Attractant and repellent induce opposing changes in the four-helix bundle ligand-binding domain of a bacterial chemoreceptor.

ABSTRACT: Motile bacteria navigate toward favorable conditions and away from unfavorable environments using chemotaxis. Mechanisms of sensing attractants are well understood; however, molecular aspects of how bacteria sense repellents have not been established. Here, we identified malate as a repellent recognized by the MCP2201 chemoreceptor in a bacterium Comamonas testosteroni and showed that it binds to the same site as an attractant citrate. Binding determinants for a repellent and an attractant had only minor differences, and a single amino acid substitution in the binding site inverted the response to malate from a repellent to an attractant. We found that malate and citrate affect the oligomerization state of the ligand-binding domain in opposing way. We also observed opposing effects of repe

SUBMITTER: Guo L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10735184 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature