1887

Abstract

Transposon mutagenesis was used to identify a new locus required for twitching motility in . Four Tn-B21 mutants which lacked twitching motility and a fifth which exhibited impaired motility were found to map to the same I restriction fragment at approximately 40 min on the genome. Cloning and sequencing studies showed that all five transposon insertions occurred within the same 28 kb ORF, which was termed . The product of this gene has a putative peptidoglycan-binding domain, predicted transmembrane domains, a highly acidic C terminus and anomalous electrophoretic migration, indicating unusual primary or secondary structure. The genome also possesses a paralogue of . Homologues of were also found in the sequenced genomes of the other type-IV-fimbriated bacteria , , and , but not in those of other bacteria which lack type IV fimbriae. A homologue was also found in the genome sequence of , along with many other homologues of type IV fimbrial genes, indicating that this bacterium is also likely to produce type IV fimbriae. Wild-type twitching motility was restored to mutants by complementation in a dosage-dependent manner. Overexpression of resulted in an unusual phenotype where the cells were massively elongated and migrated in large convoys at the periphery of the colony. It is suggested that FimV may be involved in remodelling of the peptidoglycan layer to enable assembly of the type IV fimbrial structure and machinery.

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2000-06-01
2024-12-07
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