Characterisation of a Pseudomonas aeruginosa twitching motility gene and evidence for a specialised protein export system widespread in eubacteria

Whitchurch, CB; Hobbs, M; Livingston, SP; Krishnapillai, V; Mattick, JS

Characterisation of a Pseudomonas aeruginosa twitching motility gene and evidence for a specialised protein export system widespread in eubacteria

Whitchurch, CB

Hobbs, M Livingston, SP Krishnapillai, V Mattick, JS

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Gene, 1991, 101 (1), pp. 33 - 44
Issue Date:: 1991-05-15

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Whitchurch, CB https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2296-3791	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Hobbs, M	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Livingston, SP	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Krishnapillai, V	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Mattick, JS	en_US
dc.date.issued	1991-05-15	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Gene, 1991, 101 (1), pp. 33 - 44	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0378-1119	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/9652
dc.description.abstract	Type-4 fimbriae (pili) are associated with a phenomenon known as twitching motility, which appears to be involved with bacterial translocation across solid surfaces. Pseudomonas aeruginosa mutants which produce fimbriae, but which have lost the twitching motility function, display altered colony morphology and resistance to fimbrial-specific bacteriophage. We have used phenotypic complementation of such mutants to isolate a region of DNA involved in twitching motility. This region was physically mapped to a SpeI fragment around 20 min on the P. aeruginosa PAO chromosome, remote from the major fimbrial locus (around 75 min) where the structural subunit-encoding gene (fimA/pilA) and ancillary genes required for fimbrial assembly (pilB, C and D) are found. A gene, pilT, within the twitching motility region is predicted to encode a 344-amino acid protein which has strong homology to a variety of other bacterial proteins. These include the P. aeruginosa PilB protein, the ComG ORF-1 protein from the Bacillus subtilis comG operon (necessary for competence), the PulE protein from the Klebsiella oxytoca (formerly K. pneumoniae) pulC-O operon (involved in pullulanase export), and the VirB-11 protein from the virB operon (involved in virulence) which is located on the Agrobacterium tumefaciens Ti plasmid. We have also identified other sets of homologies between P. aeruginosa fimbrial assembly (Pil) proteins and B. subtilis Com and K. oxytoca Pul proteins, which suggest that these are all related members of a specialised protein export pathway which is widespread in the eubacteria. © 1991.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Gene	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1016/0378-1119(91)90221-V	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Developmental Biology	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Fimbriae, Bacterial	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Pseudomonas aeruginosa	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Restriction Mapping	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Amino Acid Sequence	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Base Sequence	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Biological Transport, Active	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Genes, Bacterial	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Open Reading Frames	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Molecular Sequence Data	en_US
dc.title	Characterisation of a Pseudomonas aeruginosa twitching motility gene and evidence for a specialised protein export system widespread in eubacteria	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	1	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	101	en_US
utslib.for	1108 Medical Microbiology	en_US
utslib.for	0604 Genetics	en_US
utslib.for	0606 Physiology	en_US
dc.location.activity	ISI:A1991FW48800005	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - ithree - Institute of Infection, Immunity and Innovation
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.issue	1	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	101	en_US

Abstract:

Type-4 fimbriae (pili) are associated with a phenomenon known as twitching motility, which appears to be involved with bacterial translocation across solid surfaces. Pseudomonas aeruginosa mutants which produce fimbriae, but which have lost the twitching motility function, display altered colony morphology and resistance to fimbrial-specific bacteriophage. We have used phenotypic complementation of such mutants to isolate a region of DNA involved in twitching motility. This region was physically mapped to a SpeI fragment around 20 min on the P. aeruginosa PAO chromosome, remote from the major fimbrial locus (around 75 min) where the structural subunit-encoding gene (fimA/pilA) and ancillary genes required for fimbrial assembly (pilB, C and D) are found. A gene, pilT, within the twitching motility region is predicted to encode a 344-amino acid protein which has strong homology to a variety of other bacterial proteins. These include the P. aeruginosa PilB protein, the ComG ORF-1 protein from the Bacillus subtilis comG operon (necessary for competence), the PulE protein from the Klebsiella oxytoca (formerly K. pneumoniae) pulC-O operon (involved in pullulanase export), and the VirB-11 protein from the virB operon (involved in virulence) which is located on the Agrobacterium tumefaciens Ti plasmid. We have also identified other sets of homologies between P. aeruginosa fimbrial assembly (Pil) proteins and B. subtilis Com and K. oxytoca Pul proteins, which suggest that these are all related members of a specialised protein export pathway which is widespread in the eubacteria. © 1991.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/9652