The bacterium Caulobacter crescentus coordinates cell cycle progression and cellular differentiation to follow a precise developmental program. To ensure faithful execution of this program, the bacterium employs multiple regulatory strategies, a key one being proteolysis of specific proteins at defined times and locations. This proposal aims to determine the roles of membrane-bound metalloproteases in the regulation of developmental events. Many of these events in C. crescentus involve dynamically positioned transmembrane proteins, and integral membrane proteases may influence the localization or stability of such proteins. An assessment will be made of whether and how select metalloproteases participate in cell cycle regulation. ? Their proteolytic activities and targets will also be analyzed. Understanding how proteolysis controls critical cellular processes in this model organism will help elucidate how similar mechanisms operate during normal cell proliferation in humans. ? ?
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