Skip to main content
Journal of Bacteriology logoLink to Journal of Bacteriology
. 1991 Jun;173(11):3597–3600. doi: 10.1128/jb.173.11.3597-3600.1991

Protein U, a late-developmental spore coat protein of Myxococcus xanthus, is a secretory protein.

R Gollop 1, M Inouye 1, S Inouye 1
PMCID: PMC207979  PMID: 1904442

Abstract

Protein U is a spore coat protein produced at the late stage of development of Myxococcus xanthus. This protein was isolated from developmental cells, and its amino-terminal sequence was determined. On the basis of this sequence, the gene for protein U (pru) was cloned and its DNA sequence was determined, revealing an open reading frame of 179 codons. The product from this open reading frame has a typical signal peptide of 25 amino acid residues at the amino terminal end, followed by protein U of 154 residues. This result indicates that protein U is produced as a secretory precursor, pro-protein U, which is then secreted across the membrane to assemble on the spore surface. This is in sharp contrast to protein S, a major spore coat protein produced early in development, which has no signal peptide, indicating that there are two distinct pathways for trafficking of spore coat proteins during the differentiation of M. xanthus.

Full text

PDF
3599

Images in this article

Selected References

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

  1. Apelian D., Inouye S. Development-specific sigma-factor essential for late-stage differentiation of Myxococcus xanthus. Genes Dev. 1990 Aug;4(8):1396–1403. doi: 10.1101/gad.4.8.1396. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bolivar F., Rodriguez R. L., Greene P. J., Betlach M. C., Heyneker H. L., Boyer H. W., Crosa J. H., Falkow S. Construction and characterization of new cloning vehicles. II. A multipurpose cloning system. Gene. 1977;2(2):95–113. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Hagen D. C., Bretscher A. P., Kaiser D. Synergism between morphogenetic mutants of Myxococcus xanthus. Dev Biol. 1978 Jun;64(2):284–296. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(78)90079-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Inouye M., Inouye S., Zusman D. R. Biosynthesis and self-assembly of protein S, a development-specific protein of Myxococcus xanthus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Jan;76(1):209–213. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.1.209. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Inouye M., Inouye S., Zusman D. R. Gene expression during development of Myxococcus xanthus: pattern of protein synthesis. Dev Biol. 1979 Feb;68(2):579–591. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(79)90228-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Inouye S., Franceschini T., Inouye M. Structural similarities between the development-specific protein S from a gram-negative bacterium, Myxococcus xanthus, and calmodulin. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Nov;80(22):6829–6833. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.22.6829. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Inouye S., Harada W., Zusman D., Inouye M. Development-specific protein S of Myxococcus xanthus: purification and characterization. J Bacteriol. 1981 Nov;148(2):678–683. doi: 10.1128/jb.148.2.678-683.1981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Inouye S., Hsu M. Y., Eagle S., Inouye M. Reverse transcriptase associated with the biosynthesis of the branched RNA-linked msDNA in Myxococcus xanthus. Cell. 1989 Feb 24;56(4):709–717. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90593-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kaiser D. Control of multicellular development: Dictyostelium and Myxococcus. Annu Rev Genet. 1986;20:539–566. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.20.120186.002543. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Nelson D. R., Zusman D. R. Transport and localization of protein S, a spore coat protein, during fruiting body formation by Myxococcus xanthus. J Bacteriol. 1983 May;154(2):547–553. doi: 10.1128/jb.154.2.547-553.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. O'Connor K. A., Zusman D. R. Reexamination of the role of autolysis in the development of Myxococcus xanthus. J Bacteriol. 1988 Sep;170(9):4103–4112. doi: 10.1128/jb.170.9.4103-4112.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Rosenberg M., Court D. Regulatory sequences involved in the promotion and termination of RNA transcription. Annu Rev Genet. 1979;13:319–353. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.13.120179.001535. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. 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]
  14. Shimkets L. J. Control of morphogenesis in myxobacteria. Crit Rev Microbiol. 1987;14(3):195–227. doi: 10.3109/10408418709104439. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Shine J., Dalgarno L. Determinant of cistron specificity in bacterial ribosomes. Nature. 1975 Mar 6;254(5495):34–38. doi: 10.1038/254034a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Vieira J., Messing J. The pUC plasmids, an M13mp7-derived system for insertion mutagenesis and sequencing with synthetic universal primers. Gene. 1982 Oct;19(3):259–268. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(82)90015-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Wireman J. W., Dworkin M. Morphogenesis and developmental interactions in myxobacteria. Science. 1975 Aug 15;189(4202):516–523. doi: 10.1126/science.806967. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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

RESOURCES