This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental material Other Versions of this Article: JB.01294-06v1 189/3/950    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Inoue, T. Articles by Fukui, K. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Inoue, T. Articles by Fukui, K.

Genome-Wide Screening of Genes Required for Swarming Motility in Escherichia coli K-12 ^,

Tetsuyoshi Inoue,^1,* Ryuji Shingaki,^1, Shotaro Hirose,¹ Kaori Waki,¹ Hirotada Mori,² and Kazuhiro Fukui¹

Department of Oral Microbiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan,¹ Graduate School of Biological Sciences, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Ikoma, Nara, Japan²

Received 16 August 2006/ Accepted 14 November 2006

Escherichia coli K-12 has the ability to migrate on semisolid media by means of swarming motility. A systematic and comprehensive collection of gene-disrupted E. coli K-12 mutants (the Keio collection) was used to identify the genes involved in the swarming motility of this bacterium. Of the 3,985 nonessential gene mutants, 294 were found to exhibit a strongly repressed-swarming phenotype. Further, 216 of the 294 mutants displayed no significant defects in swimming motility; therefore, the 216 genes were considered to be specifically associated with the swarming phenotype. The swarming-associated genes were classified into various functional categories, indicating that swarming is a specialized form of motility that requires a wide variety of cellular activities. These genes include genes for tricarboxylic acid cycle and glucose metabolism, iron acquisition, chaperones and protein-folding catalysts, signal transduction, and biosynthesis of cell surface components, such as lipopolysaccharide, the enterobacterial common antigen, and type 1 fimbriae. Lipopolysaccharide and the enterobacterial common antigen may be important surface-acting components that contribute to the reduction of surface tension, thereby facilitating the swarm migration in the E. coli K-12 strain.

Published ahead of print on 22 November 2006.

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

These authors contributed equally to this work.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Yang, X., Ma, Q., Wood, T. K. (2008). The R1 Conjugative Plasmid Increases Escherichia coli Biofilm Formation through an Envelope Stress Response. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 2690-2699 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Castelli, M. E., Fedrigo, G. V., Clementin, A. L., Ielmini, M. V., Feldman, M. F., Vescovi, E. G. (2008). Enterobacterial Common Antigen Integrity Is a Checkpoint for Flagellar Biogenesis in Serratia marcescens. J. Bacteriol. 190: 213-220 [Abstract] [Full Text]