subtilis

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Abstract

Under conditions of nutrient deprivation, the Gram positive soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis can abandon vegetative growth and form a dormant, environmentally-resistant spore instead. The decision to either divide or sporulate is controlled by a large and complex genetic regulatory network integrating various environmental, cell-cycle, and metabolic signals. Although sporulation in B. subtilis is one of the best-understood model systems for prokaryotic development, very little quantitative data on kinetic parameters and molecular concentrations are available. A qualitative simulation method is used to model the sporulation network and simulate the response of the cell to nutrient deprivation. Using this method, we have been able to reproduce essential features of the choice between vegetative growth and sporulation, in particular the role played by competing positive and negative feedback loops.

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  1. Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA), Unité de recherche Rhône-Alpes, 655 avenue de l’Europe, Montbonnot, 38334, Saint Ismier Cedex, France

    Hidde de Jong, Grégory Batt & Michel Page

  2. Laboratoire Adaptation et Pathogénie des Microorganismes (CNRS UMR 5163), Université Joseph Fourier, 460 rue de la Piscine, BP53, 38041, Grenoble Cedex 9, France

    Johannes Geiselmann

  3. Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB), CMU-Rue Michel-Servet 1, 1211, Geneva 4, Switzerland

    Céline Hernandez

  4. Ecole Supérieure des Affaires, Université Pierre Mendès France, Grenoble, France

    Michel Page

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  1. Hidde de Jong
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de Jong, H., Geiselmann, J., Batt, G. et al. Qualitative simulation of the initiation of sporulation in Bacillus subtilis . Bull. Math. Biol. 66, 261–299 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bulm.2003.08.009

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