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The Mla pathway in Acinetobacter baumannii has no demonstrable role in anterograde lipid transport

The Mla pathway in Acinetobacter baumannii has no demonstrable role in anterograde lipid transport

Authors :
Matthew J Powers
Brent W Simpson
M Stephen Trent
Source :
eLife, Vol 9 (2020)
Publication Year :
2020
Publisher :
eLife Sciences Publications Ltd, 2020.

Abstract

The asymmetric outer membrane (OM) of Gram-negative bacteria functions as a selective permeability barrier to the environment. Perturbations to OM lipid asymmetry sensitize the cell to antibiotics. As such, mechanisms involved in lipid asymmetry are fundamental to our understanding of OM lipid homeostasis. One such mechanism, the Maintenance of lipid asymmetry (Mla) pathway has been proposed to extract mislocalized glycerophospholipids from the outer leaflet of the OM and return them to the inner membrane (IM). Work on this pathway in Acinetobacter baumannii support conflicting models for the directionality of the Mla system being retrograde (OM to IM) or anterograde (IM to OM). Here, we show conclusively that A. baumannii mla mutants exhibit no defects in anterograde transport. Furthermore, we identify an allele of the GTPase obgE that is synthetically sick in the absence of Mla; providing another link between cell envelope homeostasis and stringent response.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
2050084X
Volume :
9
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
eLife
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.6ad303f5bdb240e49a7ffa426ca234f2
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.56571