Molecular recognition by a polymorphic cell surface receptor governs cooperative behaviors in bacteria.

ABSTRACT: Cell-cell recognition is a fundamental process that allows cells to coordinate multicellular behaviors. Some microbes, such as myxobacteria, build multicellular fruiting bodies from free-living cells. However, how bacterial cells recognize each other by contact is poorly understood. Here we show that myxobacteria engage in recognition through interactions between TraA cell surface receptors, which leads to the fusion and exchange of outer membrane (OM) components. OM exchange is shown to be selective among 17 environmental isolates, as exchange partners parsed into five major recognition groups. TraA is the determinant of molecular specificity because: (i) exchange partners correlated with sequence conservation within its polymorphic PA14-like domain and (ii) traA allele replacements predi

SUBMITTER: Pathak DT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3820747 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature