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Symbiosis between the cyanobacterium Nostoc and the liverwort Blasia requires a CheR-type MCP methyltransferase

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Abstract

In response to environmental change, the cyanobacterium Nostoc punctiforme ATCC 29133 produces highly adapted filaments known as hormogonia that have gliding motility and serve as the agents of infection in symbioses with plants. Hormogonia sense and respond to unidentified plant-derived chemical signals that attract and guide them towards the symbiotic tissues of the host. There is increasing evidence to suggest that their interaction with host plants is regulated by chemotaxis-related signal transduction systems. The genome of N. punctiforme contains multiple sets of chemotaxis (che)-like genes. In this study we characterize the large che5 locus of N. punctiforme. Disruption of NpR0248, which encodes a putative CheR methyltransferase, results in loss of motility and significantly impairs symbiotic competency with the liverwort Blasia pusilla when compared with the parent strain. Our results suggest that chemotaxis-like elements regulate hormogonia function and hence symbiotic competency in this system.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Leverhulme Trust grant no. F/00 122/AB and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council grant no. 24/C14515. TT was supported by a Fulbright-Leeds University Distinguished Chair Award.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Integrative and Comparative Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

    Paula S. Duggan & David G. Adams

  2. Department of Biology, University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63121, USA

    Teresa Thiel

  3. Institute of Integrative and Comparative Biology, Garstang Building, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

    David G. Adams

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  1. Paula S. Duggan
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  2. Teresa Thiel
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Correspondence to David G. Adams.

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Duggan, P.S., Thiel, T. & Adams, D.G. Symbiosis between the cyanobacterium Nostoc and the liverwort Blasia requires a CheR-type MCP methyltransferase. Symbiosis 59, 111–120 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13199-012-0216-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13199-012-0216-9

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