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The high-mobility group A-type protein CarD of the bacterium Myxococcus xanthus as a transcription factor for several distinct vegetative genes.

ABSTRACT: CarD is the only reported prokaryotic protein showing structural and functional features typical of eukaryotic high-mobility group A transcription factors. In prokaryotes, proteins similar to CarD appear to be confined primarily to myxobacteria. In Myxococcus xanthus, CarD has been previously shown to act as a positive element in two different regulatory networks: one for light-induced synthesis of carotenoids and the other for starvation-induced fruiting body formation. We have now tested the effect of a loss-of-function mutation in the carD gene (carD1) on the expression of a random collection of lacZ-tagged genes, which are normally expressed in the dark during vegetative growth in rich medium. Our results indicate that CarD plays a significant role in the transcriptional regulation of various indicated genes. The carD1 mutation downregulates some genes and upregulates others. Also reported here is the isolation of several mutations that suppress the strong effect of carD1 on the expression of a particular vegetative gene. One of them (sud-2) also suppresses the effect of carD1 on other vegetative genes and on fruiting-body formation. Thus, CarD and the sud-2 gene product appear to participate in a single mechanism, which underlies various apparently diverse regulatory phenomena ascribed to CarD.

SUBMITTER: Galbis-Martinez M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1471020 | biostudies-other | 2004 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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The high-mobility group A-type protein CarD of the bacterium Myxococcus xanthus as a transcription factor for several distinct vegetative genes.

Galbis-Martínez Marisa M Fontes Marta M Murillo Francisco J FJ

Genetics 20040801 4

CarD is the only reported prokaryotic protein showing structural and functional features typical of eukaryotic high-mobility group A transcription factors. In prokaryotes, proteins similar to CarD appear to be confined primarily to myxobacteria. In Myxococcus xanthus, CarD has been previously shown to act as a positive element in two different regulatory networks: one for light-induced synthesis of carotenoids and the other for starvation-induced fruiting body formation. We have now tested the e ...[more]

PMID: 15342500

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Project description:Due to the high similarity in their requirements for space and food, close bacterial relatives may be each other's strongest competitors. Close bacterial relatives often form visible boundaries to separate their swarming colonies, a phenomenon termed colony-merger incompatibility. While bacterial species are known to have many incompatible strains, it is largely unclear which traits lead to multiple incompatibilities and the interactions between multiple incompatible siblings. To investigate the competitive interactions of closely related incompatible strains, we mutated Myxococcus xanthus DK1622, a predatory bacterium with complex social behavior. From 3392 random transposon mutations, we obtained 11 self-identification (SI) deficient mutants that formed unmerged colony boundaries with the ancestral strain. The mutations were at nine loci with unknown functions and formed nine independent SI mutants. Compared with their ancestral strain, most of the SI mutants showed reduced growth, swarming and development abilities, but some remained unchanged from their monocultures. When pairwise mixed with their ancestral strain for co-cultivation, these mutants exhibited improved, reduced or unchanged competitive abilities compared with the ancestral strain. The sporulation efficiencies were affected by the DK1622 partner, ranging from almost complete inhibition to 360% stimulation. The differences in competitive growth between the SI mutants and DK1622 were highly correlated with the differences in their sporulation efficiencies. However, the competitive efficiencies of the mutants in mixture were inconsistent with their growth or sporulation abilities in monocultures. We propose that the colony-merger incompatibility in M. xanthus is associated with multiple independent genetic loci, and the incompatible strains hold competitive interaction abilities, which probably determine the complex relationships between multiple incompatible M. xanthus strains and their co-existence strategies.

Dataset Information

The high-mobility group A-type protein CarD of the bacterium Myxococcus xanthus as a transcription factor for several distinct vegetative genes.

Publications

The high-mobility group A-type protein CarD of the bacterium Myxococcus xanthus as a transcription factor for several distinct vegetative genes.

Similar Datasets

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