A dynamically localized histidine kinase controls the asymmetric distribution of polar pili proteins.
Each cell division in Caulobacter crescentus is asymmetric, yielding a swarmer cell with several polar pili and a non-piliated stalked cell. To identify factors contributing to the asymmetric biogenesis of polar pili, cytological studies of pilus assembly components were performed. We show here that the CpaC protein, which is thought to form the outer membrane pilus secretion channel, and its assembly factor, CpaE, are localized to the cell pole prior to the polymerization of the pilus filament. We demonstrate that the PleC histidine kinase, a two-component signal transduction protein shown previously to localize to the piliated cell pole before and during pilus assembly, controls the accumulation of the pilin subunit, PilA. Using an inactive form of PleC (PleCH610A) that lacks the catalytic histidine residue, we provide evidence that PleC activity is responsible for the asymmetric distribution of CpaE and itself to only one of the two cell poles. Thus, a polar signal transduction protein controls its own asymmetric location as well as that of a factor assembling a polar organelle.
Department of Developmental Biology, Beckman Center, B351, 279 Campus Drive, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA 94305-5329, USA.
Patrick H
PH
Viollier
Nitzan
N
Sternheim
Lucy
L
Shapiro
D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology*; D001704:Biopolymers; D016935:Caulobacter crescentus / Q000166:cytology / Q000201:enzymology*; D002451:Cell Compartmentation; D002453:Cell Cycle; D016764:Cell Polarity / Q000502:physiology*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D036781:Fimbriae Proteins; D010861:Fimbriae, Bacterial / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D000071677:Histidine Kinase; D009024:Morphogenesis; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000502:physiology*; D021381:Protein Transport; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D015398:Signal Transduction
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001704:Biopolymers; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D036781:Fimbriae Proteins; D011494:Protein Kinases; D000071677:Histidine Kinase