The Yersinia enterocolitica motility master regulatory operon, flhDC, is required for flagellin production, swimming motility, and swarming motility.

ABSTRACT: The ability to move over and colonize surface substrata has been linked to the formation of biofilms and to the virulence of some bacterial pathogens. Results from this study show that the gastrointestinal pathogen Yersinia enterocolitica can migrate over and colonize surfaces by swarming motility, a form of cooperative multicellular behavior. Immunoblot analysis and electron microscopy indicated that swarming motility is dependent on the same flagellum organelle that is required for swimming motility, which occurs in fluid environments. Furthermore, motility genes such as flgEF, flgMN, flhBA, and fliA, known to be required for the production of flagella, are essential for swarming motility. To begin to investigate how environmental signals are processed and integrated by Y. enterocolitica

SUBMITTER: Young GM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC93725 | biostudies-literature | 1999 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature