title: Methylation-independent adaptation in chemotaxis of Escherichia coli involves acetylation-dependent speed adaptation.
abstract: Chemoreceptor methylation and demethylation has been shown to be at the core of the adaptation mechanism in Escherichia coli chemotaxis. Nevertheless, mutants lacking the methylation machinery can adapt to some extent. Here we carried out an extensive quantitative analysis of chemotactic and chemokinetic methylation-independent adaptation. We show that partial or complete adaptation of the direction of flagellar rotation and the swimming speed in the absence of the methylation machinery each occurs in a small fraction of cells. Furthermore, deletion of the main enzyme responsible for acetylation of the signaling molecule CheY prevented speed adaptation but not adaptation of the direction of rotation. These results suggest that methylation-independent adaptation in bacterial chemotaxis involves chemokinetic adaptation, which is dependent on CheY acetylation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomolecular Sciences, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
authors.forename: Szilvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baron
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomolecular Sciences, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
authors.forename: Oshri
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Afanzar
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomolecular Sciences, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eisenbach
mesh_terms: D000107:Acetylation / Q000187:drug effects; D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000187:drug effects; D002633:Chemotaxis / Q000187:drug effects; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D005407:Flagella / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D008745:Methylation / Q000187:drug effects; D009068:Movement / Q000187:drug effects; D016202:N-Methylaspartate / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D016202:N-Methylaspartate
keywords: CheY acetylation; bacterial chemotaxis; chemokinetic adaptation; methylation-independent adaptation