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Aroney STN, Pini F, Kessler C, Poole PS, Sánchez-Cañizares C. The motility and chemosensory systems of Rhizobium leguminosarum, their role in symbiosis, and link to PTS Ntr regulation. Environ Microbiol 2024; 26:e16570. [PMID: 38216524 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.16570] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2023] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 01/14/2024]
Abstract
Motility and chemotaxis are crucial processes for soil bacteria and plant-microbe interactions. This applies to the symbiotic bacterium Rhizobium leguminosarum, where motility is driven by flagella rotation controlled by two chemotaxis systems, Che1 and Che2. The Che1 cluster is particularly important in free-living motility prior to the establishment of the symbiosis, with a che1 mutant delayed in nodulation and reduced in nodulation competitiveness. The Che2 system alters bacteroid development and nodule maturation. In this work, we also identified 27 putative chemoreceptors encoded in the R. leguminosarum bv. viciae 3841 genome and characterized its motility in different growth conditions. We describe a metabolism-based taxis system in rhizobia that acts at high concentrations of dicarboxylates to halt motility independent of chemotaxis. Finally, we show how PTSNtr influences cell motility, with PTSNtr mutants exhibiting reduced swimming in different media. Motility is restored by the active forms of the PTSNtr output regulatory proteins, unphosphorylated ManX and phosphorylated PtsN. Overall, this work shows how rhizobia typify soil bacteria by having a high number of chemoreceptors and highlights the importance of the motility and chemotaxis mechanisms in a free-living cell in the rhizosphere, and at different stages of the symbiosis.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Celia Kessler
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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Ortega DR, Yang W, Subramanian P, Mann P, Kjær A, Chen S, Watts KJ, Pirbadian S, Collins DA, Kooger R, Kalyuzhnaya MG, Ringgaard S, Briegel A, Jensen GJ. Repurposing a chemosensory macromolecular machine. Nat Commun 2020; 11:2041. [PMID: 32341341 PMCID: PMC7184735 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15736-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2019] [Accepted: 03/23/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
How complex, multi-component macromolecular machines evolved remains poorly understood. Here we reveal the evolutionary origins of the chemosensory machinery that controls flagellar motility in Escherichia coli. We first identify ancestral forms still present in Vibrio cholerae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shewanella oneidensis and Methylomicrobium alcaliphilum, characterizing their structures by electron cryotomography and finding evidence that they function in a stress response pathway. Using bioinformatics, we trace the evolution of the system through γ-Proteobacteria, pinpointing key evolutionary events that led to the machine now seen in E. coli. Our results suggest that two ancient chemosensory systems with different inputs and outputs (F6 and F7) existed contemporaneously, with one (F7) ultimately taking over the inputs and outputs of the other (F6), which was subsequently lost. Bacterial chemosensory systems are grouped into 17 flagellar classes (F1-17). Here the authors employ electron cryotomography and comparative genomics to characterise the chemosensory arrays in γ-proteobacteria and identify a structural distinct form of F7 that was repurposed to a different biological role over the course of its evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Davi R Ortega
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd, Pasadena, CA, C1125, USA
| | - Wen Yang
- Institute of Biology, Leiden University, 2333 BE, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Poorna Subramanian
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd, Pasadena, CA, C1125, USA
| | - Petra Mann
- Department of Ecophysiology, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, D-35043, Marburg, Germany
| | - Andreas Kjær
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd, Pasadena, CA, C1125, USA.,Rex Richards Building, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QU, UK
| | - Songye Chen
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd, Pasadena, CA, C1125, USA
| | - Kylie J Watts
- Division of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA, 92350, USA
| | - Sahand Pirbadian
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA
| | - David A Collins
- Department of Biology, Viral Information Institute, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA
| | - Romain Kooger
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Biophysics, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, CH-8093, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Marina G Kalyuzhnaya
- Department of Biology, Viral Information Institute, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA
| | - Simon Ringgaard
- Department of Ecophysiology, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, D-35043, Marburg, Germany
| | - Ariane Briegel
- Institute of Biology, Leiden University, 2333 BE, Leiden, The Netherlands.
| | - Grant J Jensen
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd, Pasadena, CA, C1125, USA. .,Howard Hughes Medical Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA.
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In silico characterization of a novel putative aerotaxis chemosensory system in the myxobacterium, Corallococcus coralloides. BMC Genomics 2018; 19:757. [PMID: 30340510 PMCID: PMC6194562 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-018-5151-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2018] [Accepted: 10/08/2018] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Background An efficient signal transduction system allows a bacterium to sense environmental cues and then to respond positively or negatively to those signals; this process is referred to as taxis. In addition to external cues, the internal metabolic state of any bacterium plays a major role in determining its ability to reside and thrive in its current environment. Similar to external signaling molecules, cytoplasmic signals are also sensed by methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins (MCPs) via diverse ligand binding domains. Myxobacteria are complex soil-dwelling social microbes that can perform a variety of physiologic and metabolic activities ranging from gliding motility, sporulation, biofilm formation, carotenoid and secondary metabolite biosynthesis, predation, and slime secretion. To live such complex lifestyles, they have evolved efficient signal transduction systems with numerous one- and two-component regulatory system along with a large array of chemosensory systems to perceive and integrate both external and internal cues. Results Here we report the in silico characterization of a putative energy taxis cluster, Cc-5, which is present in only one amongst 34 known and sequenced myxobacterial genomes, Corallococcus coralloides. In addition, we propose that this energy taxis cluster is involved in oxygen sensing, suggesting that C. coralloides can sense (either directly or indirectly) and then respond to changing concentrations of molecular oxygen. Conclusions This hypothesis is based on the presence of a unique MCP encoded in this gene cluster that contains two different oxygen-binding sensor domains, PAS and globin. In addition, the two monooxygenases encoded in this cluster may contribute to aerobic respiration via ubiquinone biosynthesis, which is part of the cytochrome bc1 complex. Finally, we suggest that this cluster was acquired from Actinobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria or Cyanobacteria. Overall, this in silico study has identified a potentially innovative and evolved mechanism of energy taxis in only one of the myxobacteria, C. coralloides. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-018-5151-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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