Laboratory for Protein Biochemistry and Biomolecular Engineering, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
Res Microbiol. 2010 Mar;161(2):144-52. doi: 10.1016/j.resmic.2009.12.002. Epub 2009 Dec 23.
Shewanella oneidensis, a Gram-negative bacterium with unusual respiratory versatility, is found in soil and sediment environments, and sporadically as an opportunistic pathogen in humans and aquatic animals. The ability to form biofilms is a critical factor in the environmental spread and survival of this bacterium. We subjected S. oneidensis MR-1 to random transposon insertion mutagenesis to identify genes contributing to the ability of the organism to form biofilms on polystyrene surfaces. Follow-up of the clone that was most heavily impaired in biofilm formation led to the identification of a novel 285 kDa multi-domain protein which we have termed biofilm-promoting factor A (BpfA). BpfA is secreted by a type I secretion system to the cell surface, where it is a requisite for biofilm development. The BpfA-dependent biofilm phenotype is positively modulated by sub to low millimolar amounts of calcium. Intriguingly, BpfA features structural motifs and sequence fingerprints that can be traced back to bacterial Bap-family and RTX family proteins, two protein families harboring putative and established calcium binding sites.
希瓦氏菌属（Shewanella oneidensis）是一种革兰氏阴性菌，具有不同寻常的呼吸多样性，存在于土壤和沉积物环境中，偶尔也会作为人类和水生动物的机会致病菌。形成生物膜的能力是该细菌在环境中传播和生存的关键因素。我们对希瓦氏菌属 MR-1 进行了随机转座子插入诱变，以鉴定参与该生物体在聚苯乙烯表面形成生物膜的能力的基因。对生物膜形成能力受严重影响的克隆进行后续研究，导致鉴定出一种新型的 285 kDa 多结构域蛋白，我们将其称为生物膜促进因子 A（BpfA）。BpfA 通过 I 型分泌系统分泌到细胞表面，是生物膜发育所必需的。BpfA 依赖的生物膜表型受亚至低毫摩尔浓度的钙正向调节。有趣的是，BpfA 具有结构基序和序列指纹，可以追溯到细菌 Bap 家族和 RTX 家族蛋白，这两个蛋白家族都含有假定的和已建立的钙结合位点。
