Type IV pilus assembly proficiency and dynamics influence pilin subunit phospho-form macro- and microheterogeneity in Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

ABSTRACT: The PilE pilin subunit protein of the gonococcal Type IV pilus (Tfp) colonization factor undergoes multisite, covalent modification with the zwitterionic phospho-form modification phosphoethanolamine (PE). In a mutant lacking the pilin-like PilV protein however, PilE is modified with a mixture of PE and phosphocholine (PC). Moreover, intrastrain variation of PilE PC modification levels have been observed in backgrounds that constitutively express PptA (the protein phospho-form transferase A) required for both PE and PC modification. The molecular basis underlying phospho-form microheterogeneity in these instances remains poorly defined. Here, we examined the effects of mutations at numerous loci that disrupt or perturb Tfp assembly and observed that these mutants phenocopy the pilV mutant

SUBMITTER: Vik A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4010543 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature