title: RecA protein plays a role in the chemotactic response and chemoreceptor clustering of Salmonella enterica.
abstract: The RecA protein is the main bacterial recombinase and the activator of the SOS system. In Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica sv. Typhimurium, RecA is also essential for swarming, a flagellar-driven surface translocation mechanism widespread among bacteria. In this work, the direct interaction between RecA and the CheW coupling protein was confirmed, and the motility and chemotactic phenotype of a S. Typhimurium ΔrecA mutant was characterized through microfluidics, optical trapping, and quantitative capillary assays. The results demonstrate the tight association of RecA with the chemotaxis pathway and also its involvement in polar chemoreceptor cluster formation. RecA is therefore necessary for standard flagellar rotation switching, implying its essential role not only in swarming motility but also in the normal chemotactic response of S. Typhimurium.
authors.affiliation: Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Spain.
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mayola
authors.affiliation: Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Spain.
authors.forename: Oihane
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Irazoki
authors.affiliation: ICFO-Institut de Ciències Fotòniques, Castelldefels, Spain.
authors.forename: Ignacio A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Martínez
authors.affiliation: ICFO-Institut de Ciències Fotòniques, Castelldefels, Spain.
authors.forename: Dmitri
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Petrov
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Filippo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Menolascina
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stocker
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Protection, Estación Experimental del Zaidín-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: José A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Reyes-Darias
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Protection, Estación Experimental del Zaidín-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Tino
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Krell
authors.affiliation: Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Spain.
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Barbé
authors.affiliation: Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Spain.
authors.forename: Susana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Campoy
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002633:Chemotaxis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D005407:Flagella / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017353:Gene Deletion; D009154:Mutation; D011485:Protein Binding; D011938:Rec A Recombinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D019779:Salmonella enterica / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D012486:Salmonella typhimurium / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C051236:CheW protein, Bacteria; D011938:Rec A Recombinases