Clustering requires modified methyl-accepting sites in low-abundance but not high-abundance chemoreceptors of Escherichia coli.
Chemotaxis signalling complexes of Escherichia coli, composed of chemoreceptors, CheA and CheW, form clusters located predominantly at cell poles. As the only kind of receptor in a cell, high-abundance receptors are polar and clustered whereas low-abundance chemoreceptors are polar but largely unclustered. We found that clustering was a function of the cytoplasmic, carboxyl-terminal domain and that effective clustering was conferred on low-abundance receptors by addition of the approximately 20-residue sequence from the carboxyl terminus of either high-abundance receptor. These sequences are different but share a carboxyl-terminal pentapeptide that enhances adaptational covalent modification and allows a physiological balance between modified and unmodified methyl-accepting sites, implying that receptor modification might influence clustering. Thus we investigated directly effects of modification state on chemoreceptor clustering. As the sole receptor type in a cell, low-abundance receptors were clustered only if modified, but high-abundance receptors were clustered independent of extent of modification. This difference could mean that the two receptor types are fundamentally different or that they are poised at different positions in the same conformational equilibrium. Notably, no receptor perturbation we tested altered a predominant location at cell poles, emphasizing a distinction between determinants of clustering and polar localization.
Lybarger
Suzanne R
SR
Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, 830 North University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
Nair
Usha
U
Lilly
Angela A
AA
Hazelbauer
Gerald L
GL
Maddock
Janine R
JR
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002633:Chemotaxis; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000071677:Histidine Kinase; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000072236:Methyl-Accepting Chemotaxis Proteins; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C489103:CheW protein, E coli; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D000072236:Methyl-Accepting Chemotaxis Proteins; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D000071677:Histidine Kinase; C000607608:cheA protein, E coli