A novel paralogous gene family involved in phase-variable flagella-mediated motility in Free

Abstract

Flagella-mediated motility is recognized to be one of the major factors contributing to virulence in . Motility of this bacterium is known to be phase variable, although the mechanism of such variation remains unknown. genome sequencing revealed a number of genes prone to phase variation via a slipped-strand mispairing mechanism. Many of these genes are hypothetical and are clustered in the regions involved in formation of three major cell surface structures: capsular polysaccharide, lipooligosaccharide and flagella. Among the genes of unknown function, the flagellar biosynthesis and modification region contains seven hypothetical paralogous genes designated as the motility accessory factor () family. Remarkably, two of these genes ( and ) were found to be identical and both contain homopolymeric G tracts. Using insertional mutagenesis it was demonstrated that one of the genes, , is involved in formation of flagella. Phase variation of the gene via slipped-strand mispairing partially restored motility of the mutant. The family represents a new class of bacterial genes related to flagellar biosynthesis and phase variation. Reversible expression of flagella may be advantageous for the adaptation of to the varied and environments encountered during its life cycle, as well in evasion of the host immune response.

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/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-148-2-473
2002-02-01
2024-03-29
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