Many bacterial species harbor a plethora of proteins potentially involved in synthesis and turnover of the second messenger c-di-GMP. Among more than 50 of such proteins, only a single one, PdeB, is a key regulator of flagella-mediated motility of our model species, Shewanella putrefaciens, in response to nutrient conditions.

In this project we aim at understanding how PdeB is capable of eliciting such a specific response, to identify corresponding input signals and output mechanisms and to characterize the role of the PdeB domains in this process.