Surface-induced swarmer cell differentiation of Vibrio parahaemoiyticus

Vibrio parahaemolyticus distinguishes between life in a liquid environment and life on a surface. Growth on a surface induces differentiation from a swimmer cell to a swarmer cell type. Each cell type is adapted for locomotion under different circumstances. Swimmer cells synthesize a single polar flagellum (Fla) for movement in a liquid medium, and swarmer cells produce an additional distinct flagellar system, the lateral flagella (Laf), for movement across a solid substratum, called swarming. Recognition of surfaces is necessary for swarmer cell differentiation and involves detection of physical signals peculiar to that circumstance and subsequent transduction of information to affect expression of swarmer cell genes (laf). The polar flagellum functions as a tactile sensor controlling swarmer cell differentiation by sensing forces that restrict its movement. Surface recognition also involves a second signal, i.e. nutritional limitation for iron. Studying surface-induced differentiation could reveal a novel mechanism of gene control and lead to an understanding of the processes of surface colonization by pathogens and other bacteria.     

The multiple identities of Vibrio parahaemolyticus

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a ubiquitous marine bacterium and human pathogen. The organism possesses multiple cell types appropriate for life under different circumstances. The swimmer cell, with a single polar flagellum, is adapted to life in liquid environments. The polar flagellum is powered by the sodium motive force and can propel the bacterium at fast speeds. The swarmer cell, propelled by many proton-powered lateral flagella, can move through highly viscous environments, colonize surfaces, and form multicellular communities which sometimes display highly periodic architecture. Signals that induce differentiation to the surface-adapted cell type are both physical and chemical in nature. Surface-induced gene expression may aid survival, whether attached to inanimate surfaces or in a host organism. Genetic rearrangements create additional phenotypic versatility, which is manifested as variable opaque and translucent colony morphotypes. Discovery that a LuxR homolog controls the opaque cell type implicates intercellular signaling as an additional survival strategy. The alternating identities of V. parahaemolyticus may play important roles in attachment and detachment, how bacterial populations adapt to growth on surfaces, form structured communities, and develop biofilms.     

A colonization factor (production of lateral flagella) of mesophilic Aeromonas spp. is inactive in Aeromonas salmonicida strains

The nine laf (lateral flagellum) genes of mesophilic aeromonads are in the Aeromonas salmonicida genome. The laf genes are functional, except for lafA (flagellin gene), which was inactivated by transposase 8 (IS3 family). A pathogenic characteristic of mesophilic aeromonads (lateral flagella) is abolished in this specialized pathogen with a narrow host range.     

Lateral flagella of Aeromonas species are essential for epithelial cell adherence and biofilm formation

Mesophilic Aeromonas strains express a single polar flagellum in all culture conditions and produce lateral flagella on solid media. Such hyperflagellated cells demonstrate increased adherence. Nine lateral flagella genes, lafA-U for Aeromonas hydrophila, and four Aeromonas caviae genes, lafA1, lafA2, lafB and fliU, were isolated. Mutant characterization, nucleotide and N-terminal sequencing demonstrated that the A. hydrophila and A. caviae lateral flagellins were almost identical, but were distinct from their polar flagellum counterparts. The aeromonad lateral flagellins exhibited higher molecular masses on SDS-PAGE, and this aberrant migration was thought to result from post-translational modification through glycosylation. Mutation of the Aeromonas lafB, lafS or both A. caviae lateral flagellins caused the loss of lateral flagella and a reduction in adherence and biofilm formation. Mutations in lafA1, lafA2, fliU or lafT resulted in strains that expressed lateral flagella, but had reduced adherence levels. Mutation of the lateral flagella loci did not affect polar flagellum synthesis, but the polarity of the transposon insertions on the A. hydrophila lafTlU genes resulted in non-motility. However, mutations that abolished polar flagellum production also inhibited lateral flagella expression. We conclude that Aeromonas lateral flagella: (i) play a role in adherence and biofilm formation; (ii) are distinct from the polar flagellum; (iii) synthesis is dependent upon the presence of a polar flagellum filament; and (iv) that the motor proteins of the polar and lateral flagella systems appear to be shared.     

Cloning, sequencing, and phenotypic analysis of laf1, encoding the flagellin of the lateral flagella of Azospirillum brasilense Sp7.

Azospirillum brasilense can display a single polar flagellum and several lateral flagella. The A. brasilense Sp7 gene laf1, encoding the flagellin of the lateral flagella, was isolated and sequenced. The derived protein sequence is extensively similar to those of the flagellins of Rhizobium meliloti, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Bartonella bacilliformis, and Caulobacter crescentus. An amino acid alignment shows that the flagellins of these bacteria are clustered and are clearly different from other known flagellins. A laf1 mutant, FAJ0201, was constructed by replacing an internal part of the laf1 gene by a kanamycin resistance-encoding gene cassette. The mutant is devoid of lateral flagella but still forms the polar flagellum. This phenotype is further characterized by the abolishment of the capacities to swarm on a semisolid surface and to spread from a stab inoculation in a semisolid medium. FAJ0201 shows a normal wheat root colonization pattern in the initial stage of plant root interaction.     

Genetic and molecular characterization of the polar flagellum of Vibrio parahaemolyticus.

Vibrio parahaemolyticus possesses two alternate flagellar systems adapted for movement under different circumstances. A single polar flagellum propels the bacterium in liquid (swimming), while multiple lateral flagella move the bacterium over surfaces (swarming). Energy to rotate the polar flagellum is derived from the sodium membrane potential, whereas lateral flagella are powered by the proton motive force. Lateral flagella are arranged peritrichously, and the unsheathed filaments are polymerized from a single flagellin. The polar flagellum is synthesized constitutively, but lateral flagella are produced only under conditions in which the polar flagellum is not functional, e.g., on surfaces. This work initiates characterization of the sheathed, polar flagellum. Four genes encoding flagellins were cloned and found to map in two loci. These genes, as well as three genes encoding proteins resembling HAPs (hook-associated proteins), were sequenced. A potential consensus polar flagellar promoter was identified by using upstream sequences from seven polar genes. It resembled the enterobacterial sigma 28 consensus promoter. Three of the four flagellin genes were expressed in Escherichia coli, and expression was dependent on the product of the fliA gene encoding sigma 28. The fourth flagellin gene may be different regulated. It was not expressed in E. coli, and inspection of upstream sequence revealed a potential sigma 54 consensus promoter. Mutants with single and multiple defects in flagellin genes were constructed in order to determine assembly rules for filament polymerization. HAP mutants displayed new phenotypes, which were different from those of Salmonella typhimurium and most probably were the result of the filament being sheathed.     

Differentiation of Serratia marcescens 274 into swimmer and swarmer cells

We describe a new sensory response in the enteric bacterium Serratia marcescens. When grown in liquid media, the bacteria were short rods with one to two flagella and displayed classical swimming behavior. Upon transfer to a solid surface (0.7 to 0.8T% agar medium), the bacteria underwent a dramatic change of form. They ceased septation, elongated, and expressed numerous (10 to 100) flagella that covered the lateral sides of the cells. The bacteria now displayed a different form of locomotion--swarming--which allowed them to rapidly move over the top of the solid surface. The differentiation to either swimmer or swarmer cells could be reversed by growth on solid or liquid medium, respectively. To identify conditions that influence this differentiation, the growth environment of S. marcescens was manipulated extensively. The swarming response was monitored by visual and microscopic observation of cell movement on solid surfaces, by immunofluorescent labeling followed by microscopic observation for the presence of elongated, profusely flagellated cells, as well as by estimation of induction of flagellin protein, using Western immunoblot analysis. Conditions that imposed a physical constraint on bacterial movement, such as solid or viscous media, were the most efficient at inducing the swarming response. No chemical constituent of the medium that might contribute to the response could be identified, although the existence of such a component cannot be ruled out. Both swimmer and swarmer cells had flagellin proteins of identical molecular weight, which produced similar proteolysis patterns upon digestion with trypsin.     

The ability of Proteus mirabilis to sense surfaces and regulate virulence gene expression involves FliL, a flagellar basal body protein

Proteus mirabilis is a urinary tract pathogen that differentiates from a short swimmer cell to an elongated, highly flagellated swarmer cell. Swarmer cell differentiation parallels an increased expression of several virulence factors, suggesting that both processes are controlled by the same signal. The molecular nature of this signal is not known but is hypothesized to involve the inhibition of flagellar rotation. In this study, data are presented supporting the idea that conditions inhibiting flagellar rotation induce swarmer cell differentiation and implicating a rotating flagellar filament as critical to the sensing mechanism. Mutations in three genes, fliL, fliF, and fliG, encoding components of the flagellar basal body, result in the inappropriate development of swarmer cells in noninducing liquid media or hyperelongated swarmer cells on agar media. The fliL mutation was studied in detail. FliL- mutants are nonmotile and fail to synthesize flagellin, while complementation of fliL restores wild-type cell elongation but not motility. Overexpression of fliL+ in wild-type cells prevents swarmer cell differentiation and motility, a result also observed when P. mirabilis fliL+ was expressed in Escherichia coli. These results suggest that FliL plays a role in swarmer cell differentiation and implicate FliL as critical to transduction of the signal inducing swarmer cell differentiation and virulence gene expression. In concert with this idea, defects in fliL up-regulate the expression of two virulence genes, zapA and hpmB. These results support the hypothesis that P. mirabilis ascertains its location in the environment or host by assessing the status of its flagellar motors, which in turn control swarmer cell gene expression.     

Lateral flagella are required for increased cell adherence,invasion and biofilm formation by Aeromonas spp

Two types of flagella are responsible for motility in mesophilic Aeromonas strains. A polar unsheathed flagellum is expressed constitutively that allows the bacterium to swim in liquid environments and, in media where the polar flagellum is unable to propel the cell, Aeromonas express peritrichous lateral flagella. Recently, Southern blot analysis using a DNA probe based on the Aeromonas caviae Sch3N lateral flagellin gene sequence showed a good correlation between strains positive for the DNA probe, swarming motility and the presence of lateral flagella by microscopy. Here, we conclude that the easiest method for the detection of the lateral flagellin gene(s) is by PCR (polymerase chain reaction); this showed good correlation with swarming motility and the presence of lateral flagella. This was despite the high degree of DNA heterogeneity found in Aeromonas gene sequences. Furthermore, by reintroducing the laf (lateral flagella) genes into several mesophilic lateral-flagella-negative Aeromonas wild-type strains, we demonstrate that this surface structure enhances the adhesion to and invasion of HEp-2 cells and the capacity for biofilm formation in vitro. These results, together with previous data obtained using Laf- mutants, demonstrate that lateral flagella production is a pathogenic feature due to its enhancement of the interaction with eukaryotic cell surfaces.     

Expression of the structural gene, laf1, encoding the flagellin of the lateral flagella in Azospirillum brasilense Sp7.

The induction of the lateral flagella of Azospirillum brasilense Sp7 was studied by using a translational fusion between the laf1 promoter and gusA. The fusion was induced when cells were grown on solid media but not when they were grown in broth. The fusion was also induced by incubation of liquid-grown cells with an anti-polar flagellum polyclonal antiserum. Hindrance of polar-flagellum rotation is suggested to be the signal for this induction.     

Analysis of the lateral flagellar gene system of Aeromonas hydrophila AH-3

Mesophilic Aeromonas strains express a polar flagellum in all culture conditions, and certain strains produce lateral flagella on semisolid media or on surfaces. Although Aeromonas lateral flagella have been described as a colonization factor, little is known about their organization and expression. Here we characterized the complete lateral flagellar gene cluster of Aeromonas hydrophila AH-3 containing 38 genes, 9 of which (lafA-U) have been reported previously. Among the flgLL and lafA structural genes we found a modification accessory factor gene (maf-5) that is involved in formation of lateral flagella; this is the first time that such a gene has been described for lateral flagellar gene systems. All Aeromonas lateral flagellar genes were located in a unique chromosomal region, in contrast to Vibrio parahaemolyticus, in which the analogous genes are distributed in two different chromosomal regions. In A. hydrophila mutations in flhAL, lafK, fliJL, flgNL, flgEL, and maf-5 resulted in a loss of lateral flagella and reductions in adherence and biofilm formation, but they did not affect polar flagellum synthesis. Furthermore, we also cloned and sequenced the A. hydrophila AH-3 alternative sigma factor sigma54 (rpoN); mutation of this factor suggested that it is involved in expression of both types of flagella.     

Isolation of the polar and lateral flagellum-defective mutants in Vibrio alginolyticus and identification of their flagellar driving energy sources.

Vibrio alginolyticus has two types of flagella (polar and lateral) in one cell. We isolated mutants with only a polar flagellum (Pof+ Laf-) or only lateral flagella (Pof- Laf+). Using these mutants, we demonstrated that the energy sources of the lateral and polar flagellar motors in V. alginolyticus are H+ and Na+ motive forces, respectively, as in the related species V. parahaemolyticus.