DifA, a methyl-accepting chemoreceptor protein-like sensory protein, uses a novel signaling mechanism to regulate exopolysaccharide production in Myxococcus xanthus.

ABSTRACT: DifA is a methyl-accepting chemotaxis protein (MCP)-like sensory transducer that regulates exopolysaccharide (EPS) production in Myxococcus xanthus. Here mutational analysis and molecular biology were used to probe the signaling mechanisms of DifA in EPS regulation. We first identified the start codon of DifA experimentally; this identification extended the N terminus of DifA for 45 amino acids (aa) from the previous bioinformatics prediction. This extension helped to address the outstanding question of how DifA receives input signals from type 4 pili without a prominent periplasmic domain. The results suggest that DifA uses its N-terminus extension to sense an upstream signal in EPS regulation. We suggest that the perception of the input signal by DifA is mediated by protein-protein inter

SUBMITTER: Xu Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3021235 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature