scholarly journals Free calcium transients in chemotactic and non-chemotactic strains of Escherichia coli determined by using recombinant aequorin

1995 ◽  
Vol 306 (3) ◽  
pp. 865-869 ◽  
Author(s):  
N J Watkins ◽  
M R Knight ◽  
A J Trewavas ◽  
A K Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Bacterial Chemotaxis ◽  
Chemotactic Response ◽  
Calcium Transients ◽  
Free Calcium ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Strain Bl21 ◽  
Recombinant Aequorin ◽  
Strain Ab1157

Intracellular Ca2+ has been previously implicated in the chemotactic response of Escherichia coli. However, no correlative measurements of intracellular free Ca2+ have been made during bacterial chemotaxis, essential if this is to be established. In order to monitor internal free Ca2+ in E. coli during challenge with chemotactic agents, the Ca(2+)-activated photoprotein aequorin was expressed in a chemotactic strain (AB1157) and a non-chemotactic strain [BL21(DE3)] of E. coli. Repellents were found to cause an increase (50-150 nM) in intracellular free Ca2+, whereas attractants caused a small but consistent decrease in intracellular free Ca2+. These data are in agreement with the proposed model that an increase in intracellular free Ca2+ causes tumbling. The effect of increasing external Ca2+ on the regulation of intracellular free Ca2+ in both strains was monitored by using aequorin. The resting level of free Ca2+ in E. coli (AB1157) was found to be 100 nM, which agrees with previous data [Gangola and Rosen (1987) J. Biol. Chem. 262, 12570-12574]. As these results also show differences in the regulation of intracellular free Ca2+ between the two strains in the presence of high external Ca2+ concentrations, this may have implications for the effect of high-Ca2+ environments on E. coli.

Bacterial chemotaxis differences inEscherichia coliisolated from different hosts

2008 ◽  
Vol 54 (12) ◽  
pp. 1043-1052 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sijana H. Dzinic ◽  
Marcella Luercio ◽  
Jeffrey L. Ram
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Carbon Sources ◽  
Bacterial Chemotaxis ◽  
Growth Curves ◽  
Chemotactic Response ◽  
Low Density ◽  
Chemotaxis Assay ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Growth Differences ◽  
Chemotactic Behavior

The mechanisms mediating the association between Escherichia coli and specific hosts are unknown. This study investigates the hypothesis that the host-specific associations of E. coli strains are mediated in part by differences in chemotaxis. To test this hypothesis, chemotactic responses of E. coli strains isolated from different host groups (carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores) were tested with various attractants. In low-density agar chemotaxis assays, the average motility of E. coli in response to aspartate, serine, and ribose among the different groups was not significantly different; however, strains from carnivores responded significantly more to aspartate, relative to their responses to serine, in comparison with strains from herbivores, which responded equally or better to serine than to aspartate. The relatively greater chemotactic response of strains from carnivores to aspartate than to serine was confirmed in a subset of strains by capillary chemotaxis assay. Differences in responses to serine and aspartate were not due to growth differences, as determined by comparison of 24 h growth curves with glycerol, aspartate, and serine carbon sources. The differences in chemotactic behavior of E. coli strains isolated from herbivores and carnivores support the hypothesis that host-specific associations of E. coli strains are mediated in part by differences in chemotactic behavior.

scholarly journals Three-Dimensional Electron Microscopic Imaging of Membrane Invaginations in Escherichia coli Overproducing the Chemotaxis Receptor Tsr

2004 ◽  
Vol 186 (15) ◽  
pp. 5052-5061 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Lefman ◽  
Peijun Zhang ◽  
Teruhisa Hirai ◽  
Robert M. Weis ◽  
Jemma Juliani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Electron Tomography ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Bacterial Chemotaxis ◽  
Molecular Architecture ◽  
Electron Microscopic ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Macromolecular Assemblies ◽  
Membrane Networks ◽  
Receptor Clusters

ABSTRACT Electron tomography is a powerful method for determining the three-dimensional structures of large macromolecular assemblies, such as cells, organelles, and multiprotein complexes, when crystallographic averaging methods are not applicable. Here we used electron tomographic imaging to determine the molecular architecture of Escherichia coli cells engineered to overproduce the bacterial chemotaxis receptor Tsr. Tomograms constructed from fixed, cryosectioned cells revealed that overproduction of Tsr led to formation of an extended internal membrane network composed of stacks and extended tubular structures. We present an interpretation of the tomogram in terms of the packing arrangement of Tsr using constraints derived from previous X-ray and electron-crystallographic studies of receptor clusters. Our results imply that the interaction between the cytoplasmic ends of Tsr is likely to stabilize the presence of the membrane networks in cells overproducing Tsr. We propose that membrane invaginations that are potentially capable of supporting axial interactions between receptor clusters in apposing membranes could also be present in wild-type E. coli and that such receptor aggregates could play an important role in signal transduction during bacterial chemotaxis.

scholarly journals Cluster II che Genes from Pseudomonas aeruginosa Are Required for an Optimal Chemotactic Response

2002 ◽  
Vol 184 (16) ◽  
pp. 4374-4383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abel Ferrández ◽  
Andrew C. Hawkins ◽  
Douglas T. Summerfield ◽  
Caroline S. Harwood
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Pseudomonas Aeruginosa ◽  
Gene Clusters ◽  
Soft Agar ◽  
Chemotactic Response ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Chemotaxis Proteins ◽  
Complete Set ◽  
K 12

ABSTRACT Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a γ-proteobacterium, is motile by means of a single polar flagellum and is chemotactic to a variety of organic compounds and phosphate. P. aeruginosa has multiple homologues of Escherichia coli chemotaxis genes that are organized into five gene clusters. Previously, it was demonstrated that genes in cluster I and cluster V are essential for chemotaxis. A third cluster (cluster II) contains a complete set of che genes, as well as two genes, mcpA and mcpB, encoding methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins. Mutations were constructed in several of the cluster II che genes and in the mcp genes to examine their possible contributions to P. aeruginosa chemotaxis. A cheB2 mutant was partially impaired in chemotaxis in soft-agar swarm plate assays. Providing cheB2 in trans complemented this defect. Further, overexpression of CheB2 restored chemotaxis to a completely nonchemotactic, cluster I, cheB-deficient strain to near wild-type levels. An mcpA mutant was defective in chemotaxis in media that were low in magnesium. The defect could be relieved by the addition of magnesium to the swarm plate medium. An mcpB mutant was defective in chemotaxis when assayed in dilute rich soft-agar swarm medium or in minimal-medium swarm plates containing any 1 of 60 chemoattractants. The mutant phenotype could be complemented by the addition of mcpB in trans. Overexpression of either McpA or McpB in P. aeruginosa or Escherichia coli resulted in impairment of chemotaxis, and these cells had smooth-swimming phenotypes when observed under the microscope. Expression of P. aeruginosa cheA2, cheB2, or cheW2 in E. coli K-12 completely disrupted wild-type chemotaxis, while expression of cheY2 had no effect. These results indicate that che cluster II genes are expressed in P. aeruginosa and are required for an optimal chemotactic response.

scholarly journals Bacterial Chemotaxis to Atrazine and Related s-Triazines

2009 ◽  
Vol 75 (17) ◽  
pp. 5481-5488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xianxian Liu ◽  
Rebecca E. Parales
Keyword(s):  
Cyanuric Acid ◽  
Bacterial Chemotaxis ◽  
Chemotactic Response ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Catabolic Plasmid ◽  
Herbicide Atrazine ◽  
Degradation Intermediates ◽  
Competition Assays ◽  
Atrazine Degradation

ABSTRACT Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP utilizes the human-made s-triazine herbicide atrazine as the sole nitrogen source. The results reported here demonstrate that atrazine and the atrazine degradation intermediates N-isopropylammelide and cyanuric acid are chemoattractants for strain ADP. In addition, the nonmetabolized s-triazine ametryn was also an attractant. The chemotactic response to these s-triazines was not specifically induced during growth with atrazine, and atrazine metabolism was not required for the chemotactic response. A cured variant of strain ADP (ADP M13-2) was attracted to s-triazines, indicating that the atrazine catabolic plasmid pADP-1 is not necessary for the chemotactic response and that atrazine degradation and chemotaxis are not genetically linked. These results indicate that atrazine and related s-triazines are detected by one or more chromosomally encoded chemoreceptors in Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP. We demonstrated that Escherichia coli is attracted to the s-triazine compounds N-isopropylammelide and cyanuric acid, and an E. coli mutant lacking Tap (the pyrimidine chemoreceptor) was unable to respond to s-triazines. These data indicate that pyrimidines and triazines are detected by the same chemoreceptor (Tap) in E. coli. We showed that Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP is attracted to pyrimidines, which are the naturally occurring structures closest to triazines, and propose that chemotaxis toward s-triazines may be due to fortuitous recognition by a pyrimidine chemoreceptor in Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP. In competition assays, the presence of atrazine inhibited chemotaxis of Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP to cytosine, and cytosine inhibited chemotaxis to atrazine, suggesting that pyrimidines and s-triazines are detected by the same chemoreceptor.

scholarly journals Effects of Organic Antagonists of Ca2+, Na+, and K+ on Chemotaxis and Motility ofEscherichia coli

2000 ◽  
Vol 182 (17) ◽  
pp. 4856-4861 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis S. Tisa ◽  
Jeff J. Sekelsky ◽  
Julius Adler
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Bacterial Chemotaxis ◽  
Animal Research ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ofescherichia Coli ◽  
Channel Blockers ◽  
Tetraethylammonium Chloride ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Nanomolar Range

ABSTRACT Various Ca2+ antagonists used in animal research, many of them known to be Ca2+ channel blockers, inhibitedEscherichia coli chemotaxis (measured as entry of cells into a capillary containing attractant). The most effective of these, acting in the nanomolar range, was ω-conotoxin GVIA. The next most effective were gallopamil and verapamil. At concentrations around 100-fold higher than that needed for inhibition of chemotaxis, each of these antagonists inhibited motility (measured as entry of cells into a capillary lacking attractant). Various other Ca2+antagonists were less effective, though chemotaxis was almost always more sensitive to inhibition than was motility. Cells treated with each of these Ca2+ antagonists swam with a running bias, i.e., tumbling was inhibited. Similarly, some Na+ antagonists used in animal research inhibited bacterial chemotaxis. E. coli chemotaxis was inhibited by saxitoxin at concentrations above 10−7 M, while more than 10−4 M was needed to inhibit motility. Cells treated with saxitoxin swam with a tumbling bias. In the case of other Na+ antagonists in animals, aconitine inhibited bacterial chemotaxis 10 times more effectively than it inhibited motility, and two others inhibited chemotaxis and motility at about the same concentration. In the case of K+ antagonists used in animal research, 4-aminopyridine blocked E. coli chemotaxis between 10−3 M and, totally, 10−2 M, while motility was not affected at 10−2 M; on the other hand, tetraethylammonium chloride failed to inhibit either chemotaxis or motility at 10−2 M.

scholarly journals Heterologous Expression ofPseudomonas putidaMethyl-Accepting Chemotaxis Proteins YieldsEscherichia coliChemotactic to Aromatic Compounds

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clémence Roggo ◽  
Estelle Emilie Clerc ◽  
Noushin Hadadi ◽  
Nicolas Carraro ◽  
Roman Stocker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Pseudomonas Putida ◽  
Aromatic Compounds ◽  
Environmental Concern ◽  
Bacterial Chemotaxis ◽  
Gene Encoding ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Cell Accumulation ◽  
Chemotaxis Proteins ◽  
Chemical Availability

ABSTRACTEscherichia coli, commonly used in chemotaxis studies, is attracted mostly by amino acids, sugars and peptides. We envisioned modifying chemotaxis specificity ofE. coliby expressing heterologous chemoreceptors fromPseudomonas putidaenabling attraction either to toluene or benzoate. ThemcpTgene encoding the type 40H methyl-accepting chemoreceptor for toluene fromPseudomonas putidaMT53 and thepcaYgene for the type 40H receptor for benzoate and related molecules fromP. putidaF1 were expressed from thetrgpromoter on a plasmid in motile wild-typeE. coliMG1655.E. colicells expressing McpT accumulated in chemoattraction assays to sources with 60–200 μM toluene; less strongly than the response to 100 μM serine, but statistically significantly stronger than to sources without any added attractant. An McpT-mCherry fusion protein was detectably expressed inE. coliand yielding weak but distinguishable membrane and polar foci in 1% of cells.E. coliexpressing PcaY showed weak attraction to 0.1–1 mM benzoate but 50–70% of cells localized the PcaY-mCherry fusion to their membrane. We conclude that implementing heterologous receptors in theE. colichemotaxis network is possible and, upon improvement of the compatibility of the type 40H chemoreceptors, may bear interest for biosensing.IMPORTANCEBacterial chemotaxis might be harnessed for the development of rapid biosensors, in which chemical availability is deduced from cell accumulation to chemoattractants over time. Chemotaxis ofEscherichia colihas been well-studied, but the bacterium is not attracted to chemicals of environmental concern, such as aromatic solvents. We show here that heterologous chemoreceptors for aromatic compounds fromPseudomonas putidaat least partly functionally complement theE. colichemotaxis network, yielding cells attracted to toluene or benzoate. Complementation was still inferior to native chemoattractants like serine, but our study demonstrates the potential for obtaining selective sensing for aromatic compounds inE. coli.

scholarly journals Increased Levels of Intracellular Calcium Are Not Required for the Formation of Attaching and Effacing Lesions by Enteropathogenic and Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli

1998 ◽  
Vol 66 (8) ◽  
pp. 3900-3908 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Bain ◽  
Rogeria Keller ◽  
Georgina K. Collington ◽  
Luiz R. Trabulsi ◽  
Stuart Knutton
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Intracellular Calcium ◽  
Bacterial Adhesion ◽  
Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia Coli ◽  
Live Cells ◽  
Free Calcium ◽  
Lesion Formation ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Infected Cells ◽  
Temporal And Spatial

ABSTRACT Elevated concentrations of intracellular calcium ([Ca]i) have been implicated as an important signalling event during attaching and effacing (A/E) lesion formation by enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC). The highly localized nature of the cytoskeletal and cell surface alterations occurring during A/E lesion formation suggests that there should be equally localized EPEC-induced signalling events. To analyze further the calcium responses to infection of HEp-2 cells by EPEC, we employed calcium-imaging fluorescence microscopy, which allows both temporal and spatial measurements of [Ca]i in live cells. Using this imaging technique, not only were we unable to detect any significant elevation in [Ca]i at sites of A/E EPEC adhesion, but, with several different classical EPEC and enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) strains and three different infection procedures, each of which resulted in extensive A/E bacterial adhesion, we were unable to detect any significant alterations in [Ca]i in infected cells compared to uninfected cells. In addition, chelation of intracellular free calcium with bis-(aminophenoxy)-ethane-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid (BAPTA) did not, as previously reported, prevent A/E lesion formation. We conclude that increased [Ca]iare not required for A/E lesion formation by EPEC and EHEC.

A modified pCas/pTargetF system for CRISPR-Cas9-assisted genome editing in Escherichia coli

2021 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 620-627
Author(s):  
Qi Li ◽  
Bingbing Sun ◽  
Jun Chen ◽  
Yiwen Zhang ◽  
Yu Jiang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Genome Editing ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Specific Sequence ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Strain Bl21 ◽  
Sacb Gene ◽  
Ccdb Gene ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Plasmid Elimination

Abstract The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated nuclease 9 (Cas9)-based genome editing tool pCas/pTargetF system that we established previously has been widely used in Escherichia coli MG1655. However, this system failed to manipulate the genome of E. coli BL21(DE3), owing to the potential higher leaky transcription of the gRNA-pMB1 specific to pTargetF in this strain. In this study, we modified the pCas/pTargetF system by replacing the promoter of gRNA-pMB1 with a tightly regulated promoter PrhaB, changing the replicon of pCas to a nontemperature-sensitive replicon, adding the sacB gene into pCas, and replacing the original N20-specific sequence of pTargetF with ccdB gene. We call this updated system as pEcCas/pEcgRNA. We found that gRNA-pMB1 indeed showed a slightly higher leaky expression in the pCas/pTargetF system compared with pEcCas/pEcgRNA. We also confirmed that genome editing can successfully be performed in BL21(DE3) by pEcCas/pEcgRNA with high efficiency. The application of pEcCas/pEcgRNA was then expanded to the E. coli B strain BL21 StarTM (DE3), K-12 strains MG1655, DH5α, CGMCC3705, Nissle1917, W strain ATCC9637, and also another species of Enterobacteriaceae, Tatumella citrea DSM13699, without any specific modifications. Finally, the plasmid curing process was optimized to shorten the time from $\sim$60 h to $\sim$32 h. The entire protocol (including plasmid construction, editing, electroporation and mutant verification, and plasmid elimination) took only $\sim$5.5 days per round in the pEcCas/pEcgRNA system, whereas it took $\sim$7.5 days in the pCas/pTargetF system. This study established a faster-acting genome editing tool that can be used in a wider range of E. coli strains and will also be useful for other Enterobacteriaceae species.

scholarly journals A simple method for constructing magnetic Escherichia coli

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong-jun Lu ◽  
Mengyi Sun
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Rational Design ◽  
Magnetic Force ◽  
Spatial Behavior ◽  
Simple Method ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Actual Application ◽  
Strain Bl21 ◽  
Different Shapes ◽  
Set Up

Magnetic force can serve as an ideal way to control the spatial behavior of microorganisms, because of its flexibility and penetrability. By incubation with the biocompatible compound, ammonium ferric citrate, as an iron source, we magnetized Escherichia coli, the most programmable chassis in synthetic biology. To enhance the magnetization efficiency, the ferritin protein, FtnA, from E. coli was cloned and overexpressed in strain BL21(DE3). The magnetization effect was observed within 30 min after harvest of bacteria, and the concentration of ammonium ferric acid used could be as low as 0.5 mM. Using different shapes of magnetic fields, different patterns could be generated easily. Our method may set up the foundation for a rational design of spatial structure of cell communities, which is important for their actual application.

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