title: Analysing protein-protein interactions of the Myxococcus xanthus Dif signalling pathway using the yeast two-hybrid system.
abstract: The dif operon is essential for fruiting body formation, fibril (exopolysaccharide) production and social motility of Myxococcus xanthus. The dif locus contains a gene cluster homologous to chemotaxis genes such as mcp (difA), cheW (difC), cheY (difD), cheA (difE) and cheC (difF), as well as an unknown ORF called difB. This study used yeast two-hybrid analysis to investigate possible interactions between Dif proteins, and determined that DifA, C, D and E interact in a similar fashion to chemotaxis proteins of Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis. It also showed that DifF interacted with DifD, and that the novel protein DifB did not interact with Dif proteins. Furthermore, DifA-F proteins were used to determine other possible protein-protein interactions in the M. xanthus genomic library. The authors not only confirmed the specific interactions among known Dif proteins, but also discovered two novel interactions between DifE and Nla19, and DifB and YidC, providing some new information about the Dif signalling pathway. Based on these findings, a model for the Dif signalling pathway is proposed.
authors.affiliation: School of Dentistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1668, USA.
authors.forename: Hope L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Lancero
authors.affiliation: School of Dentistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1668, USA.
authors.forename: Schryl
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Castaneda
authors.affiliation: School of Molecular Biosciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA.|Department of Biology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA.
authors.forename: Nora B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Caberoy
authors.affiliation: School of Dentistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1668, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaoyuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA.
authors.forename: Anthony G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Garza
authors.affiliation: School of Dentistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1668, USA.|Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1668, USA.|Molecular Biology Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1668, USA.
authors.forename: Wenyuan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shi
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D002633:Chemotaxis; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D005810:Multigene Family; D016941:Myxococcus xanthus / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial / Q000096:biosynthesis; D015398:Signal Transduction; D020798:Two-Hybrid System Techniques
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C117792:DifA protein, Myxococcus xanthus; C117793:DifE protein, Myxococcus xanthus; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial