Attenuation of the Type IV Pilus Retraction Motor Influences Neisseria gonorrhoeae Social and Infection Behavior.

ABSTRACT: Retraction of the type IV pilus (Tfp) mediates DNA uptake, motility, and social and infection behavior in a wide variety of prokaryotes. To date, investigations into Tfp retraction-dependent activities have used a mutant deleted of PilT, the ATPase motor protein that causes the pilus fiber to retract. ΔpilT cells are nontransformable, nonmotile, and cannot aggregate into microcolonies. We tested the hypothesis that these retraction-dependent activities are sensitive to the strength of PilT enzymatic activity by using the pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae as a model. We constructed an N. gonorrhoeae mutant with an amino acid substitution in the PilT Walker B box (a substitution of cysteine for leucine at position 201, encoded by pilT_L201C). Purified PilT_L201C forms a nati

SUBMITTER: Hockenberry AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5142622 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature