Protein Domain : Competence-induced protein CinA IPR008135

Type	Family
Description	Competence is the ability of a cell to take up exogenous DNA from its environment, resulting in transformation. It is widespread among bacteria and is probably an important mechanism for the horizontal transfer of genes. DNA usually becomes available by the death and lysis of other cells. Competent bacteria use components of extracellular filaments called type 4 pili to create pores in their membranes and pull DNA through the pores into the cytoplasm. This process, including the development of competence and the expression of the uptake machinery, is regulated in response to cell-cell signalling and/or nutritional conditions [ ].CinA is the first gene in the competence-inducible (cin) operon, and is thought to be specifically required at some stage in the process of transformation [ ].This family consists of putative competence-damaged proteins from the cin operon, and nicotinamide-nucleotide (NMN) amidohydrolase proteins. In the case of T. thermophilus, CinA ( ) was shown to have both NMN deamidase and ADP-ribose pyrophosphatase activities [ ].
Short Name	Competence-induced_CinA