Developmental cell interactions in
            <i>Myxococcus xanthus</i>
            and the
            <i>spoC</i>
            locus

Shimkets, Lawrence J.; Gill, Richard; Kaiser, Dale

doi:10.1073/pnas.80.5.1406

Cited by 164 publications

(168 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Interestingly, C-signal is also involved in a type of organized cell movements called rippling (19,22,27,42). Rippling occurs only under certain starvation conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pattern formation by a cell surface-associated morphogen in Myxococcus xanthus

Jelsbak

Søgaard‐Andersen

2002

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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In response to starvation, an unstructured population of identical Myxococcus xanthus cells rearranges into an asymmetric, stable pattern of multicellular fruiting bodies. Central to this pattern formation process are changes in organized cell movements from swarming to aggregation. Aggregation is induced by the cell surface-associated C-signal. To understand how aggregation is accomplished, we have analyzed how C-signal modulates cell behavior. We show that C-signal induces a motility response that includes increases in transient gliding speeds and in the duration of gliding intervals and decreases in stop and reversal frequencies. This response results in a switch in cell behavior from an oscillatory to a unidirectional type of behavior in which the net-distance traveled by a cell per minute is increased. We propose that the C-signal-dependent regulation of the reversal frequency is essential for aggregation and that the remaining C-signal-dependent changes in motility parameters contribute to aggregation by increasing the net-distance traveled by starving cells per minute. In our model for symmetry-breaking and aggregation, C-signal transmission is a local event involving direct contacts between cells that results in a global organization of cells. This pattern formation mechanism does not require a diffusible substance or other actions at a distance. Rather it depends on contact-induced changes in motility behavior to direct cells appropriately

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“…Interestingly, C-signal is also involved in a type of organized cell movements called rippling (19,22,27,42). Rippling occurs only under certain starvation conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The C-signal is a cell surface-associated protein encoded by the csgA gene (11,12). Cells that carry mutations in the csgA gene are conditionally defective in aggregation and sporulation (19,20). The developmental defects in csgA cells are rescued by codevelopment with wild-type (wt) cells (extracellular complementation; ref.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Pattern formation by a cell surface-associated morphogen in Myxococcus xanthus

Jelsbak

Søgaard‐Andersen

2002

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…The developmentally proficient parent strain, M. xanthus DK1622 (13), and developmental mutant strains DK3260 and DK3261 (dsg) (2,15), DK5057 (asg) (9), and M380 (bsg) (8) were supplied by the laboratory of D. Kaiser. The csg mutant strain (DK2653) was supplied by L. Shimkets (28). Strain ER304 was isolated in the present study.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of autocide AMI in development of Myxococcus xanthus

Rosenbluh

Rosenberg

1990

J Bacteriol

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A new developmental mutant of Myxococcus xanthus has been isolated by screening TnV insertion mutants for AMI-dependent development in submerged culture. This mutant (ER304) aggregated and sporulated on agar surfaces but required at least 3.8 ,ug of autocide AMI per ml for development in submerged cultures. Spore rescue of ER304 was obtained with the saturated, monounsaturated, and diunsaturated fatty acid fractions of AMI, with specific activities of 68, 115, and 700 U/mg, respectively. In addition, several model fatty acids were capable of rescuing sporulation of ER304; however, there was no correlation between specific lytic activity observed in vegetative cultures and specific rescue activity. Rescue of ER304 was effected during the first ca. 12 h after the initiation of starvation conditions; after this time, addition of AMI or model fatty acids killed the cells. Supernatant fluids of ER304 rescued development in dsg mutants (e.g., DK3260) in submerged cultures, but dsg mutant supernatant fluids were incapable of rescuing ER304 development. The data presented in this article support the idea that the primary mechanism of rescue by AMI is not via lysis, although developmental lysis may be an indirect result of the rescue event. A membrane permeability model is presented to explain the role of autocides in early developmental events in wild-type strains and in the aggregation and sporulation rescue of developmental mutants ER304 and DK3260.Myxococcus xanthus, the most extensively studied member of the Myxobacterales, is a gram-negative, gliding bacterium, characterized by a complex, multicellular development program (33). Development of M. xanthus, which culminates in the building of spore-filled fruiting bodies, is contingent upon the fulfillment of several conditions: (i) a minimal cell density, (ii) a solid substratum to support the aggregating cells, and (iii) nutritional downshift of exponentially growing cells (25). Successful completion of the developmental process depends upon the proper functioning of many genes. Some of these genes are directly involved in the intercellular signaling necessary for coordinating specific multicellular activities (16); others affect development by controlling the motility (11, 12) or cohesiveness (27) of the cells.Autocides are substances produced by vegetative M. xanthus cells which are capable of inducing lysis in the producing and related strains (29). The two major autocides, referred to as AMI and AMV, have been isolated and chemically characterized (6, 30). Autocide AMV is phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), the major component of the inner and outer cell membranes of M. xanthus. Autocide AMI, a mixture of saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, appears to be an enzymatic breakdown product of AMV and its active lytic moiety. In addition to its autolytic activity, autocide AMI has recently been shown to be capable of accelerating aggregation and sporulation in the wild-type strain and of rescuing aggregation and sporulation in dsg development mutan...

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“…This was performed according to Cohen (1980) Effect of starvation on secretion in M. xanthtls Hodgson (1987), modified from Shimkets et al (1983). The E. coli strain used as donor was MClO6l.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Starvation yields a drastic decrease in outer-membrane permeability to a periplasmic foreign protein in Myxococcus xanthus

Laval-Favre¹,

Letouvet-Pawlak²,

Barray³

et al. 1995

Microbiology

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A recombinant Myxococcus xanthus strain was constructed that constitutively produces two proteins from Escherichia coli, the cytoplasmic &galactosidase and the periplasmic pH 2.5 acid phosphatase (AppA protein). We have previously shown that during vegetative growth, AppA protein is partly accumulated in the periplasm of M. xanthus and partly released into the medium. We demonstrate here that during starvation-induced development, release of periplasmic AppA protein to the medium did not occur over a period of 20 h. This was coincident with, but not caused by, the arrest of the synthesis of the foreign proteins. We have shown that this lack of secretion could be attributed to starvation per se and did not depend on the ability of the cells to undergo development. Our findings suggest that protein secretion which occurs during the first hours of starvation-induced development might therefore take place via a different route from that which occurs in vegetative cells.

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Developmental cell interactions in Myxococcus xanthus and the spoC locus

Cited by 164 publications

References 16 publications

Pattern formation by a cell surface-associated morphogen in Myxococcus xanthus

Pattern formation by a cell surface-associated morphogen in Myxococcus xanthus

Role of autocide AMI in development of Myxococcus xanthus

Starvation yields a drastic decrease in outer-membrane permeability to a periplasmic foreign protein in Myxococcus xanthus

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