title: Mycobacterium smegmatis biofilm formation and sliding motility are affected by the serine/threonine protein kinase PknF.
abstract: Eighteen 'eukaryotic-like' serine/threonine kinases are present in the Mycobacterium smegmatis genome. One of them encoded by the ORF 3677 demonstrates high similarity to the Mycobacterium tuberculosis protein kinase PknF. A merodiploid strain was generated, which showed reduced growth associated with irregular cell structure. The merodiploid strain displayed altered colony morphology, defective sliding motility and biofilm formation. These data indicate a role for PknF in biofilm formation, possibly associated with alterations in glycopeptidolipid composition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Tuberculosis Research Centre (ICMR), Chetput, Chennai, India.
authors.forename: Radha
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gopalaswamy
authors.forename: Sujatha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Narayanan
authors.forename: William R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.forename: Yossef
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Av-Gay
mesh_terms: D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D009068:Movement; D020102:Mycobacterium smegmatis / Q000166:cytology / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: C487814:PknF protein, Mycobacterium tuberculosis; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases