Adaptive divergence in experimental populations of Pseudomonas fluorescens. II. Role of the GGDEF regulator WspR in evolution and development of the wrinkly spreader phenotype.

ABSTRACT: Wrinkly spreader (WS) genotypes evolve repeatedly in model Pseudomonas populations undergoing adaptive radiation. Previous work identified genes contributing to the evolutionary success of WS. Here we scrutinize the GGDEF response regulator protein WspR and show that it is both necessary and sufficient for WS. Activation of WspR occurs by phosphorylation and different levels of activation generate phenotypic differences among WS genotypes. Five alleles of wspR, each encoding a protein with a single amino acid substitution, were generated by mutagenesis. Two alleles are constitutively active and cause the ancestral genotype to develop a WS phenotype; the phenotypic effects are allele specific and independent of phosphorylation. Three alleles contain changes in the GGDEF domain and when over

SUBMITTER: Goymer P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1526540 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature