This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
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 Eckstein, T. M.
Right arrow Articles by Belisle, J. T.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Eckstein, T. M.
Right arrow Articles by Belisle, J. T.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, November 2000, p. 6177-6182, Vol. 182, No. 21
0021-9193/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

A Genetic Mechanism for Deletion of the ser2 Gene Cluster and Formation of Rough Morphological Variants of Mycobacterium avium

Torsten M. Eckstein, Julia M. Inamine, Markus L. Lambert, and John T. Belisle*

Mycobacteria Research Laboratories, Department of Microbiology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1677

Received 3 May 2000/Accepted 10 August 2000

A major phenotypic trait of the Mycobacterium avium complex is the ability to produce rough and smooth colony variants. The chemical basis of this morphological variation is the loss of an antigenic surface structure, termed glycopeptidolipid (GPL), by rough variants. Using M. avium serovar 2 strain 2151 as a model system, this laboratory previously reported that rough variants arise via the deletion of large genomic regions encoding GPL biosynthesis. One such deletion encompasses the gene cluster (ser2) responsible for production of the serovar 2 GPL haptenic oligosaccharide. In this study, nucleotide sequencing revealed that both ends of the ser2 gene cluster are flanked by a novel insertion sequence (IS1601) oriented as direct repeats. Detailed analyses of the site of deletion in the genome of M. avium 2151 Rg-1 demonstrated that a single copy of IS1601 remained and that the ser2 gene cluster was deleted by homologous recombination. This same deletion pattern was observed for 10 out of 15 rough colony variants tested. Additionally, these studies revealed that IS1601 contains portions of three independent insertion sequences. This report is the first to define the precise genetic basis of colony variation in Mycobacterium spp. and provides further evidence that homologous recombination between insertion sequence elements can be a primary determinant of genome plasticity in these bacteria.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1677. Phone: (970) 491-6549. Fax: (970) 491-1815. E-mail: jbelisle{at}cvmbs.colostate.edu.

Journal of Bacteriology, November 2000, p. 6177-6182, Vol. 182, No. 21
0021-9193/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Rhoades, E. R., Archambault, A. S., Greendyke, R., Hsu, F.-F., Streeter, C., Byrd, T. F. (2009). Mycobacterium abscessus Glycopeptidolipids Mask Underlying Cell Wall Phosphatidyl-myo-Inositol Mannosides Blocking Induction of Human Macrophage TNF-{alpha} by Preventing Interaction with TLR2. J. Immunol. 183: 1997-2007 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Alexander, D. C., Turenne, C. Y., Behr, M. A. (2009). Insertion and Deletion Events That Define the Pathogen Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis. J. Bacteriol. 191: 1018-1025 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Fujiwara, N., Nakata, N., Naka, T., Yano, I., Doe, M., Chatterjee, D., McNeil, M., Brennan, P. J., Kobayashi, K., Makino, M., Matsumoto, S., Ogura, H., Maeda, S. (2008). Structural Analysis and Biosynthesis Gene Cluster of an Antigenic Glycopeptidolipid from Mycobacterium intracellulare. J. Bacteriol. 190: 3613-3621 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Turenne, C. Y., Wallace, R. Jr., Behr, M. A. (2007). Mycobacterium avium in the Postgenomic Era. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 20: 205-229 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Freeman, R., Geier, H., Weigel, K. M., Do, J., Ford, T. E., Cangelosi, G. A. (2006). Roles for Cell Wall Glycopeptidolipid in Surface Adherence and Planktonic Dispersal of Mycobacterium avium. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72: 7554-7558 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Howard, S. T., Rhoades, E., Recht, J., Pang, X., Alsup, A., Kolter, R., Lyons, C. R., Byrd, T. F. (2006). Spontaneous reversion of Mycobacterium abscessus from a smooth to a rough morphotype is associated with reduced expression of glycopeptidolipid and reacquisition of an invasive phenotype. Microbiology 152: 1581-1590 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Yamazaki, Y., Danelishvili, L., Wu, M., MacNab, M., Bermudez, L. E. (2006). Mycobacterium avium Genes Associated with the Ability To Form a Biofilm. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72: 819-825 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Habe, H., Chung, J.-S., Ishida, A., Kasuga, K., Ide, K., Takemura, T., Nojiri, H., Yamane, H., Omori, T. (2005). The fluorene catabolic linear plasmid in Terrabacter sp. strain DBF63 carries the {beta}-ketoadipate pathway genes, pcaRHGBDCFIJ, also found in proteobacteria. Microbiology 151: 3713-3722 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Etienne, G., Laval, F., Villeneuve, C., Dinadayala, P., Abouwarda, A., Zerbib, D., Galamba, A., Daffe, M. (2005). The cell envelope structure and properties of Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2155: is there a clue for the unique transformability of the strain?. Microbiology 151: 2075-2086 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Krzywinska, E., Krzywinski, J., Schorey, J. S. (2004). Phylogeny of Mycobacterium avium strains inferred from glycopeptidolipid biosynthesis pathway genes. Microbiology 150: 1699-1706 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Eckstein, T. M., Belisle, J. T., Inamine, J. M. (2003). Proposed pathway for the biosynthesis of serovar-specific glycopeptidolipids in Mycobacterium avium serovar 2. Microbiology 149: 2797-2807 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Laurent, J.-P., Hauge, K., Burnside, K., Cangelosi, G. (2003). Mutational Analysis of Cell Wall Biosynthesis in Mycobacterium avium. J. Bacteriol. 185: 5003-5006 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Howard, S. T., Byrd, T. F., Lyons, C. R. (2002). A polymorphic region in Mycobacterium abscessus contains a novel insertion sequence element. Microbiology 148: 2987-2996 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Jeevarajah, D., Patterson, J. H., McConville, M. J., Billman-Jacobe, H. (2002). Modification of glycopeptidolipids by an O-methyltransferase of Mycobacterium smegmatis. Microbiology 148: 3079-3087 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Goh, K. S., Legrand, E., Sola, C., Rastogi, N. (2001). Rapid Differentiation of ""Mycobacterium canettii"" from Other Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex Organisms by PCR-Restriction Analysis of the hsp65 Gene. J. Clin. Microbiol. 39: 3705-3708 [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»