Flagellar Mutants Have Reduced Pilus Synthesis in Caulobacter crescentus.

ABSTRACT: Surface appendages, such as flagella and type IV pili, mediate a broad range of bacterial behaviors, including motility, attachment, and surface sensing. While many species harbor both flagella and type IV pili, little is known about how or if their syntheses are coupled. Here, we show that deletions of genes encoding different flagellum machinery components result in a reduction of pilus synthesis in Caulobacter crescentus First, we show that different flagellar mutants exhibit different levels of sensitivity to a pilus-dependent phage and that fewer cells within populations of flagellar mutants make pili. Furthermore, we find that single cells within flagellar mutant populations produce fewer pili per cell. We demonstrate that these gene deletions result in reduced transcription o

SUBMITTER: Ellison CK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6707913 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature