Ubiquitous purine sensor modulates diverse signal transduction pathways in bacteria

Purines and their derivatives control intracellular energy homeostasis and nucleotide synthesis, and act as signaling molecules. Here, we combine structural and sequence information to define a purine-binding motif that is present in sensor domains of thousands of bacterial receptors that modulate motility, gene expression, metabolism, and second-messenger turnover. Microcalorimetric titrations of selected sensor domains validate their ability to specifically bind purine derivatives, and evolutionary analyses indicate that purine sensors share a common ancestor with amino-acid receptors. Furthermore, we provide experimental evidence of physiological relevance of purine sensing in a second-messenger signaling system that modulates c-di-GMP levels.