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Journal of Bacteriology, May 2001, p. 3117-3126, Vol. 183, No. 10
Department of Bacteriology, University of
Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706
Received 3 August 2000/Accepted 28 February 2001
The bacterium Photorhabdus luminescens is a symbiont
of the entomopathogenic nematode Heterorhabditis
bacteriophora. The nematode requires the bacterium for
infection of insect larvae and as a substrate for growth and
reproduction. The nematodes do not grow and reproduce in insect hosts
or on artificial media in the absence of viable P.
luminescens cells. In an effort to identify bacterial factors
that are required for nematode growth and reproduction, transposon-induced mutants of P. luminescens were
screened for the loss of the ability to support growth and reproduction
of H. bacteriophora nematodes. One mutant, NGR209,
consistently failed to support nematode growth and reproduction. This
mutant was also defective in the production of siderophore and
antibiotic activities. The transposon was inserted into an open reading
frame homologous to Escherichia coli EntD, a
4'-phosphopantetheinyl (Ppant) transferase, which is required for the
biosynthesis of the catechol siderophore enterobactin. Ppant
transferases catalyze the transfer of the Ppant moiety from coenzyme A
to a holo-acyl, -aryl, or -peptidyl carrier protein(s) required for the
biosynthesis of fatty acids, polyketides, or nonribosomal peptides.
Possible roles of a Ppant transferase in the ability of P.
luminescens to support nematode growth and reproduction are discussed.
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.10.3117-3126.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
A Phosphopantetheinyl Transferase Homolog Is
Essential for Photorhabdus luminescens To Support Growth
and Reproduction of the Entomopathogenic Nematode
Heterorhabditis bacteriophora


*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706. Phone: (608) 262-7877. Fax: (608) 262-9865. E-mail:
jcensign{at}facstaff.wisc.edu.
Present address: Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford
University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950.
Present address: DowAgroSciences, Indianapolis, IN 46268-1054.
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