Relationships between C4 dicarboxylic acid transport and chemotaxis in Rhizobium meliloti.
The relationship between chemotaxis and transport of C4 dicarboxylic acids was analyzed with Rhizobium meliloti dct mutants defective in one or all of the genes required for dicarboxylic acid transport. Succinate, malate, and fumarate were moderately potent chemoattractants for wild-type R. meliloti and appeared to share a common chemoreceptor. While dicarboxylate transport is inducible, taxis to succinate was shown to be constitutive. Mutations in the dctA and dctB genes both resulted in the reduction, but not elimination, of chemotactic responses to succinate, indicating that transport via DctA or chemosensing via DctB is not essential for C4 dicarboxylate taxis, although they appear to contribute to it. Mutations in dctD and rpoN genes did not affect taxis to succinate. Aspartate, which is also transported by the dicarboxylate transport system, elicited strong chemotactic responses via a chemoreceptor distinct from the succinate-malate-fumarate receptor. Taxis to aspartate was unaltered in dctA and dctB mutants but was considerably reduced in both dctD and rpoN mutants, indicating that aspartate taxis is strongly dependent on elements responsible for transcriptional activation of dctA. Methylation and methanol release experiments failed to show a significant increase in methyl esterification of R. meliloti proteins in response to any of the attractants tested.
Robinson
J B
JB
Department of Agronomy, Ohio State University, Columbus 43210.
Bauer
W D
WD
D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000494:pharmacology; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D001692:Biological Transport; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D002633:Chemotaxis; D003515:Cycloleucine / Q000494:pharmacology; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases; D029382:Dicarboxylic Acid Transporters; D003998:Dicarboxylic Acids / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D000432:Methanol / Q000378:metabolism; D008745:Methylation; D009154:Mutation; D051877:RNA Polymerase Sigma 54; D012808:Sigma Factor / Q000235:genetics; D016962:Sinorhizobium meliloti / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029382:Dicarboxylic Acid Transporters; D003998:Dicarboxylic Acids; D012808:Sigma Factor; D003515:Cycloleucine; C073786:dctA protein, Sinorhizobium meliloti; C073787:DCTB protein, Sinorhizobium; D001224:Aspartic Acid; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases; D051877:RNA Polymerase Sigma 54; D000432:Methanol