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Volume 165, Issue 12

Phylogenetic characterization of the energy taxis receptor Aer in and phenotypic characterization in KF707 Free

Abstract

Chemotaxis allows bacteria to sense gradients in their environment and respond by directing their swimming. Aer is a receptor that, instead of responding to a specific chemoattractant, allows bacteria to sense cellular energy levels and move towards favourable environments. In the number of apparent Aer homologues differs between the only two species it has been characterized in, and . Here we combined bioinformatic approaches with deletional mutagenesis in KF707 to further characterize Aer. It was determined that the number of Aer homologues varies between zero and four throughout the genus , and they were phylogenetically classified into five subgroups. We also used sequence analysis to show that these homologous receptors differ in their HAMP signal transduction domains. Genetic analysis also indicated that some Aer homologues have likely been subject to horizontal transfer. KF707 was unique among strains for having three Aer homologues as well as the receptors CttP and McpB. Phenotypic characterization in this strain showed that the most prevalent homologue of Aer was key, but not essential, for energy taxis. This study demonstrates that energy taxis in varies between species and provides a new naming convention and associated phylogenetic details for Aer chemoreceptors.

  • Received:
  • Accepted:
  • Published Online:
Keyword(s): aerotaxis , chemotaxis , energy taxis , motility , phylogenetics and Pseudomonas
© 2019 The Authors
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2019-12-01
2024-04-19
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Phylogenetic characterization of the energy taxis receptor Aer in Pseudomonas and phenotypic characterization in Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes KF707
Microbiology 165, 1331 (2019); https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.000864
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.000864
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.000864
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