We study cellular dynamics in Caulobacter crescentus, an aquatic bacterium that has integrated the transition between a motile, planktonic and a sessile, surface attached form into its asymmetric replicative cycle. Our focus is on signal transduction processes involving the ubiquitous bacterial second messenger cyclic di-GMP. Using Caulobacter as a model we are interested in the molecular, structural, and cellular principles of c-di-GMP signaling and its influence on cell differentiation and cell cycle progression in bacteria. |