J. Bacteriol., Dec 1995, 7150-7154, Vol 177, No. 24
Copyright © 1995, American Society for Microbiology

MlpA, a lipoprotein required for normal development of Myxococcus xanthus

WA Hanlon, M Martinez-Canamero, M Inouye and S Inouye
Department of Biochemistry, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA.

The mlpA gene encoding a 236-residue polypeptide has been identified immediately downstream of the oar gene of Myxococcus xanthus (M. Martinez-Canamero, J. Munoz-Dorado, E. Farez-Vidal, M. Inouye, and S. Inouye, J. Bacteriol. 175:4756-4763, 1993). The amino-terminal 21 residues of MlpA encode a typical prokaryotic signal sequence with a putative lipoprotein cleavage site. When expressed in Escherichia coli in the presence of [2-3H]glycerol, 3H-labeled MlpA had a molecular mass of 33 kDa and was found to be associated with the membrane fraction. Globomycin, an inhibitor of signal peptidase II, caused a shift in the mobility of E. coli-expressed MlpA to 35 kDa. Subsequently, a mlpA disruption strain (oar+) was constructed and found to have delayed fruiting body formation (by approximately 36 h), with significantly larger fruiting bodies being produced compared with those of the wild- type strain. Nevertheless, spore yields for the two strains were identical after 120 h of development. These data indicate that MlpA, the lipoprotein identified in M. xanthus, is required for normal fruiting body formation.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Diodati, M. E., Ossa, F., Caberoy, N. B., Jose, I. R., Hiraiwa, W., Igo, M. M., Singer, M., Garza, A. G. (2006). Nla18, a Key Regulatory Protein Required for Normal Growth and Development of Myxococcus xanthus.. J. Bacteriol. 188: 1733-1743 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Paitan, Y., Orr, E., Ron, E. Z., Rosenberg, E. (1999). A Nonessential Signal Peptidase II (Lsp) of Myxococcus xanthus Might Be Involved in Biosynthesis of the Polyketide Antibiotic TA. J. Bacteriol. 181: 5644-5651 [Abstract] [Full Text]