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Single-cell E. coli response to an instantaneously applied chemotactic signal.

ABSTRACT: In response to an attractant or repellant, an Escherichia coli cell controls the rotational direction of its flagellar motor by a chemotaxis system. When an E. coli cell senses an attractant, a reduction in the intracellular concentration of a chemotaxis protein, phosphorylated CheY (CheY-P), induces counterclockwise (CCW) rotation of the flagellar motor, and this cellular response is thought to occur in several hundred milliseconds. Here, to measure the signaling process occurring inside a single E. coli cell, including the recognition of an attractant by a receptor cluster, the inactivation of histidine kinase CheA, and the diffusion of CheY and CheY-P molecules, we applied a serine stimulus by instantaneous photorelease from a caged compound and examined the cellular response at a temporal resolution of several hundred microseconds. We quantified the clockwise (CW) and CCW durations immediately after the photorelease of serine as the response time and the duration of the response, respectively. The results showed that the response time depended on the distance between the receptor and motor, indicating that the decreased CheY-P concentration induced by serine propagates through the cytoplasm from the receptor-kinase cluster toward the motor with a timing that is explained by the diffusion of CheY and CheY-P molecules. The response time included 240 ms for enzymatic reactions in addition to the time required for diffusion of the signaling molecule. The measured response time and duration of the response also revealed that the E. coli cell senses a similar serine concentration regardless of whether the serine concentration is increasing or decreasing. These detailed quantitative findings increase our understanding of the signal transduction process that occurs inside cells during bacterial chemotaxis.

SUBMITTER: Sagawa T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4129482 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Single-cell E. coli response to an instantaneously applied chemotactic signal.

Sagawa Takashi T Kikuchi Yu Y Inoue Yuichi Y Takahashi Hiroto H Muraoka Takahiro T Kinbara Kazushi K Ishijima Akihiko A Fukuoka Hajime H

Biophysical journal 20140801 3

In response to an attractant or repellant, an Escherichia coli cell controls the rotational direction of its flagellar motor by a chemotaxis system. When an E. coli cell senses an attractant, a reduction in the intracellular concentration of a chemotaxis protein, phosphorylated CheY (CheY-P), induces counterclockwise (CCW) rotation of the flagellar motor, and this cellular response is thought to occur in several hundred milliseconds. Here, to measure the signaling process occurring inside a sing ...[more]

PMID: 25099812

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Project description:Bacterial chemoreceptors of the methyl-accepting chemotaxis protein (MCP) family operate in commingled clusters that enable cells to detect and track environmental chemical gradients with high sensitivity and precision. MCP homodimers of different detection specificities form mixed trimers of dimers that facilitate inter-receptor communication in core signaling complexes, which in turn assemble into a large signaling network. The two subunits of each homodimeric receptor molecule occupy different locations in the core complexes. One subunit participates in trimer-stabilizing interactions at the trimer axis, the other lies on the periphery of the trimer, where it can interact with two cytoplasmic proteins: CheA, a signaling autokinase, and CheW, which couples CheA activity to receptor control. As a possible tool for independently manipulating receptor subunits in these two structural environments, we constructed and characterized fused genes for the E. coli serine chemoreceptor Tsr that encoded single-chain receptor molecules in which the C-terminus of the first Tsr subunit was covalently connected to the N-terminus of the second with a polypeptide linker. We showed with soft agar assays and with a FRET-based in vivo CheA kinase assay that single-chain Tsr~Tsr molecules could promote serine sensing and chemotaxis responses. The length of the connection between the joined subunits was critical. Linkers nine residues or shorter locked the receptor in a kinase-on state, most likely by distorting the native structure of the receptor HAMP domain. Linkers 22 or more residues in length permitted near-normal Tsr function. Few single-chain molecules were found as monomer-sized proteolytic fragments in cells, indicating that covalently joined receptor subunits were responsible for mediating the signaling responses we observed. However, cysteine-directed crosslinking, spoiling by dominant-negative Tsr subunits, and rearrangement of ligand-binding site lesions revealed subunit swapping interactions that will need to be taken into account in experimental applications of single-chain chemoreceptors.

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Single-cell E. coli response to an instantaneously applied chemotactic signal.

Publications

Single-cell E. coli response to an instantaneously applied chemotactic signal.

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