Klüsener Sonja, Aktas Meriyem, Thormann Kai M, Wessel Mirja, Narberhaus Franz
Microbial Biology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
J Bacteriol. 2009 Jan;191(1):365-74. doi: 10.1128/JB.01183-08. Epub 2008 Oct 31.
Phosphatidylcholine (PC), or lecithin, is the major phospholipid in eukaryotic membranes, whereas only 10% of all bacteria are predicted to synthesize PC. In Rhizobiaceae, including the phytopathogenic bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens, PC is essential for the establishment of a successful host-microbe interaction. A. tumefaciens produces PC via two alternative pathways, the methylation pathway and the Pcs pathway. The responsible genes, pmtA (coding for a phospholipid N-methyltransferase) and pcs (coding for a PC synthase), are located on the circular chromosome of A. tumefaciens C58. Recombinant expression of pmtA and pcs in Escherichia coli revealed that the individual proteins carry out the annotated enzyme functions. Both genes and a putative ABC transporter operon downstream of PC are constitutively expressed in A. tumefaciens. The amount of PC in A. tumefaciens membranes reaches around 23% of total membrane lipids. We show that PC is distributed in both the inner and outer membranes. Loss of PC results in reduced motility and increased biofilm formation, two processes known to be involved in virulence. Our work documents the critical importance of membrane lipid homeostasis for diverse cellular processes in A. tumefaciens.
磷脂酰胆碱(PC),即卵磷脂,是真核细胞膜中的主要磷脂,而预计只有10%的细菌能合成PC。在包括植物致病细菌根癌土壤杆菌在内的根瘤菌科中,PC对于成功建立宿主 - 微生物相互作用至关重要。根癌土壤杆菌通过两条替代途径产生PC,即甲基化途径和Pcs途径。负责的基因,pmtA(编码磷脂N - 甲基转移酶)和pcs(编码PC合酶),位于根癌土壤杆菌C58的环状染色体上。pmtA和pcs在大肠杆菌中的重组表达表明,单个蛋白质执行注释的酶功能。PC下游的这两个基因和一个假定的ABC转运蛋白操纵子在根癌土壤杆菌中组成型表达。根癌土壤杆菌膜中PC的含量达到总膜脂的约23%。我们表明PC分布在内膜和外膜中。PC的缺失导致运动性降低和生物膜形成增加,这两个过程已知与毒力有关。我们的工作证明了膜脂稳态对根癌土壤杆菌中多种细胞过程的至关重要性。