Inactivation of a putative flagellar motor switch protein FliG1 prevents Borrelia burgdorferi from swimming in highly viscous media and blocks its infectivity

• Published in: Molecular microbiology Vol. 75; no. 6; pp. 1563 - 1576
• Main Authors: Li, Chunhao, Xu, Hongbin, Zhang, Kai, Liang, Fang Ting
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.03.2010; Blackwell
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Artificial Gene Fusion; Bacterial Proteins - analysis; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; Bacterial Proteins - metabolism; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Biosynthesis; Borrelia burgdorferi; Borrelia burgdorferi - chemistry; Borrelia burgdorferi - pathogenicity; Borrelia burgdorferi - physiology; Flagella - metabolism; Flagella - physiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene expression; Gene Knockout Techniques; Genes, Reporter; Genetic Complementation Test; Gram-negative bacteria; Green Fluorescent Proteins - genetics; Green Fluorescent Proteins - metabolism; Locomotion; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Mice, SCID; Microbiology; Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; Microscopy, Fluorescence; Miscellaneous; Molecular Sequence Data; Mutation; Proteins; Sequence Alignment; Virulence; Borrelia burgdorferi; Spirochaetaceae; Spirochaetales; Infectivity; Flagellum; Bacteria; Swimming; Protein

Summary The flagellar motor switch complex protein FliG plays an essential role in flagella biosynthesis and motility. In most motile bacteria, only one fliG homologue is present in the genome. However, several spirochete species have two putative fliG genes (referred to as fliG1 and fliG2) and thei...