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Heterologous protein transfer within structured myxobacteria biofilms.
Mol Microbiol. 2011 Jul; 81(2):315-26
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02 Sep 2011
New Finding
DOI: 10.3410/f.13084956.14420056
Wei and colleagues present a mechanism of lipoprotein transfer between cells of the Gram-negative bacterium Myxococcus xanthus. This work provides insight into protein transfer in bacteria.
Using a wide variety of systems, bacteria are able to transfer proteins within and between species. In the Grnegative...Continue reading
Using a wide variety of systems, bacteria are able to transfer proteins within and between species. In the Grnegative...Continue reading
Wei and colleagues present a mechanism of lipoprotein transfer between cells of the Gram-negative bacterium Myxococcus xanthus. This work provides insight into protein transfer in bacteria.
Using a wide variety of systems, bacteria are able to transfer proteins within and between species. In the Gram-negative bacterium Myxococcus xanthus, two systems, A and S, control motility. Cell-cell transfer of lipoproteins from a wild-type strain can rescue motility in a non-motile mutant (one that lacks both the A and S systems). Here, Wei and colleagues present a mechanism of lipoprotein transfer between cells. They created an mCherry construct that localizes to either the outer membrane or the inner membrane and, using co-culture experiments with various strains, show that localization to the outer membrane is required for lipoprotein transfer between cells. Transfer also required a solid surface, as it did not occur in liquid or soft agar. Interestingly, motility and cell alignment play critical roles in lipoprotein transfer. These findings raise the question of whether this mechanism of protein transfer occurs in other bacterial species.
Using a wide variety of systems, bacteria are able to transfer proteins within and between species. In the Gram-negative bacterium Myxococcus xanthus, two systems, A and S, control motility. Cell-cell transfer of lipoproteins from a wild-type strain can rescue motility in a non-motile mutant (one that lacks both the A and S systems). Here, Wei and colleagues present a mechanism of lipoprotein transfer between cells. They created an mCherry construct that localizes to either the outer membrane or the inner membrane and, using co-culture experiments with various strains, show that localization to the outer membrane is required for lipoprotein transfer between cells. Transfer also required a solid surface, as it did not occur in liquid or soft agar. Interestingly, motility and cell alignment play critical roles in lipoprotein transfer. These findings raise the question of whether this mechanism of protein transfer occurs in other bacterial species.
Disclosures
None declared
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Whiteley M and Huse H: F1000Prime Recommendation of [Wei X et al., Mol Microbiol 2011, 81(2):315-26]. In F1000Prime, 02 Sep 2011; DOI: 10.3410/f.13084956.14420056. F1000Prime.com/13084956#eval14420056
F1000Prime Recommendations, Dissents and Comments for [Wei X et al., Mol Microbiol 2011, 81(2):315-26]. In F1000Prime, 25 May 2013; F1000Prime.com/13084956
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Microbial biofilms represent heterogeneous populations of cells that form intimate contacts. Within these populations cells communicate, cooperate and compete. Myxobacteria are noted for their complex social interactions, including gliding motility and lipoprotein exchange. Here, we investigated cis protein sequence and cellular behaviour requirements for lipoprotein transfer between Myxococcus xanthus cells. Specifically, an outer membrane (OM) type II signal sequence (SS) fused to the heterologous mCherry fluorescent reporter resulted in OM localization. When donor cells harbouring SS(OM)-mCherry were mixed with GFP-labelled recipient cells they developed red fluorescence. Our results surprisingly showed that a type II SS for OM localization, but not inner membrane localization, was necessary and sufficient for rapid and efficient heterologous protein transfer. Importantly, transfer did not occur in liquid or on surfaces where cells were poorly aligned. We conclude that cell-cell contact and alignment is a critical step for lipoprotein exchange. We hypothesize that protein transfer facilitates cooperative myxobacteria behaviours.
© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2011.07710.x
PMID: 21635581
