Selection for Nonadherent or Nonhydrophobic Mutants Co-selects for Nonspreading Mutants of Cytophaga johnsonae and Other Gliding Bacteria

Wolkin, Richard H.; Pate, Jack L.

doi:10.1099/00221287-131-4-737

Cited by 33 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Earlier results (Pate at al., 1979;Chang at al.. 1984;Wolkin & Pate, 1985) suggested that the TNM pleiotropy is produced by any condition that stops motility. Three approaches to test this idea are: (i) to isolate and test many TNM mutants; (ii) to attempt to isolate phages that will infect TNM mutants; and (iii) to determine whether inhibiting motility of wild-type cells induces the TNM pleiotropy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies of over 250 independently isolated TNM mutants suggested that anything that stops motility invariably results in the TNM pleiotropy, not because of alteration or !oss of a specific cell component or inability to supply an intermediate required for expression of all affected characteristics, but because motility itself is required for their expression (Pate et Chang et Wolkin & Pate, 1985). In the present work, we tested this idea by determining whether chemicals that stop motility of wild-type cells confer the TNM pleiotropy on wild-type cells.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Adherence assaq.s. We previously used an assay measuring adherence of cells to fragmented cheesecloth suspended in an aqueous buffer to show that cells of T N M mutants were less adherent than cells of their motile parental strain (Wolkin & Pate, 1985). Preliminary experiments (data not shown) showed that motility-inhibited wild-type cells (treated with chemical inhibitors) behave like T N M mutants in adherence to cheesecloth, but, because cheesecloth is not a uniform material, such assays give limited information.…”

Section: Organismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…C'.Johrisonae strain UW1029 is a TNM mutant derived from strain UWlOl by selection for nonadherence to cheesecloth (Wolkin & Pate, 1985). The two phages used in this study were isolated by phageenrichment procedures using C. johnsonae strain UW 101 and propagated on that strain as described previously (Pate et al, 1979;Wolkin & Pate, 1984 Medium.…”

Section: Organismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An unusual pleiotropy, referred to as the T N M pleiotropy, is associated with these mutants. In addition to being nonmotile, cells of T N M mutants are incapable of chitin digestion, are resistant to all phages to which wild-type cells are sensitive, have less hydrophobic cell surfaces and are less adherent than are wild-type cells (Chang et a!., 1984;Wolkin & Pate, 1985).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Phage Adsorption and Cell Adherence Are Motility-dependent Characteristics of the Gliding Bacterium Cytophaga johnsonae

Wolkin

Pate

1986

Microbiology

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~~ ~Mutants of the gliding bacterium Cytophuga johnsonue that are incapable of movement are called truly nonmotile (TNM) to distinguish them from other mutants that are motile but produce nonspreading colonies. All T N M mutants are pleiotropic, being nonmotile, unable to digest chitin, resistant to all phages that infect wild-type cells, nonadherent and having less hydrophobic surfaces than do wild-type cells.In this study, we tested the idea that the TNM pleiotropy is the result of blocking cell surface movement, rather than of loss or alteration of a specific cell surface component. Motility of wild-type cells was blocked by addition of chemicals, and treated cells were compared with untreated cells for their ability to adhere to spheroidal hydroxyapatite (SHA) beads and to adsorb phages, two characteristics used as an index of the TNM pleiotropy. All the chemicals tested that blocked motility also reduced phage adsorption and adherence to SHA to approximately the same extent seen with T N M mutants. The chemicals tested (carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone, cyanide, azide and photoactivated eosin Y and rose bengal) were sufficiently different from each other to reduce the possibility that each chemical inhibited phage adsorption and cell adherence by similar secondary effects, independent of their effects on motility. It was also shown that the pleiotropy of TNM mutants is not caused by their inability to maintain a membrane potential. The results are compatible with the conclusion that the TNM pleiotropy is manifested whenever cell movement is stopped, whether by mutation or by use of chemical inhibitors, and they are inconsistent with the idea that all TNM mutants are pleiotropic because they all carry a lesion in the same gene that codes for expression of surface components required for all characteristics affected. The reason that stopping motility influences several seemingly unrelated properties is not known but is probably related to adaptations required for the organism to interact with its environment through a cell surface covered with a slime that is normally kept in motion by components of the machinery of gliding motility.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Organismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Organismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Phage Adsorption and Cell Adherence Are Motility-dependent Characteristics of the Gliding Bacterium Cytophaga johnsonae

Wolkin

Pate

1986

Microbiology

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Physiology of microbial degradation of chitin and chitosan

Gooday

1994

Biochemistry of Microbial Degradation

101

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Chi tin, the (1-4 )-J3-linked homopolymer of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (Fig. 1), is produced in enormous amounts in the biosphere. A recent working estimate for both annual production and steady-state amount is of the order of lO lD to 1011 tons (Gooday 1990a). Chitin is utilized as a structural component by most species alive today. Its phylogenetic distribution is clearly defined: (a) Prokaryotes. Despite its chemical similarity to the polysaccharide backbone of peptidoglycan, chitin has only been reported as a possible component of streptomycete spores and of the stalks of some prosthecate bacteria. (b) Protista. Chitin provides the tough structural material for many protists; in cyst walls of some ciliates and amoebae; in the lorica walls of some ciliates and chrysophyte algae; in the flotation spines of centric diatoms; and in the walls of some chlorophyte algae and oomycete fungi (Gooday 1990a). (c) Fungi. Chitin appears to be ubiquitous in the fungi (Bartnicki-Garcia and Lippman 1982). Reported exceptions, such as Schizosaccharomyces, prove to have small but essential amounts of chitin. Pneumocystis carinii, of uncertain affinity, has chitin in the walls of its cysts and trophozoites (Walker et a1. 1990). (d) Animals. Chitin is the characteristic tough material playing a range of structural roles among most invertebrates (Jeuniaux 1963(Jeuniaux , 1982. It is absent from vertebrates. (e) Plants. Chitin sensu stricto is probably absent from plants, but polymers rich in (1-4)-J3-linked N-acetylglucosamine have been reported (Benhamou and Asselin 1989). Chitin occurs in a wide variety of manners. Three hydrogen-bonded crystalline forms have been characterised: a-chitin with antiparallel chains, 13chitin with parallel chains and )I-chitin with a three-chain unit cell, two "up"one "down" (Blackwell 1988). a-Chitin is by far the most common, being the form found in fungi and most protistan and invertebrate exoskeletons. The importance of physical form to biological function is indicated by squid, Loligo,

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Physiology of microbial degradation of chitin and chitosan

Gooday

1990

Biodegradation

194

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Chitin is produced in enormous quantities in the biosphere, chiefly as the major structural component of most fungi and invertebrates. Its degradation is chiefly by bacteria and fungi, by chitinolysis via chitinases, but also via deacetylation to chitosan, which is hydrolysed by chitosanases. Chitinases and chitosanases have a range of roles in the organisms producing them: autolytic, morphogenetic or nutritional. There are increasing examples of their roles in pathogenesis and symbiosis. A range of chitinase genes have been cloned, and the potential use for genetically manipulated organisms over-producing chitinases is being investigated. Chitinases also have a range of uses in processing chitinous material and producing defined oligosaccharides.

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Selection for Nonadherent or Nonhydrophobic Mutants Co-selects for Nonspreading Mutants of Cytophaga johnsonae and Other Gliding Bacteria

Cited by 33 publications

References 9 publications

Phage Adsorption and Cell Adherence Are Motility-dependent Characteristics of the Gliding Bacterium Cytophaga johnsonae

Phage Adsorption and Cell Adherence Are Motility-dependent Characteristics of the Gliding Bacterium Cytophaga johnsonae

Physiology of microbial degradation of chitin and chitosan

Physiology of microbial degradation of chitin and chitosan

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