Glycopeptidolipid Acetylation Affects Sliding Motility and Biofilm Formation in Mycobacterium smegmatis |
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| Authors: | Judith Recht and Roberto Kolter |
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| Affiliation: | Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. |
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| Abstract: | The absence of glycopeptidolipids (GPLs) abolishes the ability of mycobacteria both to slide over the surface of motility plates and to form biofilms on polyvinyl chloride. In a screen for biofilm-defective mutants of Mycobacterium smegmatis mc(2)155, a new mutant was obtained that resulted in partial inhibition of both processes and also showed an intermediate rough colony morphology. The mariner transposon insertion mapped to a GPL biosynthesis gene (atf1) which encodes a putative acetyltranferase involved in the transfer of acetyl groups to the glycopeptide core. Physical characterization of the GPLs from the atf1 mutant demonstrated that they were not acetylated. |
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