TY - JOUR
T1 - Flagella-independent surface motility in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium
AU - Park, Sun Yang
AU - Pontes, Mauricio H.
AU - Groisman, Eduardo A.
PY - 2015/2/10
Y1 - 2015/2/10
N2 - Flagella are multiprotein complexes necessary for swimming and swarming motility. In Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, flagella-mediated motility is repressed by the PhoP/PhoQ regulatory system. We now report that Salmonella can move on 0.3% agarose media in a flagella-independent manner when experiencing the PhoP/PhoQ-inducing signal low Mg2+. This motility requires the PhoP-activated mgtA, mgtC, and pagM genes, which specify a Mg2+ transporter, an inhibitor of Salmonella's own F1Fo ATPase, and a small protein of unknown function, respectively. The MgtA and MgtC proteins are necessary for pagM expression because pagM mRNA levels were lower in mgtA and mgtC mutants than in wild-type Salmonella, and also because pagM expression from a heterologous promoter rescued motility in mgtA and mgtC mutants. PagMpromotes groupmotility by a surface protein(s), as a pagM-expressing strain conferred motility upon a pagM null mutant, and proteinase K treatment eliminated motility. The pagM gene is rarely found outside subspecies I of S. enterica and often present in nonfunctional allelic forms in organisms lacking the identified motility. Deletion of the pagM gene reduced bacterial replication on 0.3% agarose low Mg2+ media but not in low Mg2+ liquid media. Our findings define a form of motility that allows Salmonella to scavenge nutrients and to escape toxic compounds in low Mg2+ semisolid environments.
AB - Flagella are multiprotein complexes necessary for swimming and swarming motility. In Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, flagella-mediated motility is repressed by the PhoP/PhoQ regulatory system. We now report that Salmonella can move on 0.3% agarose media in a flagella-independent manner when experiencing the PhoP/PhoQ-inducing signal low Mg2+. This motility requires the PhoP-activated mgtA, mgtC, and pagM genes, which specify a Mg2+ transporter, an inhibitor of Salmonella's own F1Fo ATPase, and a small protein of unknown function, respectively. The MgtA and MgtC proteins are necessary for pagM expression because pagM mRNA levels were lower in mgtA and mgtC mutants than in wild-type Salmonella, and also because pagM expression from a heterologous promoter rescued motility in mgtA and mgtC mutants. PagMpromotes groupmotility by a surface protein(s), as a pagM-expressing strain conferred motility upon a pagM null mutant, and proteinase K treatment eliminated motility. The pagM gene is rarely found outside subspecies I of S. enterica and often present in nonfunctional allelic forms in organisms lacking the identified motility. Deletion of the pagM gene reduced bacterial replication on 0.3% agarose low Mg2+ media but not in low Mg2+ liquid media. Our findings define a form of motility that allows Salmonella to scavenge nutrients and to escape toxic compounds in low Mg2+ semisolid environments.
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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1422938112
DO - 10.1073/pnas.1422938112
M3 - Article
C2 - 25624475
AN - SCOPUS:84922604945
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 112
SP - 1850
EP - 1855
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 6
ER -