A Cardiolipin-Deficient Mutant of Rhodobacter sphaeroides Has an Altered Cell Shape and Is Impaired in Biofilm Formation.

ABSTRACT:

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Cell shape has been suggested to play an important role in the regulation of bacterial attachment to surfaces and the formation of communities associated with surfaces. We found that a cardiolipin synthase (Δcls) mutant of the rod-shaped bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides--in which synthesis of the anionic, highly curved phospholipid cardiolipin (CL) is reduced by 90%--produces ellipsoid-shaped cells that are impaired in biofilm formation. Reducing the concentration of CL did not cause significant defects in R. sphaeroides cell growth, swimming motility, lipopolysaccharide and exopolysaccharide production, surface adhesion protein expression, and membrane permeability. Complementation of the CL-deficient mutant by ectopically expressing CL synthase restored cells to their

SUBMITTER: Lin TY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4621061 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature