title: A small periplasmic protein essential for Cytophaga hutchinsonii cellulose digestion.
abstract: Cytophaga hutchinsonii is a gliding cellulolytic bacterium that is ubiquitously distributed in soil. The mechanism by which C. hutchinsonii achieves cellulose digestion, however, is still largely unknown. In this study, we obtained a C. hutchinsonii mutant that was defective in utilizing filter paper or Avicel as the sole carbon source by transposon mutagenesis. The interrupted gene locus, CHU_2981, encodes a hypothetical protein with only 130 amino acids. Cell fractionation and western blot detection of CHU_2981 fused with a C-terminal green fluorescence protein (GFP) indicated that CHU_2981 is located in the periplasm. The CHU_2981-disrupted mutant cells exhibited a significant growth defect on Avicel but not on glucose and cellobiose. The absence of CHU_2981 also resulted in a significant defect in colony spreading and individual cell motility compared to wild-type cells. Further analysis demonstrated that the CHU_2981-disrupted mutant cells exhibited a different profile of cellulose-absorbed outer membrane proteins from that of wild-type cells, in which protein varieties and amounts were markedly decreased. Our results showed that CHU_2981, the periplasmic non-cellulolytic protein, plays an important role in both cellulose utilization and cell motility probably by being involved in the appropriate production of outer membrane proteins.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, School of Life Science, Shandong University, No. 27 Shanda South Road, Jinan, 250100, Shandong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Tengteng
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, School of Life Science, Shandong University, No. 27 Shanda South Road, Jinan, 250100, Shandong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xuliang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Bu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, School of Life Science, Shandong University, No. 27 Shanda South Road, Jinan, 250100, Shandong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Qingqing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, School of Life Science, Shandong University, No. 27 Shanda South Road, Jinan, 250100, Shandong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, School of Life Science, Shandong University, No. 27 Shanda South Road, Jinan, 250100, Shandong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, School of Life Science, Shandong University, No. 27 Shanda South Road, Jinan, 250100, Shandong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Guanjun
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, School of Life Science, Shandong University, No. 27 Shanda South Road, Jinan, 250100, Shandong, People's Republic of China. zhangwx@sdu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Weixin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, School of Life Science, Shandong University, No. 27 Shanda South Road, Jinan, 250100, Shandong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Weifeng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D002482:Cellulose / Q000378:metabolism*; D003589:Cytophaga / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D055786:Gene Knockout Techniques; D006868:Hydrolysis; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D033903:Periplasmic Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D033903:Periplasmic Proteins; D002482:Cellulose
keywords: Cellulose degradation; Colony spreading; Cytophaga hutchinsonii; Gliding motility; Periplasmic protein; Transposon mutagenesis