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Journal of Bacteriology, January 2005, p. 593-600, Vol. 187, No. 2
0021-9193/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.187.2.593-600.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Molecular Nature of Spontaneous Modifications in gacS Which Cause Colony Phase Variation in Pseudomonas sp. Strain PCL1171

Daan van den Broek, Thomas F. C. Chin-A-Woeng, Guido V. Bloemberg, and Ben J. J. Lugtenberg^*

Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Clusius Laboratory, Leiden, The Netherlands

Received 6 August 2004/ Accepted 11 October 2004

Pseudomonas sp. strain PCL1171 displays colony phase variation between opaque phase I and translucent phase II colonies, thereby regulating the production of secondary metabolites and exoenzymes. Complementation and sequence analysis of 26 phase II mutants and of 13 wild-type phase II sectors growing out of phase I colonies showed that in all these cases the phase II phenotype is caused by spontaneous mutations in gacA or/and gacS. Mutation of gac reduced both the length of the lag phase and the generation time. Isolation and sequencing of the gacS genes from the phase II bacteria revealed one insertion as well as several random point mutations, deletions, and DNA rearrangements. Most phase II colonies reverted with a high frequency, resulting in wild-type gacA and gacS genes and a phase I phenotype. Some phase II bacteria retained the phase II phenotype but changed genotypically as a result of (re)introduction of mutations in either gacA or gacS. The reversion of gacA or gacS to the wild type was not affected by mutation of recA and recB. We conclude that in Pseudomonas sp. strain PCL1171, mutations in gacA and gacS are the basis for phase variation from phase I to phase II colonies and that, since these mutations are efficiently removed, mutations in gac result in dynamic switches between the "wild-type" population and the subpopulations harboring spontaneous mutations in gacA and or gacS, thereby enabling both populations to be maintained.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Clusius Laboratory, Wassenaarseweg 64, 2333 AL Leiden, The Netherlands. Phone: 31715275063. Fax: 31715275088. E-mail: Lugtenberg{at}rulbim.leidenuniv.nl.

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Journal of Bacteriology, January 2005, p. 593-600, Vol. 187, No. 2
0021-9193/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.187.2.593-600.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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