PomX, a ParA/MinD ATPase activating protein, is a triple regulator of cell division in Myxococcus xanthus.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Schumacher D
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7993993 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Translesion DNA synthesis pathways are necessary to ensure bacterial replication in the presence of DNA damage. Translesion DNA synthesis carried out by the PolV mutasome is well-studied in Escherichia coli, but ~one third of bacteria use a functionally homologous protein complex, consisting of ImuA, ImuB, and ImuC (also called DnaE2). Numerous in vivo studies have shown that all three proteins are required for translesion DNA synthesis and that ImuC is the error-prone polymerase, but the roles of ImuA and ImuB are unclear. Here we carry out biochemical characterization of ImuA and a truncation of ImuB from Myxococcus xanthus. We find that ImuA is an ATPase, with ATPase activity enhanced in the presence of DNA. The ATPase activity is likely regulated by the C-terminus, as loss of the ImuA C-terminus results in DNA-independent ATP hydrolysis. We also find that ImuA binds a variety of DNA substrates, with DNA binding affinity affected by the addition of ADP or adenylyl-imidodiphosphate. An ImuB truncation also binds DNA, with lower affinity than ImuA. In the absence of DNA, ImuA directly binds ImuB with moderate affinity. Finally, we show that ImuA and ImuB self-interact, but that ImuA is predominantly a monomer, while truncated ImuB is a trimer in vitro. Together, with our findings and the current literature in the field, we suggest a model for translesion DNA synthesis, where a trimeric ImuB would provide sufficient binding sites for DNA, the β-clamp, ImuC, and ImuA, and where ImuA ATPase activity may regulate assembly and disassembly of the translesion DNA synthesis complex.
| S-EPMC11002988 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Migrating cells employ sophisticated signal transduction systems to respond to their environment and polarize towards attractant sources. Bacterial cells also regulate their polarity dynamically to reverse their direction of movement. In Myxococcus xanthus, a GTP-bound Ras-like G-protein, MglA, activates the motility machineries at the leading cell pole. Reversals are provoked by pole-to-pole switching of MglA, which is under the control of a chemosensory-like signal transduction cascade (Frz). It was previously known that the asymmetric localization of MglA at one cell pole is regulated by MglB, a GTPase Activating Protein (GAP). In this process, MglB specifically localizes at the opposite lagging cell pole and blocks MglA localization at that pole. However, how MglA is targeted to the leading pole and how Frz activity switches the localizations of MglA and MglB synchronously remained unknown. Here, we show that MglA requires RomR, a previously known response regulator protein, to localize to the leading cell pole efficiently. Specifically, RomR-MglA and RomR-MglB complexes are formed and act complementarily to establish the polarity axis, segregating MglA and MglB to opposite cell poles. Finally, we present evidence that Frz signaling may regulate MglA localization through RomR, suggesting that RomR constitutes a link between the Frz-signaling and MglAB polarity modules. Thus, in Myxococcus xanthus, a response regulator protein governs the localization of a small G-protein, adding further insight to the polarization mechanism and suggesting that motility regulation evolved by recruiting and combining existing signaling modules of diverse origins.
| S-EPMC3420945 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Myxococcus xanthus DK1622 has two RecA genes, recA1 (MXAN_1441) and recA2 (MXAN_1388), with unknown functional differentiation. Herein, we showed that both recA genes were induced by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation but that the induction of recA1 was more delayed than that of recA2. Deletion of recA1 did not affect the growth but significantly decreased the UV-radiation survival, homologous recombination (HR) ability, and induction of LexA-dependent SOS genes. In contrast, the deletion of recA2 markedly prolonged the lag phase of bacterial growth and increased the sensitivity to DNA damage caused by hydrogen peroxide but did not change the UV-radiation resistance or SOS gene inducibility. Protein activity analysis demonstrated that RecA1, but not RecA2, catalyzed DNA strand exchange (DSE) and LexA autocleavage in vitro. Transcriptomic analysis indicated that RecA2 has evolved mainly to regulate gene expression for cellular transportation and antioxidation. This is the first report of functional divergence of duplicated bacterial recA genes. The results highlight the evolutionary strategy of M. xanthus cells for DNA HR and genome sophistication.
| S-EPMC7029660 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Links between cell division and other cellular processes are poorly understood. It is difficult to simultaneously examine division and function in most cell types. Most of the research probing aspects of cell division has experimented with stationary or immobilized cells or distinctly asymmetrical cells. Here we took an alternative approach by examining cell division events within motile groups of cells growing on solid medium by time-lapse microscopy. A total of 558 cell divisions were identified among approximately 12,000 cells. We found an interconnection of division, motility, and polarity in the bacterium Myxococcus xanthus. For every division event, motile cells stop moving to divide. Progeny cells of binary fission subsequently move in opposing directions. This behavior involves M. xanthus Frz proteins that regulate M. xanthus motility reversals but is independent of type IV pilus "S motility." The inheritance of opposing polarity is correlated with the distribution of the G protein RomR within these dividing cells. The constriction at the point of division limits the intracellular distribution of RomR. Thus, the asymmetric distribution of RomR at the parent cell poles becomes mirrored at new poles initiated at the site of division.
| S-EPMC4248828 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Myxococcus xanthus is a gram-negative soil bacterium that undergoes multicellular development upon nutrient starvation. In the present study, two novel developmental genes, fruC and fruD, of M. xanthus were identified and characterized. The FruD protein has significant amino acid sequence similarity to the DivIVA proteins of many bacteria including Bacillus subtilis. Vegetative cells of the fruD mutant exhibited a filamentous phenotype. The fruC and fruD mutants displayed similar delayed-development phenotypes. The formation of tightly aggregated mounds by fruC and fruD mutants was slower than that by the wild-type strain. Spore formation by the fruC and fruD mutants initiated after 30 h poststarvation, whereas wild-type M. xanthus initiated spore formation after 18 h. The fruCD genes were constitutively expressed as an operon during vegetative growth and development. S1 mapping revealed that transcription initiation sites of the fruCD operon were located 114 (P1) and 55 bp (P2) upstream of the fruC initiation codon. Only the P1 promoter was active during vegetative growth, while both the P1 and P2 promoters were active during development. The FruD protein was produced as a cytoplasmic protein and formed an oligomer during vegetative growth and development.
| S-EPMC155380 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The rpoN gene encoding the transcription factor sigma54 in Myxococcus xanthus has been cloned using a heterologous rpoN probe. The sequence of the cross-hybridizing DNA confirmed the existence of an ORF 1518 bp long that encodes a well conserved member of the sigma54 family of sigma factors. Low- as well as high-stringency hybridizations detected only a single rpoN gene in the M. xanthus chromosome. In other bacteria, sigma54 is an alternative sigma, and null mutants are viable. However, all attempts to construct a strain containing a null mutation in the M. xanthus rpoN have been unsuccessful. Partial diploids of rpoN+/rpoN null are viable. Recombination experiments with such partial diploids showed the impossibility of constructing, either by segregation or by transduction, a viable null haploid under any of a wide range of growth conditions. The product of the rpoN gene, sigma54, therefore appears to be essential for growth in M. xanthus.
| S-EPMC20028 | biostudies-literature
Project description:UnlabelledDuring starvation-induced development of Myxococcus xanthus, thousands of rod-shaped cells form mounds in which they differentiate into spores. The dev locus includes eight genes followed by clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs), comprising a CRISPR-Cas system (Cas stands for CRISPR associated) typically involved in RNA interference. Mutations in devS or devR of a lab reference strain permit mound formation but impair sporulation. We report that natural isolates of M. xanthus capable of normal development are highly polymorphic in the promoter region of the dev operon. We show that the dev promoter is predicted to be nonfunctional in most natural isolates and is dispensable for development of a laboratory reference strain. Moreover, deletion of the dev promoter or the small gene immediately downstream of it, here designated devI (development inhibitor), suppressed the sporulation defect of devS or devR mutants in the lab strain. Complementation experiments and the result of introducing a premature stop codon in devI support a model in which DevRS proteins negatively autoregulate expression of devI, whose 40-residue protein product DevI inhibits sporulation if overexpressed. DevI appears to act in a cell-autonomous manner since experiments with conditioned medium and with cell mixtures gave no indication of extracellular effects. Strikingly, we report that devI is entirely absent from most M. xanthus natural isolates and was only recently integrated into the developmental programs of some lineages. These results provide important new insights into both the evolutionary history of the dev operon and its mechanistic role in M. xanthus sporulation.ImportanceCertain mutations in the dev CRISPR-Cas (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat-associated) system of Myxococcus xanthus impair sporulation. The link between development and a CRISPR-Cas system has been a mystery. Surprisingly, DNA sequencing of natural isolates revealed that many appear to lack a functional dev promoter, yet these strains sporulate normally. Deletion of the dev promoter or the small gene downstream of it suppressed the sporulation defect of a lab strain with mutations in dev genes encoding Cas proteins. The results support a model in which the Cas proteins DevRS prevent overexpression of the small gene devI, which codes for an inhibitor of sporulation. Phylogenetic analysis of natural isolates suggests that devI and the dev promoter were only recently acquired in some lineages.
| S-EPMC4352663 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Myxococcus xanthus cells harbor two motility machineries, type IV pili (Tfp) and the A-engine. During reversals, the two machineries switch polarity synchronously. We present a mechanism that synchronizes this polarity switching. We identify the required for motility response regulator (RomR) as essential for A-motility. RomR localizes in a bipolar, asymmetric pattern with a large cluster at the lagging cell pole. The large RomR cluster relocates to the new lagging pole in parallel with cell reversals. Dynamic RomR localization is essential for cell reversals, suggesting that RomR relocalization induces the polarity switching of the A-engine. The analysis of RomR mutants shows that the output domain targets RomR to the poles and the receiver domain is essential for dynamic localization. The small GTPase MglA establishes correct RomR polarity, and the Frz two-component system regulates dynamic RomR localization. FrzS localizes with Tfp at the leading pole and relocates in an Frz-dependent manner to the opposite pole during reversals; FrzS and RomR localize and oscillate independently. The Frz system synchronizes these oscillations and thus the synchronous polarity switching of the motility machineries.
| S-EPMC2034494 | biostudies-literature
Project description:UnlabelledIn order to optimize interactions with their environment and one another, bacteria regulate their motility. In the case of the rod-shaped cells of Myxococcus xanthus, regulated motility is essential for social behaviors. M. xanthus moves over surfaces using type IV pilus-dependent motility and gliding motility. These two motility systems are coordinated by a protein module that controls cell polarity and consists of three polarly localized proteins, the small G protein MglA, the cognate MglA GTPase-activating protein MglB, and the response regulator RomR. Cellular reversals are induced by the Frz chemosensory system, and the output response regulator of this system, FrzZ, interfaces with the MglA/MglB/RomR module to invert cell polarity. Using a computational approach, we identify a paralog of MglB, MXAN_5770 (MglC). Genetic epistasis experiments demonstrate that MglC functions in the same pathway as MglA, MglB, RomR, and FrzZ and is important for regulating cellular reversals. Like MglB, MglC localizes to the cell poles asymmetrically and with a large cluster at the lagging pole. Correct polar localization of MglC depends on RomR and MglB. Consistently, MglC interacts directly with MglB and the C-terminal output domain of RomR, and we identified a surface of MglC that is necessary for the interaction with MglB and for MglC function. Together, our findings identify an additional member of the M. xanthus polarity module involved in regulating motility and demonstrate how gene duplication followed by functional divergence can add a layer of control to the complex cellular processes of motility and motility regulation.ImportanceGene duplication and the subsequent divergence of the duplicated genes are important evolutionary mechanisms for increasing both biological complexity and regulation of biological processes. The bacterium Myxococcus xanthus is a soil bacterium with an unusually large genome that carries out several social processes, including predation of other bacterial species and formation of multicellular, spore-filled fruiting bodies. One feature of the large M. xanthus genome is that it contains many gene duplications. Here, we compare the products of one example of gene duplication and divergence, in which a paralog of the cognate MglA GTPase-activating protein MglB has acquired a different and opposing role in the regulation of cellular polarity and motility, processes critical to the bacterium's social behaviors.
| S-EPMC4719450 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Myxococcus xanthus possesses a form of surface motility powered by the retraction of the type IV pilus (T4P). Additionally, exopolysaccharide (EPS), the major constituent of bacterial biofilms, is required for this T4P-mediated motility in M. xanthus as the putative trigger of T4P retraction. The results here demonstrate that the T4P assembly ATPase PilB functions as an intermediary in the EPS regulatory pathway composed of the T4P upstream of the Dif signaling proteins in M. xanthus. A suppressor screen isolated a pilB mutation that restored EPS production to a T4P- mutant. An additional PilB mutant variant, which is deficient in ATP hydrolysis and T4P assembly, supports EPS production without the T4P, indicating PilB can regulate EPS production independently of its function in T4P assembly. Further analysis confirms that PilB functions downstream of the T4P filament but upstream of the Dif proteins. In vitro studies suggest that the nucleotide-free form of PilB assumes the active signaling conformation in EPS regulation. Since M. xanthus PilB possesses conserved motifs with high affinity for c-di-GMP binding, the findings here suggest that c-di-GMP can regulate both motility and biofilm formation through a single effector in this surface-motile bacterium.
| S-EPMC5544727 | biostudies-literature