This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplemental material
Right arrow An author's correction has been published
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ryan, K. A.
Right arrow Articles by O'Toole, P. W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ryan, K. A.
Right arrow Articles by O'Toole, P. W.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, August 2005, p. 5742-5750, Vol. 187, No. 16
0021-9193/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.187.16.5742-5750.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Helicobacter pylori Flagellar Hook-Filament Transition Is Controlled by a FliK Functional Homolog Encoded by the Gene HP0906{dagger}

Kieran A. Ryan,1 Najma Karim,2 Mulugeta Worku,3 Charles W. Penn,4 and Paul W. O'Toole1*

Department of Microbiology and Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland,1 Department of Microbiology, Imperial College School Medicine, St. Mary's Hospital, London, United Kingdom,2 Department of Medicine, Imperial College School Medicine, St. Mary's Hospital, London, United Kingdom,3 School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom4

Received 22 April 2005/ Accepted 24 May 2005

Helicobacter pylori is a human gastric pathogen which is dependent on motility for infection. The H. pylori genome encodes a near-complete complement of flagellar proteins compared to model enteric bacteria. One of the few flagellar genes not annotated in H. pylori is that encoding FliK, a hook length control protein whose absence leads to a polyhook phenotype in Salmonella enterica. We investigated the role of the H. pylori gene HP0906 in flagellar biogenesis because of linkage to other flagellar genes, because of its transcriptional regulation pattern, and because of the properties of an ortholog in Campylobacter jejuni (N. Kamal and C. W. Penn, unpublished data). A nonpolar mutation of HP0906 in strain CCUG 17874 was generated by insertion of a chloramphenicol resistance marker. Cells of the mutant were almost completely nonmotile but produced sheathed, undulating polyhook structures at the cell pole. Expression of HP0906 in a Salmonella fliK mutant restored motility, confirming that HP0906 is the H. pylori fliK gene. Mutation of HP0906 caused a dramatic reduction in H. pylori flagellin protein production and a significant increase in production of the hook protein FlgE. The HP0906 mutant showed increased transcription of the flgE and flaB genes relative to the wild type, down-regulation of flaA transcription, and no significant change in transcription of the flagellar intermediate class genes flgM, fliD, and flhA. We conclude that the H. pylori HP0906 gene product is the hook length control protein FliK and that its function is required for turning off the {sigma}54 regulon during progression of the flagellar gene expression cascade.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology & Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland. Phone: 353 21 490 3997. Fax: 353 21 490 3101. E-mail: pwotoole{at}ucc.ie.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://jb.asm.org/.

Journal of Bacteriology, August 2005, p. 5742-5750, Vol. 187, No. 16
0021-9193/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.187.16.5742-5750.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Douillard, F. P., Ryan, K. A., Hinds, J., O'Toole, P. W. (2009). Effect of FliK mutation on the transcriptional activity of the {sigma}54 sigma factor RpoN in Helicobacter pylori. Microbiology 155: 1901-1911 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Smith, T. G., Pereira, L., Hoover, T. R. (2009). Helicobacter pylori FlhB processing-deficient variants affect flagellar assembly but not flagellar gene expression. Microbiology 155: 1170-1180 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Douillard, F. P., Ryan, K. A., Caly, D. L., Hinds, J., Witney, A. A., Husain, S. E., O'Toole, P. W. (2008). Posttranscriptional Regulation of Flagellin Synthesis in Helicobacter pylori by the RpoN Chaperone HP0958. J. Bacteriol. 190: 7975-7984 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Kamal, N., Dorrell, N., Jagannathan, A., Turner, S. M., Constantinidou, C., Studholme, D. J., Marsden, G., Hinds, J., Laing, K. G., Wren, B. W., Penn, C. W. (2007). Deletion of a previously uncharacterized flagellar-hook-length control gene fliK modulates the {sigma}54-dependent regulon in Campylobacter jejuni. Microbiology 153: 3099-3111 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Wand, M. E., Sockett, R. E., Evans, K. J., Doherty, N., Sharp, P. M., Hardie, K. R., Winzer, K. (2006). Helicobacter pylori FlhB Function: the FlhB C-Terminal Homologue HP1575 Acts as a "Spare Part" To Permit Flagellar Export When the HP0770 FlhBCC Domain Is Deleted.. J. Bacteriol. 188: 7531-7541 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Eggenhofer, E., Rachel, R., Haslbeck, M., Scharf, B. (2006). MotD of Sinorhizobium meliloti and Related {alpha}-Proteobacteria Is the Flagellar-Hook-Length Regulator and Therefore Reassigned as FliK. J. Bacteriol. 188: 2144-2153 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Lane, M. C., O'Toole, P. W., Moore, S. A. (2006). Molecular Basis of the Interaction between the Flagellar Export Proteins FliI and FliH from Helicobacter pylori. J. Biol. Chem. 281: 508-517 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»