Ras GTPase-like protein MglA, a controller of bacterial social-motility in Myxobacteria, has evolved to control bacterial predation by Bdellovibrio

Milner, David S., Till, Rob, Cadby, Ian, Lovering, Andrew L., Basford, Sarah M., Saxon, Emma B., Liddell, Susan, Williams, Laura E. and Sockett, R. Elizabeth (2014) Ras GTPase-like protein MglA, a controller of bacterial social-motility in Myxobacteria, has evolved to control bacterial predation by Bdellovibrio. PLoS Genetics, 10 (4). e1004253/1-e1004253/13. ISSN 1553-7404

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Abstract

Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus invade Gram-negative bacteria in a predatory process requiring Type IV pili (T4P) at a single invasive pole, and also glide on surfaces to locate prey. Ras-like G-protein MglA, working with MglB and RomR in the deltaproteobacterium Myxococcus xanthus, regulates adventurous gliding and T4P-mediated social motility at both M. xanthus cell poles. Our bioinformatic analyses suggested that the GTPase activating protein (GAP)-encoding gene mglB was lost in Bdellovibrio, but critical residues for MglABd GTP-binding are conserved. Deletion of mglABd abolished prey-invasion, but not gliding, and reduced T4P formation. MglABd interacted with a previously uncharacterised tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR) domain protein Bd2492, which we show localises at the single invasive pole and is required for predation. Bd2492 and RomR also interacted with cyclic-di-GMP-binding receptor CdgA, required for rapid prey-invasion. Bd2492, RomRBd and CdgA localize to the invasive pole and may facilitate MglA-docking. Bd2492 was encoded from an operon encoding a TamAB-like secretion system. The TamA protein and RomR were found, by gene deletion tests, to be essential for viability in both predatory and non-predatory modes. Control proteins, which regulate bipolar T4P-mediated social motility in swarming groups of deltaproteobacteria, have adapted in evolution to regulate the anti-social process of unipolar prey-invasion in the “lone-hunter” Bdellovibrio. Thus GTP-binding proteins and cyclic-di-GMP inputs combine at a regulatory hub, turning on prey-invasion and allowing invasion and killing of bacterial pathogens and consequent predatory growth of Bdellovibrio.

Item Type: Article
RIS ID: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/727152
Schools/Departments: University of Nottingham, UK > Faculty of Science > School of Biosciences
University of Nottingham, UK > Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > School of Life Sciences
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1004253
Depositing User: Eprints, Support
Date Deposited: 06 Jul 2016 10:36
Last Modified: 04 May 2020 16:46
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/34672

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