A novel role for an ECF sigma factor in fatty acid biosynthesis and membrane fluidity in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

ABSTRACT: Extracytoplasmic function (ECF) sigma factors are members of cell-surface signaling systems, abundant in the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Twenty genes coding for ECF sigma factors are present in P. aeruginosa sequenced genomes, most of them being part of TonB systems related to iron uptake. In this work, poorly characterized sigma factors were overexpressed in strain PA14, in an attempt to understand their role in the bacterium's physiology. Cultures overexpressing SigX displayed a biphasic growth curve, reaching stationary phase earlier than the control strain, followed by subsequent growth resumption. During the first stationary phase, most cells swell and die, but the remaining cells return to the wild type morphology and proceed to a second exponential growth. This is

SUBMITTER: Boechat AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3875570 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature