title: Citrinin, a mycotoxin from Penicillium citrinum, plays a role in inducing motility of Paenibacillus polymyxa.
abstract: Paenibacillus polymyxa, a Gram-positive low-G+C spore-forming soil bacterium, belongs to the plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria. The swarming motility of P. polymyxa strain E681 was greatly induced by a secondary metabolite, citrinin, produced by Penicillium citrinum KCTC6549 in a dose-dependent manner at concentrations of 2.5-15.0 microg mL(-1) on tryptic soy agar plates containing 1.0% (w/v) agar. Flagellum staining showed that citrinin activated the production of flagella by P. polymyxa. This result was supported by reverse transcriptase-PCR analysis of gene expression, which showed increased transcriptional levels of sigD and hag homologues of P. polymyxa E681 in the presence of citrinin. The results presented here show that a mycotoxin, citrinin, has a newly identified function of inducing bacterial motility by transcriptional activation of related genes. This finding contributes to our understanding of the interactions between bacteria and fungal strains in nature.
authors.affiliation: Systems Microbiology Research Center, KRIBB, Daejeon, Korea.
authors.forename: Soo-Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Rumi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Choong-Min
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Ryu
authors.forename: Soo-Keun
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Choong-Hwan
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jong-Guk
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Seung-Hwan
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000187:drug effects; D002633:Chemotaxis; D002953:Citrinin / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005407:Flagella / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D016936:Gram-Positive Endospore-Forming Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D009183:Mycotoxins / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010407:Penicillium / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D009183:Mycotoxins; D002953:Citrinin