title: Conversion of mono-polar to peritrichous flagellation in Vibrio alginolyticus.
abstract: Precise regulation of the number and positioning of flagella are critical in order for the mono-polar-flagellated bacterium Vibrio alginolyticus to swim efficiently. It has been shown that, in V. alginolyticus cells, the putative GTPase FlhF determines the polar location and production of flagella, while the putative ATPase FlhG interacts with FlhF, preventing it from localizing at the pole, and thus negatively regulating the flagellar number. In fact, no ΔflhF cells have flagella, while a very small fraction of ΔflhFG cells possess peritrichous flagella. In this study, the mutants that suppress inhibition of the swarming ability of ΔflhFG cells were isolated. The mutation induced an increase in the flagellar number and, furthermore, most Vibrio cells appeared to have peritrichous flagella. The sequence of the flagella related genes was successfully determined, however, the location of the suppressor mutation could not been found. When the flhF gene was introduced into the suppressor mutant, multiple polar flagella were generated in addition to peritrichous flagella. On the other hand, introduction of the flhG gene resulted in the loss of most flagella. These results suggest that the role of FlhF is bypassed through a suppressor mutation which is not related to the flagellar genes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Micro-Nano Systems Engineering Center for Micro-Nano Mechatronics, Nagoya University, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kojima
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nishioka
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kusumoto
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yagasaki
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.forename: Michio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Homma
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016764:Cell Polarity; D005407:Flagella / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D005408:Flagellin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D009154:Mutation; D044149:Vibrio alginolyticus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D005408:Flagellin