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Functional analysis of a large non-conserved region of FlgK (HAP1) from Rhodobacter sphaeroides

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Abstract

The single subpolar flagellum of Rhodobacter sphaeroides shows an enlarged hook-filament junction. One of the two proteins that compose this section of the filament is HAP1 Rs (FlgK Rs ) it contains a central non-conserved region of 860 amino acids that makes this protein about three times larger than its homologue in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. We investigated the role of this central portion of the unusually large HAP1 protein of R. sphaeroides by monitoring the effects of serial deletions in flgK Rs , the gene encoding HAP1 Rs , on swimming and swarming. Two deletion mutants did not assemble functional flagella, two were paralyzed and five exhibited reduced free-swimming speeds. Some mutants produced unusual swarming patterns on soft agar without or with Ficoll 400. A segment of approximately 200-aa of the central region of HAP1 Rs that aligns with the variable region of the flagellin sequence from other γ- and β-proteobacteria was also found. Therefore, it is possible that the origin of this large central domain of HAP1 Rs could be associated with an event of horizontal transfer and subsequent duplications and/or insertions.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Bertha González-Pedrajo, Diego González-Halphen and Dimitris Georgellis for helpful discussions. Aurora Osorio and Javier de la Mora for technical assistance and the IFC Molecular Biology Unit for DNA sequencing and the microscopy unit for the electron micrographs. D.C. and this study, were supported by grants from Consejo Nacional de Cienciay Tecnología (176586, 47172/A-1) and DGAPA/UNAM (IN213408).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Genética Molecular, Instituto de Fisiología Celular, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apdo. Postal 70-243 Cd. Universitaria, 04510, Mexico, DF, Mexico

    David J. Castillo, Teresa Ballado & Georges Dreyfus

  2. Departamento de Biología Molecular y Biotecnología, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 04510, Mexico, DF, Mexico

    Laura Camarena

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  1. David J. Castillo
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  2. Teresa Ballado
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  4. Georges Dreyfus
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Correspondence to Georges Dreyfus.

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Castillo, D.J., Ballado, T., Camarena, L. et al. Functional analysis of a large non-conserved region of FlgK (HAP1) from Rhodobacter sphaeroides . Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 95, 77–90 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-008-9290-7

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