1. Plasmid gene AZOBR_p60126 impacts biosynthesis of lipopolysaccharide II and swarming motility in Azospirillum brasilense Sp245.
- Author
-
Petrova LP, Yevstigneyeva SS, Borisov IV, Shelud'ko AV, Burygin GL, and Katsy EI
- Subjects
- Bacterial Capsules genetics, Bacterial Capsules metabolism, Flagella physiology, Plasmids genetics, Azospirillum brasilense genetics, Azospirillum brasilense metabolism, Glycosyltransferases genetics, Lipopolysaccharides biosynthesis, Locomotion genetics
- Abstract
The facultative plant endophyte Azospirillum brasilense Sp245 synthesizes two high-molecular-weight lipopolysaccharides, LPSI and LPSII, which comprise identical d-rhamnan O-polysaccharides and, presumably different core oligosaccharides. Previously, using random insertion mutagenesis, we constructed the LpsII
- mutant KM139 of strain Sp245 that possessed an Omegon-Km insertion in plasmid AZOBR_p6. Here, we found that in KM139, Omegon-Km disrupted the coding sequence AZOBR_p60126 for a putative glycosyltransferase related to mannosyltransferases and rhamnosyltransferases. To verify its function, we cloned the AZOBR_p60126 gene of strain Sp245 in the expression vector plasmid pRK415 and transferred the construct pRK415-p60126 into KM139. In the complemented mutant KM139 (pRK415-p60126), the wild-type LPSI+ LPSII+ profile was recovered. We also compared the swimming and swarming motilities of strains Sp245, Sp245 (pRK415), KM139, KM139 (pRK415), and KM139 (pRK415-p60126). All these strains had the same flagellar-dependent swimming speeds, but on soft media, the LpsI+ LpsII- strains KM139 and KM139 (pRK415) swarmed significantly faster than the other LpsI+ LpsII+ strains. Such interstrain differences in swarming motility were more pronounced on 0.4% than on 0.5% soft agar plates. These data show that the AZOBR_p60126-encoded putative glycosyltransferase significantly affects the lipopolysaccharide profile and, as a consequence, the social motility of azospirilla., (© 2020 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)- Published
- 2020
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