Skip to main content
Journal of Bacteriology logoLink to Journal of Bacteriology
. 1993 May;175(10):3131–3138. doi: 10.1128/jb.175.10.3131-3138.1993

Genetic and biochemical analysis of Salmonella typhimurium FliI, a flagellar protein related to the catalytic subunit of the F0F1 ATPase and to virulence proteins of mammalian and plant pathogens.

G Dreyfus 1, A W Williams 1, I Kawagishi 1, R M Macnab 1
PMCID: PMC204635  PMID: 8491729

Abstract

FliI is a Salmonella typhimurium protein that is needed for flagellar assembly and may be involved in a specialized protein export pathway that proceeds without signal peptide cleavage. FliI shows extensive sequence similarity to the catalytic beta subunit of the F0F1 ATPase (A. P. Volger, M. Homma, V. M. Irikura, and R. M. Macnab, J. Bacteriol. 173:3564-3572, 1991). It is even more similar to the Spa47 protein of Shigella flexneri (M. M. Venkatesan, J. M. Buysse, and E. V. Oaks, J. Bacteriol. 174:1990-2001, 1992) and the HrpB6 protein of Xanthomonas campestris (S. Fenselau, I. Balbo, and U. Bonas, Mol. Plant-Microbe Interact. 5:390-396, 1992), which are believed to play a role in the export of virulence proteins. Site-directed mutagenesis of residues in FliI that correspond to catalytically important residues in the F1 beta subunit resulted in loss of flagellation, supporting the hypothesis that FliI is an ATPase. FliI was overproduced and purified almost to homogeneity. It demonstrated ATP binding but not hydrolysis. An antibody raised against FliI permitted detection of the protein in wild-type cells and an estimate of about 1,500 subunits per cell. An antibody directed against the F1 beta subunit of Escherichia coli cross-reacted with FliI, confirming that the proteins are structurally related. The relationship between three proteins involved in flagellar assembly (FliI, FlhA, and FliP) and homologs in a variety of virulence systems is discussed.

Full text

PDF
3138

Images in this article

Selected References

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

  1. Al-Shawi M. K., Parsonage D., Senior A. E. Directed mutagenesis of the strongly conserved aspartate 242 in the beta-subunit of Escherichia coli proton-ATPase. J Biol Chem. 1988 Dec 25;263(36):19633–19639. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Albertini A. M., Caramori T., Crabb W. D., Scoffone F., Galizzi A. The flaA locus of Bacillus subtilis is part of a large operon coding for flagellar structures, motility functions, and an ATPase-like polypeptide. J Bacteriol. 1991 Jun;173(11):3573–3579. doi: 10.1128/jb.173.11.3573-3579.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bartlett D. H., Matsumura P. Identification of Escherichia coli region III flagellar gene products and description of two new flagellar genes. J Bacteriol. 1984 Nov;160(2):577–585. doi: 10.1128/jb.160.2.577-585.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bischoff D. S., Weinreich M. D., Ordal G. W. Nucleotide sequences of Bacillus subtilis flagellar biosynthetic genes fliP and fliQ and identification of a novel flagellar gene, fliZ. J Bacteriol. 1992 Jun;174(12):4017–4025. doi: 10.1128/jb.174.12.4017-4025.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Carpenter P. B., Ordal G. W. Bacillus subtilis FlhA: a flagellar protein related to a new family of signal-transducing receptors. Mol Microbiol. 1993 Mar;7(5):735–743. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1993.tb01164.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Divita G., Di Pietro A., Deléage G., Roux B., Gautheron D. C. Intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence of Schizosaccharomyces pombe mitochondrial F1-ATPase. A powerful probe for phosphate and nucleotide interactions. Biochemistry. 1991 Apr 2;30(13):3256–3262. doi: 10.1021/bi00227a013. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Dubendorff J. W., Studier F. W. Controlling basal expression in an inducible T7 expression system by blocking the target T7 promoter with lac repressor. J Mol Biol. 1991 May 5;219(1):45–59. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(91)90856-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Dunn S. D., Heppel L. A. Properties and functions of the subunits of the Escherichia coli coupling factor ATPase. Arch Biochem Biophys. 1981 Sep;210(2):421–436. doi: 10.1016/0003-9861(81)90206-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Emerson S. U., Tokuyasu K., Simon M. I. Bacterial flagella: polarity of elongation. Science. 1970 Jul 10;169(3941):190–192. doi: 10.1126/science.169.3941.190. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Engelman D. M., Steitz T. A., Goldman A. Identifying nonpolar transbilayer helices in amino acid sequences of membrane proteins. Annu Rev Biophys Biophys Chem. 1986;15:321–353. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bb.15.060186.001541. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Fenselau S., Balbo I., Bonas U. Determinants of pathogenicity in Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria are related to proteins involved in secretion in bacterial pathogens of animals. Mol Plant Microbe Interact. 1992 Sep-Oct;5(5):390–396. doi: 10.1094/mpmi-5-390. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Futai M., Noumi T., Maeda M. ATP synthase (H+-ATPase): results by combined biochemical and molecular biological approaches. Annu Rev Biochem. 1989;58:111–136. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.58.070189.000551. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Galán J. E., Ginocchio C., Costeas P. Molecular and functional characterization of the Salmonella invasion gene invA: homology of InvA to members of a new protein family. J Bacteriol. 1992 Jul;174(13):4338–4349. doi: 10.1128/jb.174.13.4338-4349.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Garboczi D. N., Shenbagamurthi P., Kirk W., Hullihen J., Pedersen P. L. Mitochondrial ATP synthase. Interaction of a synthetic 50-amino acid, beta-subunit peptide with ATP. J Biol Chem. 1988 Jan 15;263(2):812–816. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Garboczi D. N., Thomas P. J., Pedersen P. L. Rat liver mitochondrial ATP synthase. Effects of mutations in the glycine-rich region of a beta subunit peptide on its interaction with adenine nucleotides. J Biol Chem. 1990 Aug 25;265(24):14632–14637. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Gething M. J., Sambrook J. Protein folding in the cell. Nature. 1992 Jan 2;355(6355):33–45. doi: 10.1038/355033a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Homma M., DeRosier D. J., Macnab R. M. Flagellar hook and hook-associated proteins of Salmonella typhimurium and their relationship to other axial components of the flagellum. J Mol Biol. 1990 Jun 20;213(4):819–832. doi: 10.1016/S0022-2836(05)80266-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Homma M., Iino T., Macnab R. M. Identification and characterization of the products of six region III flagellar genes (flaAII.3 through flaQII) of Salmonella typhimurium. J Bacteriol. 1988 May;170(5):2221–2228. doi: 10.1128/jb.170.5.2221-2228.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Homma M., Kutsukake K., Hasebe M., Iino T., Macnab R. M. FlgB, FlgC, FlgF and FlgG. A family of structurally related proteins in the flagellar basal body of Salmonella typhimurium. J Mol Biol. 1990 Jan 20;211(2):465–477. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(90)90365-S. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Hwang I., Lim S. M., Shaw P. D. Cloning and characterization of pathogenicity genes from Xanthomonas campestris pv. glycines. J Bacteriol. 1992 Mar;174(6):1923–1931. doi: 10.1128/jb.174.6.1923-1931.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Iino T. Polarity of flagellar growth in salmonella. J Gen Microbiol. 1969 May;56(2):227–239. doi: 10.1099/00221287-56-2-227. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. 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]
  23. Jones C. J., Macnab R. M. Flagellar assembly in Salmonella typhimurium: analysis with temperature-sensitive mutants. J Bacteriol. 1990 Mar;172(3):1327–1339. doi: 10.1128/jb.172.3.1327-1339.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Kramer W., Drutsa V., Jansen H. W., Kramer B., Pflugfelder M., Fritz H. J. The gapped duplex DNA approach to oligonucleotide-directed mutation construction. Nucleic Acids Res. 1984 Dec 21;12(24):9441–9456. doi: 10.1093/nar/12.24.9441. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Kubori T., Shimamoto N., Yamaguchi S., Namba K., Aizawa S. Morphological pathway of flagellar assembly in Salmonella typhimurium. J Mol Biol. 1992 Jul 20;226(2):433–446. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(92)90958-m. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Kutsukake K., Iino T., Komeda Y., Yamaguchi S. Functional homology of fla genes between Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli. Mol Gen Genet. 1980 Apr;178(1):59–67. doi: 10.1007/BF00267213. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Luis A. M., Alconada A., Cuezva J. M. The alpha regulatory subunit of the mitochondrial F1-ATPase complex is a heat-shock protein. Identification of two highly conserved amino acid sequences among the alpha-subunits and molecular chaperones. J Biol Chem. 1990 May 15;265(14):7713–7716. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Macnab R. M. Examination of bacterial flagellation by dark-field microscopy. J Clin Microbiol. 1976 Sep;4(3):258–265. doi: 10.1128/jcm.4.3.258-265.1976. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Namba K., Yamashita I., Vonderviszt F. Structure of the core and central channel of bacterial flagella. Nature. 1989 Dec 7;342(6250):648–654. doi: 10.1038/342648a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Parsonage D., Wilke-Mounts S., Senior A. E. Directed mutagenesis of the beta-subunit of F1-ATPase from Escherichia coli. J Biol Chem. 1987 Jun 15;262(17):8022–8026. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Plano G. V., Barve S. S., Straley S. C. LcrD, a membrane-bound regulator of the Yersinia pestis low-calcium response. J Bacteriol. 1991 Nov;173(22):7293–7303. doi: 10.1128/jb.173.22.7293-7303.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Ramakrishnan G., Zhao J. L., Newton A. The cell cycle-regulated flagellar gene flbF of Caulobacter crescentus is homologous to a virulence locus (lcrD) of Yersinia pestis. J Bacteriol. 1991 Nov;173(22):7283–7292. doi: 10.1128/jb.173.22.7283-7292.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Ruiz T., Francis N. R., Morgan D. G., DeRosier D. J. Size of the export channel in the flagellar filament of Salmonella typhimurium. Ultramicroscopy. 1993 Feb;49(1-4):417–425. doi: 10.1016/0304-3991(93)90247-u. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. 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]
  35. Schägger H., von Jagow G. Tricine-sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis for the separation of proteins in the range from 1 to 100 kDa. Anal Biochem. 1987 Nov 1;166(2):368–379. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(87)90587-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Senior A. E. The proton-translocating ATPase of Escherichia coli. Annu Rev Biophys Biophys Chem. 1990;19:7–41. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bb.19.060190.000255. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Suzuki T., Iino T., Horiguchi T., Yamaguchi S. Incomplete flagellar structures in nonflagellate mutants of Salmonella typhimurium. J Bacteriol. 1978 Feb;133(2):904–915. doi: 10.1128/jb.133.2.904-915.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. Suzuki T., Komeda Y. Incomplete flagellar structures in Escherichia coli mutants. J Bacteriol. 1981 Feb;145(2):1036–1041. doi: 10.1128/jb.145.2.1036-1041.1981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. Towbin H., Staehelin T., Gordon J. Electrophoretic transfer of proteins from polyacrylamide gels to nitrocellulose sheets: procedure and some applications. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Sep;76(9):4350–4354. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.9.4350. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  40. Venkatesan M. M., Buysse J. M., Oaks E. V. Surface presentation of Shigella flexneri invasion plasmid antigens requires the products of the spa locus. J Bacteriol. 1992 Mar;174(6):1990–2001. doi: 10.1128/jb.174.6.1990-2001.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  41. Vogler A. P., Homma M., Irikura V. M., Macnab R. M. Salmonella typhimurium mutants defective in flagellar filament regrowth and sequence similarity of FliI to F0F1, vacuolar, and archaebacterial ATPase subunits. J Bacteriol. 1991 Jun;173(11):3564–3572. doi: 10.1128/jb.173.11.3564-3572.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  42. Walker J. E., Saraste M., Runswick M. J., Gay N. J. Distantly related sequences in the alpha- and beta-subunits of ATP synthase, myosin, kinases and other ATP-requiring enzymes and a common nucleotide binding fold. EMBO J. 1982;1(8):945–951. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1982.tb01276.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  43. Wise J. G. Site-directed mutagenesis of the conserved beta subunit tyrosine 331 of Escherichia coli ATP synthase yields catalytically active enzymes. J Biol Chem. 1990 Jun 25;265(18):10403–10409. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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

RESOURCES