Flagella-independent surface motility in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium

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.