title: Chemotaxis to pyrimidines and identification of a cytosine chemoreceptor in Pseudomonas putida.
abstract: We developed a high-throughput quantitative capillary assay and demonstrated that Pseudomonas putida strains F1 and PRS2000 were attracted to cytosine, but not thymine or uracil. In contrast, Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 was not chemotactic to any pyrimidines. Chemotaxis assays with a mutant strain of F1 in which the putative methyl-accepting chemotaxis protein-encoding gene Pput_0623 was deleted revealed that this gene (designated mcpC) encodes a chemoreceptor for positive chemotaxis to cytosine. P. putida F1 also responded weakly to cytidine, uridine, and thymidine, but these responses were not mediated by mcpC. Complementation of the F1 DeltamcpC mutant XLF004 with the wild-type gene restored chemotaxis to cytosine. In addition, introduction of this gene into P. aeruginosa PAO1 conferred the ability to respond to cytosine. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a chemoreceptor for cytosine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, 226 Briggs Hall, 1 Shields Ave., University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Xianxian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Piper L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: Juanito V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Parales
authors.forename: Rebecca E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Parales
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D002633:Chemotaxis; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003596:Cytosine / Q000378:metabolism*; D017353:Gene Deletion; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D008124:Locomotion; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000502:physiology*; D016958:Pseudomonas putida / Q000502:physiology*; D013941:Thymine / Q000378:metabolism; D014498:Uracil / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D014498:Uracil; D003596:Cytosine; D013941:Thymine