TEMPERATURE SENSING IN BACTERIAL GENE-REGULATION - WHAT IT ALL BOILS DOWN TO

Many bacterial gene regulatory circuits are controlled by temperature. Temperature-mediated regulation occurs at the level of transcription and translation. Supercoiling, changes in mRNA conformation and protei n conformation are all implicated in thermosensing. Bacterial virulenc e functions are often temperature regulated and thus many an example o f thermoregulation comes from pathogenic organisms. H-NS is at the cro ssroads of regulation in many such systems, mRNA melting has also been shown to act as a thermosensing mechanism in various contexts. Protei ns can also act as temperature sensors as exemplified by the gene regu lator TIpA in Salmonella typhimurium.