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Journal of Bacteriology, June 2009, p. 3938-3949, Vol. 191, No. 12
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01811-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Mutations in Flk, FlgG, FlhA, and FlhE That Affect the Flagellar Type III Secretion Specificity Switch in Salmonella enterica{triangledown}

Takanori Hirano,1 Shino Mizuno,2 Shin-Ichi Aizawa,2 and Kelly T. Hughes1*

Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112,1 CREST Soft Nano-machine Project, JST, Innovation Plaza Hiroshima, 3-10-23 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-0046, Japan2

Received 23 December 2008/ Accepted 1 April 2009

Upon completion of the flagellar hook-basal body (HBB) structure, the flagellar type III secretion system switches from secreting rod/hook-type to filament-type substrates. The secretion specificity switch has been reported to occur prematurely (prior to HBB completion) in flk-null mutants (P. Aldridge, J. E. Karlinsey, E. Becker, F. F. Chevance, and K. T. Hughes, Mol. Microbiol. 60:630-643, 2006) and in distal rod gene gain-of-function mutants (flgG* mutants) that produce filamentous rod structures (F. F. Chevance, N. Takahashi, J. E. Karlinsey, J. Gnerer, T. Hirano, R. Samudrala, S. Aizawa, and K. T. Hughes, Genes Dev. 21:2326-2335, 2007). A fusion of β-lactamase (Bla) to the C terminus of the filament-type secretion substrate FlgM was used to select for mutants that would secrete FlgM-Bla into the periplasmic space and show ampicillin resistance (Apr). Apr resulted from null mutations in the flhE gene, C-terminal truncation mutations in the flhA gene, null and dominant mutations in the flk gene, and flgG* mutations. All mutant classes required the hook length control protein (FliK) and the rod cap protein (FlgJ) for the secretion specificity switch to occur. However, neither the hook (FlgE) nor the hook cap (FlgD) protein was required for premature FlgM-Bla secretion in the flgG* and flk mutant strains, but it was in the flhE mutants. Unexpectedly, when deletions of either flgE or flgD were introduced into flgG* mutant strains, filaments were able to grow directly on the filamentous rod structures.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112. Phone: (801) 581-6517. Fax: (801) 581-4668. E-mail: hughes{at}biology.utah.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 17 April 2009.

Journal of Bacteriology, June 2009, p. 3938-3949, Vol. 191, No. 12
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01811-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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