Skip to main content
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1979 Jan;76(1):91–95. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.1.91

Thermosensory transduction in Escherichia coli: inhibition of the thermoresponse by L-serine.

K Maeda, Y Imae
PMCID: PMC382882  PMID: 370831

Abstract

Information processing of the thermoresponse in Escherichia coli was compared with that of the chemoresponse. Competition experiments between various chemical stimuli and the thermal stimulus showed that only L-serine was a potent inhibitor of the thermosensory transduction. The concentration of L-serine necessary for complete inhibition of the thermoresponse was about 0.1 mM. L-Serine at this concentration did not inhibit chemoresponses to many amino acids. Pleiotropic aspartate-taxis mutants (tar) showed normal thermoresponse but pleiotropic serine-taxis mutants (tsr) showed decreased or almost no thermoresponse. These results suggest that the thermosensory transducing system in E. coli has an intimate interaction with the chemosensory transducing pathway specific for L-serine. A simple model for the thermosensory transduction is discussed.

Full text

PDF
95

Selected References

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

  1. Adler J. Chemotaxis in bacteria. Annu Rev Biochem. 1975;44:341–356. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.44.070175.002013. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Adler J. The sensing of chemicals by bacteria. Sci Am. 1976 Apr;234(4):40–47. doi: 10.1038/scientificamerican0476-40. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Armstrong J. B., Adler J. Complementation of nonchemotactic mutants of Escherichia coli. Genetics. 1969 Jan;61(1):61–66. doi: 10.1093/genetics/61.1.61. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Berg H. C., Brown D. A. Chemotaxis in Escherichia coli analysed by three-dimensional tracking. Nature. 1972 Oct 27;239(5374):500–504. doi: 10.1038/239500a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hazelbauer G. L., Adler J. Role of the galactose binding protein in chemotaxis of Escherichia coli toward galactose. Nat New Biol. 1971 Mar 24;230(12):101–104. doi: 10.1038/newbio230101a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Koshland D. E., Jr A response regulator model in a simple sensory system. Science. 1977 Jun 3;196(4294):1055–1063. doi: 10.1126/science.870969. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Maeda K., Imae Y., Shioi J. I., Oosawa F. Effect of temperature on motility and chemotaxis of Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1976 Sep;127(3):1039–1046. doi: 10.1128/jb.127.3.1039-1046.1976. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Mesibov R., Adler J. Chemotaxis toward amino acids in Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1972 Oct;112(1):315–326. doi: 10.1128/jb.112.1.315-326.1972. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Parkinson J. S. Behavioral genetics in bacteria. Annu Rev Genet. 1977;11:397–414. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.11.120177.002145. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Parkinson J. S. Complementation analysis and deletion mapping of Escherichia coli mutants defective in chemotaxis. J Bacteriol. 1978 Jul;135(1):45–53. doi: 10.1128/jb.135.1.45-53.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Parkinson J. S. Data processing by the chemotaxis machinery of Escherichia coli. Nature. 1974 Nov 22;252(5481):317–319. doi: 10.1038/252317a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Silverman M., Simon M. Chemotaxis in Escherichia coli: methylation of che gene products. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Aug;74(8):3317–3321. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.8.3317. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Springer M. S., Goy M. F., Adler J. Sensory transduction in Escherichia coli: two complementary pathways of information processing that involve methylated proteins. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Aug;74(8):3312–3316. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.8.3312. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Spudich J. L., Koshland D. E., Jr Quantitation of the sensory response in bacterial chemotaxis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1975 Feb;72(2):710–713. doi: 10.1073/pnas.72.2.710. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Strange P. G., Koshland D. E., Jr Receptor interactions in a signalling system: competition between ribose receptor and galactose receptor in the chemotaxis response. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1976 Mar;73(3):762–766. doi: 10.1073/pnas.73.3.762. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Taylor B. L., Koshland D. E., Jr Intrinsic and extrinsic light responses of Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1975 Aug;123(2):557–569. doi: 10.1128/jb.123.2.557-569.1975. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Taylor B. L., Koshland D. E., Jr Perturbation of the chemotactic tumbling of bacteria. J Supramol Struct. 1976;4(3):343–353. doi: 10.1002/jss.400040305. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES