Skip to main content
Journal of Bacteriology logoLink to Journal of Bacteriology
. 1995 Feb;177(3):823–828. doi: 10.1128/jb.177.3.823-828.1995

Genetic analysis of Proteus mirabilis mutants defective in swarmer cell elongation.

R Belas 1, M Goldman 1, K Ashliman 1
PMCID: PMC176664  PMID: 7836320

Abstract

Swarmer cell differentiation is a complex process involving the activity of many gene products. In this report, we characterized the genetic locus of Tn5 insertion in each of 12 mutants defective in swarmer cell elongation. The mutations fell into four categories affecting either flagellar biosynthesis or energetics, lipopolysaccharide and cell wall biosynthesis, cellular division, or proteolysis of peptides.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (543.0 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Allison C., Hughes C. Bacterial swarming: an example of prokaryotic differentiation and multicellular behaviour. Sci Prog. 1991;75(298 Pt 3-4):403–422. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Allison C., Lai H. C., Gygi D., Hughes C. Cell differentiation of Proteus mirabilis is initiated by glutamine, a specific chemoattractant for swarming cells. Mol Microbiol. 1993 Apr;8(1):53–60. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1993.tb01202.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Altschul S. F., Gish W., Miller W., Myers E. W., Lipman D. J. Basic local alignment search tool. J Mol Biol. 1990 Oct 5;215(3):403–410. doi: 10.1016/S0022-2836(05)80360-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Asai T., Takanami M., Imai M. The AT richness and gid transcription determine the left border of the replication origin of the E. coli chromosome. EMBO J. 1990 Dec;9(12):4065–4072. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1990.tb07628.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bastin D. A., Stevenson G., Brown P. K., Haase A., Reeves P. R. Repeat unit polysaccharides of bacteria: a model for polymerization resembling that of ribosomes and fatty acid synthetase, with a novel mechanism for determining chain length. Mol Microbiol. 1993 Mar;7(5):725–734. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1993.tb01163.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Belas R., Erskine D., Flaherty D. Proteus mirabilis mutants defective in swarmer cell differentiation and multicellular behavior. J Bacteriol. 1991 Oct;173(19):6279–6288. doi: 10.1128/jb.173.19.6279-6288.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Belas R., Erskine D., Flaherty D. Transposon mutagenesis in Proteus mirabilis. J Bacteriol. 1991 Oct;173(19):6289–6293. doi: 10.1128/jb.173.19.6289-6293.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Belas R. Expression of multiple flagellin-encoding genes of Proteus mirabilis. J Bacteriol. 1994 Dec;176(23):7169–7181. doi: 10.1128/jb.176.23.7169-7181.1994. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Belas R., Flaherty D. Sequence and genetic analysis of multiple flagellin-encoding genes from Proteus mirabilis. Gene. 1994 Oct 11;148(1):33–41. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(94)90230-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Belas R., Simon M., Silverman M. Regulation of lateral flagella gene transcription in Vibrio parahaemolyticus. J Bacteriol. 1986 Jul;167(1):210–218. doi: 10.1128/jb.167.1.210-218.1986. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Bouvier J., Richaud C., Higgins W., Bögler O., Stragier P. Cloning, characterization, and expression of the dapE gene of Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1992 Aug;174(16):5265–5271. doi: 10.1128/jb.174.16.5265-5271.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Chen L., Coleman W. G., Jr Cloning and characterization of the Escherichia coli K-12 rfa-2 (rfaC) gene, a gene required for lipopolysaccharide inner core synthesis. J Bacteriol. 1993 May;175(9):2534–2540. doi: 10.1128/jb.175.9.2534-2540.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Dai K., Lutkenhaus J. ftsZ is an essential cell division gene in Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1991 Jun;173(11):3500–3506. doi: 10.1128/jb.173.11.3500-3506.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Devereux J., Haeberli P., Smithies O. A comprehensive set of sequence analysis programs for the VAX. Nucleic Acids Res. 1984 Jan 11;12(1 Pt 1):387–395. doi: 10.1093/nar/12.1part1.387. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Gish W., States D. J. Identification of protein coding regions by database similarity search. Nat Genet. 1993 Mar;3(3):266–272. doi: 10.1038/ng0393-266. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Jiang X. M., Neal B., Santiago F., Lee S. J., Romana L. K., Reeves P. R. Structure and sequence of the rfb (O antigen) gene cluster of Salmonella serovar typhimurium (strain LT2). Mol Microbiol. 1991 Mar;5(3):695–713. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1991.tb00741.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Jones C. J., Homma M., Macnab R. M. L-, P-, and M-ring proteins of the flagellar basal body of Salmonella typhimurium: gene sequences and deduced protein sequences. J Bacteriol. 1989 Jul;171(7):3890–3900. doi: 10.1128/jb.171.7.3890-3900.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Kihara M., Homma M., Kutsukake K., Macnab R. M. Flagellar switch of Salmonella typhimurium: gene sequences and deduced protein sequences. J Bacteriol. 1989 Jun;171(6):3247–3257. doi: 10.1128/jb.171.6.3247-3257.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Liu D., Haase A. M., Lindqvist L., Lindberg A. A., Reeves P. R. Glycosyl transferases of O-antigen biosynthesis in Salmonella enterica: identification and characterization of transferase genes of groups B, C2, and E1. J Bacteriol. 1993 Jun;175(11):3408–3413. doi: 10.1128/jb.175.11.3408-3413.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Lutkenhaus J. Regulation of cell division in E. coli. Trends Genet. 1990 Jan;6(1):22–25. doi: 10.1016/0168-9525(90)90045-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Macnab R. M. Genetics and biogenesis of bacterial flagella. Annu Rev Genet. 1992;26:131–158. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.26.120192.001023. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. McCarter L., Hilmen M., Silverman M. Flagellar dynamometer controls swarmer cell differentiation of V. parahaemolyticus. Cell. 1988 Jul 29;54(3):345–351. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90197-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Morona R., Mavris M., Fallarino A., Manning P. A. Characterization of the rfc region of Shigella flexneri. J Bacteriol. 1994 Feb;176(3):733–747. doi: 10.1128/jb.176.3.733-747.1994. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Nakahigashi K., Inokuchi H. Nucleotide sequence between the fadB gene and the rrnA operon from Escherichia coli. Nucleic Acids Res. 1990 Nov 11;18(21):6439–6439. doi: 10.1093/nar/18.21.6439. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Ogawa T., Okazaki T. Concurrent transcription from the gid and mioC promoters activates replication of an Escherichia coli minichromosome. Mol Gen Genet. 1991 Nov;230(1-2):193–200. doi: 10.1007/BF00290668. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Pegues J. C., Chen L. S., Gordon A. W., Ding L., Coleman W. G., Jr Cloning, expression, and characterization of the Escherichia coli K-12 rfaD gene. J Bacteriol. 1990 Aug;172(8):4652–4660. doi: 10.1128/jb.172.8.4652-4660.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Raha M., Sockett H., Macnab R. M. Characterization of the fliL gene in the flagellar regulon of Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium. J Bacteriol. 1994 Apr;176(8):2308–2311. doi: 10.1128/jb.176.8.2308-2311.1994. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Sanger F., Nicklen S., Coulson A. R. DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Dec;74(12):5463–5467. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.12.5463. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Sirisena D. M., Brozek K. A., MacLachlan P. R., Sanderson K. E., Raetz C. R. The rfaC gene of Salmonella typhimurium. Cloning, sequencing, and enzymatic function in heptose transfer to lipopolysaccharide. J Biol Chem. 1992 Sep 15;267(26):18874–18884. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Stephens C. M., Shapiro L. An unusual promoter controls cell-cycle regulation and dependence on DNA replication of the Caulobacter fliLM early flagellar operon. Mol Microbiol. 1993 Sep;9(6):1169–1179. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1993.tb01246.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Varón D., Boylan S. A., Okamoto K., Price C. W. Bacillus subtilis gtaB encodes UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase and is controlled by stationary-phase transcription factor sigma B. J Bacteriol. 1993 Jul;175(13):3964–3971. doi: 10.1128/jb.175.13.3964-3971.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. de Boer P. A., Cook W. R., Rothfield L. I. Bacterial cell division. Annu Rev Genet. 1990;24:249–274. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.24.120190.001341. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. de Lorenzo V., Herrero M., Jakubzik U., Timmis K. N. Mini-Tn5 transposon derivatives for insertion mutagenesis, promoter probing, and chromosomal insertion of cloned DNA in gram-negative eubacteria. J Bacteriol. 1990 Nov;172(11):6568–6572. doi: 10.1128/jb.172.11.6568-6572.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. von Meyenburg K., Jørgensen B. B., Nielsen J., Hansen F. G. Promoters of the atp operon coding for the membrane-bound ATP synthase of Escherichia coli mapped by Tn10 insertion mutations. Mol Gen Genet. 1982;188(2):240–248. doi: 10.1007/BF00332682. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Bacteriology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES