Open AccessNa + ‐ and H + ‐dependent motility in the coral pathogen Vibrio shilonii
Author(s) -
González Yael,
Venegas Daniela,
MendozaHernandez Guillermo,
Camarena Laura,
Dreyfus Georges
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.2010.02110.x
Subject(s) - flagellum , vibrio , biology , motility , microbiology and biotechnology , pilus , bacteria , vibrionaceae , swarming motility , gene , biofilm , escherichia coli , genetics , quorum sensing
In this work, we analyzed motility and the flagellar systems of the marine bacterium Vibrio shilonii . We show that this bacterium produces lateral flagella when seeded on soft agar plates at concentrations of 0.5% or 0.6%. However, at agar concentrations of 0.7%, cells become round and lose their flagella. The sodium channel blocker amiloride inhibits swimming of V. shilonii with the sheathed polar flagellum, but not swarming with lateral flagella. We also isolated and characterized the filament–hook–basal body of the polar flagellum. The proteins in this structure were analyzed by MS. Eight internal sequences matched with known flagellar proteins. The comparison of these sequences with the protein database from the complete genome of V. shilonii allows us to conclude that some components of the polar flagellum are encoded in two different clusters of flagellar genes, suggesting that this bacterium has a complex flagellar system, more complex possibly than other Vibrio species reported so far.