The Streptomyces O-B one connection: a force within layered repression of a key developmental decision

The study of Streptomyces development has made significant advances in the past few years and ongoing work is poised to add even more. One key to advancing the field has been the application of genome-wide approaches using Streptomyces venezuelae, which is capable of fairly synchronous sporulation in submerged growth conditions. WhiA and WhiB are well-known transcriptional regulators governing the pathway for spore formation in aerial hyphae. Recent ChIP-seq and RNA expression analyses indicated that WhiA and WhiB regulate the same set of genes, each being dependent on the presence of the other to exert control. Functional WhiAB is believed to form when developmental accumulation of WhiB joins constitutive accumulation of WhiA, suggesting that an important developmental decision is the control of WhiB accumulation. Now, a new WhiAB-controlled gene called bldO has been described and characterized. Strikingly, BldO has one target for repression in the entire genome, whiB. BldO now joins pleiotropic repressor BldD to exert a multi-layer control of the temporal and spatial activity of WhiB. BldD activity is controlled by c-di-GMP concentration and BldO potentially responds to an unknown signal. Together BldO and BldD repress developmental genes from being expressed until the appropriate time.