Bacterial chemoreceptor signaling probed by flash photorelease of a caged serine.
A caged serine, a photolabile compound that liberates serine upon photolysis, has been synthesized. Smooth-swimming responses of the bacterium Escherichia coli to caged serine photorelease were videotaped. The mean latency was measured from the videorecords using computerized motion analysis. This time was approximately 0.2 s. Caged photorelease of a photolabile but nonchemotactic serine analogue had no effect on the swimming behavior of the bacteria. A tumbly mutant strain lacking tsr, the serine chemoreceptor, did not respond to caged serine photorelease.
Khan
S
S
Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461.
Amoyaw
K
K
Spudich
J L
JL
Reid
G P
GP
Trentham
D R
DR
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology; D002628:Chemoreceptor Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D002633:Chemotaxis / Q000502:physiology; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000502:physiology*; D005407:Flagella / Q000502:physiology; D010782:Photolysis; D012694:Serine / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D012694:Serine