Reviewed, UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot Q8VL79 (COMX2_BACSU)

Names and origin

Protein names

Recommended name:
    Competence pheromone

Gene names

Name:

comX

Organism

Bacillus subtilis

Taxonomic identifier

1423 [NCBI]

Taxonomic lineage

Bacteria › Firmicutes › Bacillales › Bacillaceae › Bacillus

Protein attributes

Sequence length	58 AA.
Sequence status	Complete.
Sequence processing	The displayed sequence is further processed into a mature form.
Protein existence	Evidence at protein level.

General annotation (Comments)

Function	Part of a major quorum-sensing system that regulates the development of genetic competence. Acts through the activation of the two-component regulatory system comP/comA composed of a sensor histidine kinase, comP, and a response regulator, comA, that regulates directly the transcription of over 20 genes. Transport through the membrane may involve spo0K. Under certain conditions plays a role in sporulation.
Subcellular location	Secreted.
Post-translational modification	Isoprenylation of Trp-56 is essential for activity. The type of isoprenyl derivative differs among the different pherotypes and depends on comX primary sequence. ComQ is required for the production of comX and may be responsible alone for its complete maturation.
Miscellaneous	The DNA sequences encoding comQ, comX and the N-terminal two-thirds of comP show a striking polymorphism, which determines the specificity of the quorum-sensing system in the different pherotypes of Bacillus. In comX, the sole conserved residue is the modified tryptophan essential for the activity.

Ontologies

Keywords
Biological process	Competence Sporulation
Cellular component	Secreted
Molecular function	Pheromone
PTM	Lipoprotein Prenylation
Gene Ontology (GO)
None. [Check GOA]

Sequence annotation (Features)

	Feature key	Position(s)	Length	Description	Graphical view
Molecule processing
	Propeptide	1 – 52	52
	Peptide	53 – 58	6	Competence pheromone
Amino acid modifications
	Lipidation	56	1	3'-geranyl-2',N2-cyclotryptophan; in strain W23 / RO-E-2

Sequences

	Sequence		Length	Mass (Da)
	Q8VL79-1 [UniParc]. Last modified March 1, 2002. Version 1. Checksum: BC6095F268EC1EFE	FASTA	58	6,684
	10 20 30 40 50 MKQDMIDYLM KNPQVLTKLE NGEASLIGIP DKLIPSIVDI FNKKMTLSKK CKGIFWEQ

References

[1]	"Specific activation of the Bacillus quorum-sensing systems by isoprenylated pheromone variants." Ansaldi M., Marolt D., Stebe T., Mandic-Mulec I., Dubnau D. Mol. Microbiol. 44:1561-1573(2002) [PubMed: 12067344] [Abstract] Cited for: NUCLEOTIDE SEQUENCE [GENOMIC DNA], POST-TRANSLATIONAL MODIFICATIONS, MASS SPECTROMETRY. Strain: 168 / RO-A-4, 168 / RO-PP-2, W23 / DV3-D-2 and W23 / RO-E-2.
[2]	"Variability of Bacillus sp. quorum sensing system." Sabotic J., Cepon U., Cadez P., Mandic Mulec I. Submitted (OCT-2005) to the EMBL/GenBank/DDBJ databases Cited for: NUCLEOTIDE SEQUENCE [GENOMIC DNA]. Strain: W23 / DV3-D-2.
[3]	"Structure of the Bacillus subtilis quorum-sensing peptide pheromone ComX." Okada M., Sato I., Cho S.J., Iwata H., Nishio T., Dubnau D., Sakagami Y. Nat. Chem. Biol. 1:23-24(2005) [PubMed: 16407988] [Abstract] Cited for: ISOPRENYLATION AT TRP-56.
[4]	"Specificity and genetic polymorphism of the Bacillus competence quorum-sensing system." Tortosa P., Logsdon L., Kraigher B., Itoh Y., Mandic-Mulec I., Dubnau D. J. Bacteriol. 183:451-460(2001) [PubMed: 11133937] [Abstract] Cited for: POLYMORPHISM IN COMX; COMQ AND COMP.
[5]	"Diversifying selection at the Bacillus quorum-sensing locus and determinants of modification specificity during synthesis of the ComX pheromone." Ansaldi M., Dubnau D. J. Bacteriol. 186:15-21(2004) [PubMed: 14679219] [Abstract] Cited for: POLYMORPHISM, DETERMINANTS OF MODIFICATION SPECIFICITY.

Cross-references

Sequence databases
EMBLGenBankDDBJ	AF456138 Genomic DNA. Translation: AAL67740.1. AF456131 Genomic DNA. Translation: AAL67719.1. AF456132 Genomic DNA. Translation: AAL67722.1. AF458695 Genomic DNA. Translation: AAL59650.1. DQ241785 Genomic DNA. Translation: ABB51994.1.
3D structure databases
ModBase	Search...
Family and domain databases
InterPro	IPR009233. Competence_ComX_Bacillus. [Graphical view]
Pfam	PF05952. ComX. 1 hit. [Graphical view]
ProDom	Q8VL79. [Graphical view] [Entries sharing at least one domain]
BLOCKS	Search...
Other Resources
ProtoNet	Search...

Entry information

Entry name

COMX2_BACSU

Accession

Primary (citable) accession number: Q8VL79

Entry history

Integrated into UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot:	April 18, 2006
Last sequence update:	March 1, 2002
Last modified:	July 22, 2008
This is version 22 of the entry and version 1 of the sequence. [Complete history]

Entry status

Reviewed (UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot)

Annotation project

HAMAP (High-quality Automated and Manual Annotation of microbial Proteomes)