Characterization of Novel Factors Involved in Swimming and Swarming Motility in Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium.
Salmonella enterica utilizes flagellar motility to swim through liquid environments and on surfaces. The biosynthesis of the flagellum is regulated on various levels, including transcriptional and posttranscriptional mechanisms. Here, we investigated the motility phenotype of 24 selected single gene deletions that were previously described to display swimming and swarming motility effects. Mutations in flgE, fliH, ydiV, rfaG, yjcC, STM1267 and STM3363 showed an altered motility phenotype. Deletions of flgE and fliH displayed a non-motile phenotype in both swimming and swarming motility assays as expected. The deletions of STM1267, STM3363, ydiV, rfaG and yjcC were further analyzed in detail for flagellar and fimbrial gene expression and filament formation. A ΔydiV mutant showed increased swimming motility, but a decrease in swarming motility, which coincided with derepression of curli fimbriae. A deletion of yjcC, encoding for an EAL domain-containing protein, increased swimming motility independent on flagellar gene expression. A ΔSTM1267 mutant displayed a hypermotile phenotype on swarm agar plates and was found to have increased numbers of flagella. In contrast, a knockout of STM3363 did also display an increase in swarming motility, but did not alter flagella numbers. Finally, a deletion of the LPS biosynthesis-related protein RfaG reduced swimming and swarming motility, associated with a decrease in transcription from flagellar class II and class III promoters and a lack of flagellar filaments.
Junior Research Group Infection Biology of Salmonella, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Inhoffenstraße 7, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany.
Julia Andrea
JA
Deditius
Department of Molecular Immunology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Inhoffenstraße 7, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany.
Sebastian
S
Felgner
Junior Research Group Infection Biology of Salmonella, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Inhoffenstraße 7, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany.
Imke
I
Spöring
Junior Research Group Infection Biology of Salmonella, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Inhoffenstraße 7, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany.
Caroline
C
Kühne
Department of Molecular Immunology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Inhoffenstraße 7, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany.
Michael
M
Frahm
Central Facility for Microscopy, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Inhoffenstraße 7, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany.
Manfred
M
Rohde
Department of Molecular Immunology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Inhoffenstraße 7, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany.
Siegfried
S
Weiß
Junior Research Group Infection Biology of Salmonella, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Inhoffenstraße 7, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany.
Marc
M
Erhardt
D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005407:Flagella / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D017353:Gene Deletion; D009068:Movement; D012486:Salmonella typhimurium / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C097681:FlgE protein, Bacteria; C069250:fliH protein, Bacteria