Investigating the mechanism of phosphate aquisition by Pseudomonas aeruginosa

磷酸盐是一种必需的营养物质，存在于脂质、核酸、蛋白质和糖中，也是许多生物反应的关键，这些反应需要ATP和/或利用蛋白质磷酸化的信号通路。因此，细菌利用一个全球调节电路Pho调节子来管理细胞内细菌磷酸盐的动态平衡。Pho调节子调节与磷酸盐获取有关的关键蛋白的表达，包括在磷酸盐跨脂双层运输和进入细胞的过程中发挥重要作用的整膜蛋白。这些膜蛋白还作为感觉蛋白与磷酸盐结合蛋白相互作用，检测胞外磷酸盐的水平，进而通过Pho调节子调节自己的表达。Pho调节子途径还控制着许多其他基因网络，包括毒力因子的表达和分泌，以响应磷酸盐水平，因此这一细菌获取磷酸盐的途径是极其重要的。

Phosphate is an essential nutrient that is found in lipids, nucleic acids, proteins and sugars and is also key to many biological reactions that require ATP and/or signaling pathways that exploit protein phosphorylation. Thus, bacteria utilize a global regulatory circuit, the Pho regulon, to manage intracellular bacterial phosphate homeostasis. The Pho regulon regulates the expression of key proteins involved in the acquisition of phosphate, including integral membrane proteins that play an important role in the transport of phosphate across lipid bilayers and into the cell. These membrane proteins also act as sensory proteins that interact with phosphate binding proteins to detect the levels of extracellular phosphate and in turn regulate their own expression through the Pho regulon. The Pho regulon pathway also controls many other gene networks including the expression and secretion of virulence factors in response to phosphate levels, thus this phosphate acquisition pathway in bacteria is extremely important.