Genetic determinants of swimming motility in the squid light-organ symbiont Vibrio fischeri.

ABSTRACT: Bacterial flagellar motility is a complex cellular behavior required for the colonization of the light-emitting organ of the Hawaiian bobtail squid, Euprymna scolopes, by the beneficial bioluminescent symbiont Vibrio fischeri. We characterized the basis of this behavior by performing (i) a forward genetic screen to identify mutants defective in soft-agar motility, as well as (ii) a transcriptional analysis to determine the genes that are expressed downstream of the flagellar master regulator FlrA. Mutants with severe defects in soft-agar motility were identified due to insertions in genes with putative roles in flagellar motility and in genes that were unexpected, including those predicted to encode hypothetical proteins and cell division-related proteins. Analysis of mutants for their abi

SUBMITTER: Brennan CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3948606 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature