title: Differential flagellin expression in a flaA flaB+ mutant of Campylobacter jejuni.
abstract: Campylobacter jejuni 81116 has two genes coding for flagellin, flaA and flaB. Fully motile wild-type C. jejuni bacteria express the flaA gene, with no flaB message being detected. A nonmotile flaA flaB+ mutant, R1, produced detectable levels of flagellin B which was incorporated into truncated flagella. After R1 had invaded INT-407 cells, a variant with increased motility, R1-V2, was isolated. R1-V2 produced full-length flagella and an increased amount of flagellin B. Transcriptional analysis showed that R1-V2 contained more flaB mRNA than its parental strain, R1. The flaB gene promoter sequence and primer extension experiments confirmed that transcription of the flaB gene is initiated from a sigma 54 promoter. Neither the promoter sequence nor the coding sequence of flaB had changed in R1-V2. In contrast to R1, R1-V2 no longer produced (truncated) flaA mRNA. The sigma 28 flaA promoter sequence was not changed in R1-V2. We propose that expression of the two flagellin genes in C. jejuni 81116 is regulated at the transcriptional level, in such a way that predominantly one gene at a time is transcribed. We compared the levels of invasiveness of the wild-type strain, R1, and R1-V2 for INT-407 cells. The shift in expression from flaA to flaB occurred not only during invasion assays but also under different conditions in the absence of eukaryotic cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bacteriology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Wassenaar
authors.forename: N M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Bleumink-Pluym
authors.forename: D G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Newell
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Nuijten
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: van der Zeijst
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D016123:Campylobacter jejuni / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D005408:Flagellin / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics*; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D005408:Flagellin; C067138:flaA protein, bacteria; C416532:flaB flagellin