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The bacterium  Pseudoalteromonas tunicata  is a common surface colonizer of marine eukaryotes, including the macroalga  Ulva australis. Genomic analysis of  P. tunicata  identified genes potentially involved in surface colonization, including genes with homology to bacterial virulence factors that mediate attachment. Of particular interest is the presence of a gene, designated  ptlL32 , encoding an ortholog to the  Leptospira  lipoprotein LipL32, which has been shown to facilitate the interaction of  Leptospira  sp. with host extracellular matrix (ECM) structures and is thought to be an important virulence trait for pathogenic  Leptospira . To investigate the role of PtlL32 in the colonization by  P. tunicata  we constructed and characterized a Δ ptlL32  mutant strain. Whilst  P. tunicata  Δ ptlL32  bound to an abiotic surface with the same capacity as the wild type strain, it had a marked effect on the ability of  P. tunicata  to bind to ECM, suggesting a specific role in attachment to biological surfaces. Loss of PtlL32 also significantly reduced the capacity for  P. tunciata  to colonize the host algal surface demonstrating a clear role for this protein as a host-colonization factor. PtlL32 appears to have a patchy distribution across specific groups of environmental bacteria and phylogenetic analysis of PtlL32 orthologous proteins from non- Leptospira  species suggests it may have been acquired via horizontal gene transfer between distantly related lineages. This study provides the first evidence for an attachment function for a LipL32-like protein outside the  Leptospira  and thereby contributes to the understanding of host colonization in ecologically distinct bacterial species.

An ortholog of the Leptospira interrogans lipoprotein LipL32 aids in the colonization of Pseudoalteromonas tunicata to host surfaces