Global profiling of developmental gene expression in Myxococcus xanthus

In response to starvation, Myxococcus xanthus initiates a developmental program that results in the formation of spore-filled multicellular fruiting bodies. Here we have used cDNA microarray analysis to determine changes in the global gene expression at different time points of the developmental process. The expression of nearly 900 genes was found to be altered at least two-fold during development as compared to vegetative cells. Genes encoding proteins with typical vegetative functions such as protein synthesis and energy metabolism were transcriptionally down-regulated in the early stages of development. Among the 430 genes transcriptionally up-regulated during development genes with regulatory functions were overrepresented; underlining that fruiting body formation relies on a complex signalling network. Notably, almost 40% of all genes with increased expression at different stages of development encoded hypothetical proteins indicating a large unexplored potential of proteins important for fruiting body formation. Keywords: Time course of development with 9 time points 3 biological replicates each; normalized ratios to vegetative cells of DK1622 (wt) Cy5