scholarly journals The cell organization underlying structural colour is involved in Flavobacterium IR1 predation

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 2890-2900
Author(s):  
Raditijo Hamidjaja ◽  
Jérémie Capoulade ◽  
Laura Catón ◽  
Colin J. Ingham

Abstract Flavobacterium IR1 is a gliding bacterium with a high degree of colonial organization as a 2D photonic crystal, resulting in vivid structural coloration when illuminated. Enterobacter cloacae B12, an unrelated bacterium, was isolated from the brown macroalga Fucus vesiculosus from the same location as IR1. IR1 was found to be a predator of B12. A process of surrounding, infiltration, undercutting and killing of B12 supported improved growth of IR1. A combination of motility and capillarity facilitated the engulfment of B12 colonies by IR1. Predation was independent of illumination. Mutants of IR1 that formed photonic crystals less effectively than the wild type were reduced in predation. Conversely, formation of a photonic crystal was not advantageous in resisting predation by Rhodococcus spp. PIR4. These observations suggest that the organization required to create structural colour has a biological function (facilitating predation) but one that is not directly related to the photonic properties of the colony. This work is the first experimental evidence supporting a role for this widespread type of cell organization in the Flavobacteriia.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keiko Sato ◽  
Masami Naya ◽  
Yuri Hatano ◽  
Yoshio Kondo ◽  
Mari Sato ◽  
...  

AbstractColony spreading of Flavobacterium johnsoniae is shown to include gliding motility using the cell surface adhesin SprB, and is drastically affected by agar and glucose concentrations. Wild-type (WT) and ΔsprB mutant cells formed nonspreading colonies on soft agar, but spreading dendritic colonies on soft agar containing glucose. In the presence of glucose, an initial cell growth-dependent phase was followed by a secondary SprB-independent, gliding motility-dependent phase. The branching pattern of a ΔsprB colony was less complex than the pattern formed by the WT. Mesoscopic and microstructural information was obtained by atmospheric scanning electron microscopy (ASEM) and transmission EM, respectively. In the growth-dependent phase of WT colonies, dendritic tips spread rapidly by the movement of individual cells. In the following SprB-independent phase, leading tips were extended outwards by the movement of dynamic windmill-like rolling centers, and the lipoproteins were expressed more abundantly. Dark spots in WT cells during the growth-dependent spreading phase were not observed in the SprB-independent phase. Various mutations showed that the lipoproteins and the motility machinery were necessary for SprB-independent spreading. Overall, SprB-independent colony spreading is influenced by the lipoproteins, some of which are involved in the gliding machinery, and medium conditions, which together determine the nutrient-seeking behavior.


2006 ◽  
Vol 52 (11) ◽  
pp. 1027-1035 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyesuk Kong ◽  
Cheryl D Patterson ◽  
Robin E Mitchell ◽  
Jeffrey S Buyer ◽  
M Catherine Aime ◽  
...  

A mutant of Pseudomonas syringae pv. tagetis EB037 with limited ability to produce tagetitoxin was isolated after transposon mutagenesis and the mutation was characterized. The mutation occurred in a gene with a high degree of sequence identity to exbD. exbD is contiguous with tonB and exbB upstream and with a gene for a TonB-dependent receptor downstream. Using reverse transcription – polymerase chain reaction with RNA from the wild-type and exbD mutant strains, we demonstrated that the mutation in exbD did not have a polar affect on the expression of downstream genes. The exbD mutant was able to grow well in conditions where iron is not freely available. Siderophore production by the exbD mutant was similar to that of the wild-type strain. We conclude that the mutation in exbD disrupts tagetitoxin production without compromising iron metabolism. The results indicate that tagetitoxin export by P. syringae pv. tagetis involves an efflux pump that requires a functional TonB system that is not essential for normal iron metabolism.Key words: Pseudomonas syringae pv. tagetis, Pseudomonas putida, tagetitoxin, exbD, exbB, tonB, TonB system, Helianthus annuus L.


2007 ◽  
Vol 189 (20) ◽  
pp. 7503-7506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Liu ◽  
Mark J. McBride ◽  
Sriram Subramaniam

ABSTRACT Flavobacterium johnsoniae cells glide rapidly over surfaces by an as-yet-unknown mechanism. Using cryo-electron tomography, we show that wild-type cells display tufts of ∼5-nm-wide cell surface filaments that appear to be anchored to the inner surface of the outer membrane. These filaments are absent in cells of a nonmotile gldF mutant but are restored upon expression of plasmid-encoded GldF, a component of a putative ATP-binding cassette transporter.


2001 ◽  
Vol 155 (5) ◽  
pp. 787-796 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gudrun Wahlström ◽  
Maria Vartiainen ◽  
Lumi Yamamoto ◽  
Pieta K. Mattila ◽  
Pekka Lappalainen ◽  
...  

The actin cytoskeleton is essential for cellular remodeling and many developmental and morphological processes. Twinfilin is a ubiquitous actin monomer–binding protein whose biological function has remained unclear. We discovered and cloned the Drosophila twinfilin homologue, and show that this protein is ubiquitously expressed in different tissues and developmental stages. A mutation in the twf gene leads to a number of developmental defects, including aberrant bristle morphology. This results from uncontrolled polymerization of actin filaments and misorientation of actin bundles in developing bristles. In wild-type bristles, twinfilin localizes diffusively to cytoplasm and to the ends of actin bundles, and may therefore be involved in localization of actin monomers in cells. We also show that twinfilin and the ADF/cofilin encoding gene twinstar interact genetically in bristle morphogenesis. These results demonstrate that the accurate regulation of size and dynamics of the actin monomer pool by twinfilin is essential for a number of actin-dependent developmental processes in multicellular eukaryotes.


1993 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
U Kopp ◽  
B Wiedemann ◽  
S Lindquist ◽  
S Normark

2020 ◽  
pp. jbc.RA120.014226
Author(s):  
Hui Shen ◽  
Robert Jordan Ontiveros ◽  
Michael C Owens ◽  
Monica Yun Liu ◽  
Uday Ghanty ◽  
...  

Oxidation of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) in DNA by the Ten-eleven translocation (TET) family of enzymes is indispensable for gene regulation in mammals. More recently, evidence has emerged to support a biological function for TET-mediated m5C oxidation in messenger RNA. Here, we describe a previously uncharacterized role of TET-mediated m5C oxidation in transfer RNA (tRNAs). We found that the TET-mediated oxidation product 5-hydroxylmethylcytosine (hm5C) is specifically enriched in tRNA inside cells and that the oxidation activity of TET2 on m5C in tRNAs can be readily observed in vitro. We further observed that hm5C levels in tRNA were significantly decreased in Tet2 KO mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) in comparison to wild type mESCs. Reciprocally, induced expression of the catalytic domain of TET2 led to an obvious increase in hm5C and a decrease in m5C in tRNAs relative to uninduced cells. Strikingly, we also show that TET2-mediated m5C oxidation in tRNA promotes translation in vitro. These results suggest TET2 may influence translation through impacting tRNA methylation and reveal an unexpected role for TET enzymes in regulating multiple nodes of the central dogma.


1998 ◽  
Vol 42 (12) ◽  
pp. 3304-3308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Mimoz ◽  
Anne Jacolot ◽  
Sophie Leotard ◽  
Nadia Hidri ◽  
Kamran Samii ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The antibacterial activities of human regimens of cefepime, ceftazidime, and imipenem alone or in combination with amikacin against an isogenic pair of Enterobacter cloacae strains (wild type and its corresponding derepressed cephalosporinase mutant) were compared by using our nonlethal model of pneumonia with 180 immunocompetent rats. Compared with untreated animals, all β-lactam-treated rats, except those inoculated with the mutant isolate and receiving ceftazidime, had significantly lower bacterial counts in their lungs 60 h after the onset of therapy. Although the combination of a β-lactam and amikacin was more bactericidal than each corresponding antimicrobial agent alone, true synergy was noted only with cefepime and imipenem against the constitutive derepressed strain.


Medicines ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giancarlo Ghiselli

The polyanionic nature and the ability to interact with proteins with different affinities are properties of sulfated glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) that determine their biological function. In designing drugs affecting the interaction of proteins with GAGs the challenge has been to generate agents with high binding specificity. The example to emulated has been a heparin-derived pentasaccharide that binds to antithrombin-III with high affinity. However, the portability of this model to other biological situations is questioned on several accounts. Because of their structural flexibility, oligosaccharides with different sulfation and uronic acid conformation can display the same binding proficiency to different proteins and produce comparable biological effects. This circumstance represents a formidable obstacle to the design of drugs based on the heparin scaffold. The conceptual framework discussed in this article is that through a direct intervention on the heparin-binding functionality of proteins is possible to achieve a high degree of action specificity. This objective is currently pursued through two strategies. The first makes use of small molecules for which in the text we provide examples from past and present literature concerning angiogenic factors and enzymes. The second approach entails the mutagenesis of the GAG-binding site of proteins as a means to generate a new class of biologics of therapeutic interest.


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