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Journal of Bacteriology, July 2000, p. 3826-3831, Vol. 182, No. 13
Department of Microbiology and Immunology,
University of Illinois at Chicago College of
Medicine,1 and Research Resource
Center, University of Illinois at Chicago,2
Chicago, Illinois 60612
Received 7 January 2000/Accepted 10 April 2000
Nucleoside diphosphate kinase (Ndk) is a ubiquitous enzyme which
functions in balancing the nucleotide pool of the cell. We have
recently reported that in addition to being intracellular in both
mucoid and nonmucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Ndk is also secreted into the extracellular environment by mucoid P. aeruginosa cells. This secreted Ndk has biochemical activity
similar to the intracellular Ndk and is 16 kDa in size. To demonstrate
that Ndk is indeed secreted and to localize the secretion motif, we
constructed an ndk knockout mutant, which lacks both
intracellular and extracellular forms of Ndk. In this study, we report
the construction of deletion derivatives made from the carboxy-terminal
region of Ndk. These deletion derivatives were introduced into the
ndk::Cm knockout mutant and were examined for the
intracellular and extracellular presence of Ndk. It was observed that
the carboxy-terminal 8-amino-acid region is required for the secretion
of Ndk into the extracellular region. This region has the sequence
DXXX, where X is a predominantly hydrophobic residue. Such sequences
represent a conserved motif in proteins secreted by the type I
secretory pathway in gram-negative microorganisms. To investigate the
significance of this motif in the secretion of Ndk, we constructed a
fusion protein of Ndk and the blue fluorescent protein (BFP) as well as
a fusion protein of mutated Ndk (whose DTEV motif has been changed to
AAAA) and the BFP. The presence of extracellular Ndk was detected only
in the ndk::Cm knockout mutant harboring the
wild-type BFP-Ndk protein fusion. We could not detect the presence of
extracellular Ndk in the ndk::Cm knockout mutant
containing the mutated BFP-Ndk protein fusion. In addition, we have
also used immunofluorescence microscopy to localize the wild-type and
mutated BFP-Ndk proteins in the cell. The significance of these
observations is discussed.
0021-9193/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Secretion of Nucleoside Diphosphate Kinase by
Mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa 8821: Involvement of a
Carboxy-Terminal Motif in Secretion
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Microbiology and Immunology, M/C 790, University of Illinois College of
Medicine, 835 S. Wolcott Ave., Chicago, IL 60612. Phone: (312) 996-4586. Fax: (312) 996-6415. E-mail:
Ananda.Chakrabarty{at}uic.edu.
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