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The unconventional cytoplasmic sensing mechanism for ethanol chemotaxis in Bacillus subtilis
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Tohidifar, Payman , Bodhankar,, Girija , Pei, Sichong, Cassidy, C. Keith, Walukiewicz, Hanna , Orodal, George , Stansfeld, Phillip J. and Rao, Christopher (2020) The unconventional cytoplasmic sensing mechanism for ethanol chemotaxis in Bacillus subtilis. mBio, 11 . e02177-20. doi:10.1128/mBio.02177-20
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.02177-20
Abstract
Motile bacteria sense chemical gradients using chemoreceptors, which consist of distinct sensing and signaling domains. The general model is that the sensing domain binds the chemical and the signaling domain induces the tactic response. Here, we investigated the unconventional sensing mechanism for ethanol taxis in Bacillus subtilis. Ethanol and other short-chain alcohols are attractants for B. subtilis. Two chemoreceptors, McpB and HemAT, sense these alcohols. In the case of McpB, the signaling domain directly binds ethanol. We were further able to identify a single amino-acid residue Ala431 on the cytoplasmic signaling domain of McpB, that when mutated to a serine, reduces taxis to ethanol. Molecular dynamics simulations suggest ethanol binds McpB near residue Ala431 and mutation of this residue to serine increases coiled-coil packing within the signaling domain, thereby reducing the ability of ethanol to bind between the helices of the signaling domain. In the case of HemAT, the myoglobin-like sensing domain binds ethanol, likely between the helices encapsulating the heme group. Aside from being sensed by an unconventional mechanism, ethanol also differs from many other chemoattractants because it is not metabolized by B. subtilis and is toxic. We propose that B. subtilis uses ethanol and other short-chain alcohols to locate prey, namely alcohol-producing microorganisms.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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| Subjects: | Q Science > QP Physiology Q Science > QR Microbiology Q Science > QR Microbiology > QR180 Immunology |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Science > Chemistry Faculty of Science > Life Sciences (2010- ) |
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| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Bacillus subtilis, Chemotaxis, Chemoreceptors, Cytoplasm, Molecular dynamics -- Simulation methods | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | mBio | ||||||
| Publisher: | American Society for Microbiology | ||||||
| ISSN: | 2150-7511 | ||||||
| Official Date: | 6 October 2020 | ||||||
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| Date of first compliant deposit: | 30 September 2020 | ||||||
| Volume: | 11 | ||||||
| Article Number: | e02177-20 | ||||||
| DOI: | 10.1128/mBio.02177-20 | ||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Open Access | ||||||
| Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2020 Tohidifar et al | ||||||
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