Dataset Information

Phenotypic profiling of ABC transporter coding genes in Myxococcus xanthus.

ABSTRACT: Information about a gene sometimes can be deduced by examining the impact of its mutation on phenotype. However, the genome-scale utility of the method is limited because, for nearly all model organisms, the majority of mutations result in little or no observable phenotypic impact. The cause of this is often attributed to robustness or redundancy within the genome, but that is only one plausible hypothesis. We examined a standard set of phenotypic traits, and applied statistical methods commonly used in the study of natural variants to an engineered mutant strain collection representing disruptions in 180 of the 192 ABC transporters within the bacterium Myxococcus xanthus. These strains display continuous variation in their phenotypic distributions, with a small number of "outlier" strains at both phenotypic extremes, and the majority within a confidence interval about the mean that always includes wild type. Correlation analysis reveals substantial pleiotropy, indicating that the traits do not represent independent variables. The traits measured in this study co-cluster with expression profiles, thereby demonstrating that these changes in phenotype correspond to changes at the molecular level, and therefore can be indirectly connected to changes in the genome. However, the continuous distributions, the pleiotropy, and the placement of wild type always within the confidence interval all indicate that this standard set of M. xanthus phenotypic assays is measuring a narrow range of partially overlapping traits that do not directly reflect fitness. This is likely a significant cause of the observed small phenotypic impact from mutation, and is unrelated to robustness and redundancy.

SUBMITTER: Yan J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4103005 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Phenotypic profiling of ABC transporter coding genes in Myxococcus xanthus.

Yan Jinyuan J Bradley Michael D MD Friedman Jannice J Welch Roy D RD

Frontiers in microbiology 20140718

Information about a gene sometimes can be deduced by examining the impact of its mutation on phenotype. However, the genome-scale utility of the method is limited because, for nearly all model organisms, the majority of mutations result in little or no observable phenotypic impact. The cause of this is often attributed to robustness or redundancy within the genome, but that is only one plausible hypothesis. We examined a standard set of phenotypic traits, and applied statistical methods commonly ...[more]

PMID: 25101061

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Project description:Myxococcus xanthus is a gram-negative bacterium which has a complex life cycle. Autochemotaxis, a process whereby cells release a self-generated signaling molecule, may be the principal mechanism facilitating directed motility in both the vegetative swarming and developmental aggregation stages of this life cycle. The process requires the Frz signal transduction system, including FrzZ, a protein which is composed of two domains, both showing homology to the enteric chemotaxis response regulator CheY. The first domain of FrzZ (FrzZ1), when expressed as bait in the yeast two-hybrid system and screened against a library, was shown to potentially interact with the C-terminal portion of a protein encoding an ATP-binding cassette (AbcA). The activation domain-AbcA fusion protein did not interact with the second domain of FrzZ (FrzZ2) or with two other M. xanthus response regulator-containing proteins presented as bait, suggesting that the FrzZ1-AbcA interaction may be specific. Cloning and sequencing of the upstream region of the abcA gene showed the ATP-binding cassette to be linked to a large hydrophobic, potentially membrane-spanning domain. This domain organization is characteristic of a subgroup of ABC transporters which perform export functions. Cloning and sequencing downstream of abcA indicated that the ABC transporter is at the start of an operon containing three open reading frames. An insertion mutation in the abcA gene resulted in cells displaying the frizzy aggregation phenotype, providing additional evidence that FrzZ and AbcA may be part of the same signal transduction pathway. Cells with mutations in genes downstream of abcA showed no developmental defects. Analysis of the proposed exporter role of AbcA in cell mixing experiments showed that the ABC transporter mutant could be rescued by extracellular complementation. We speculate that the AbcA protein may be involved in the export of a molecule required for the autochemotactic process.

Dataset Information

Phenotypic profiling of ABC transporter coding genes in Myxococcus xanthus.

Publications

Phenotypic profiling of ABC transporter coding genes in Myxococcus xanthus.

Similar Datasets

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