This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplemental material
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 Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Miyazaki, R.
Right arrow Articles by Tsuda, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Miyazaki, R.
Right arrow Articles by Tsuda, M.

Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, October 2008, p. 6281-6289, Vol. 190, No. 19
0021-9193/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00709-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Characterization of the traD Operon of Naphthalene-Catabolic Plasmid NAH7: a Host-Range Modifier in Conjugative Transfer{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Ryo Miyazaki,{ddagger} Yoshiyuki Ohtsubo, Yuji Nagata, and Masataka Tsuda*

Department of Environmental Life Sciences, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira, Sendai 980-8577, Japan

Received 20 May 2008/ Accepted 21 July 2008

Pseudomonas putida G7 carries a naphthalene-catabolic and self-transmissible plasmid, NAH7, which belongs to the IncP-9 incompatibility group. Adjacent to the putative origin of conjugative transfer (oriT) of NAH7 are three genes, traD, traE, and traF, whose functions and roles in conjugation were previously unclear. These three genes were transcribed monocistronically and thus were designated the traD operon. Mutation of the three genes in the traD operon resulted in 10- to 105-fold decreases in the transfer frequencies of the plasmids from Pseudomonas to Pseudomonas and Escherichia coli and from E. coli to E. coli. On the other hand, the traD operon was essential for the transfer of NAH7 from E. coli to Pseudomonas strains. These results indicated that the traD operon is a host-range modifier in the conjugative transfer of NAH7. The TraD, TraE, and TraF proteins were localized in the cytoplasm, periplasm, and membrane, respectively, in strain G7 cells. Our use of a bacterial two-hybrid assay system showed that TraE interacted in vivo with other essential components for conjugative transfer, including TraB (coupling protein), TraC (relaxase), and MpfH (a channel subunit in the mating pair formation system).

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Environmental Life Sciences, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira, Sendai 980-8577, Japan. Phone and fax: 81-22-217-5699. E-mail: mtsuda{at}ige.tohoku.ac.jp

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 1 August 2008.

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

{ddagger} Present address: Department of Fundamental Microbiology, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.

Journal of Bacteriology, October 2008, p. 6281-6289, Vol. 190, No. 19
0021-9193/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00709-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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