Premium
The products of Rhizobium genes, psi and pss , which affect exopolysaccharide production, are associated with the bacterial cell surface
Author(s) -
Latchford J. W.,
Borthakur D.,
Johnston A. W. B.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
molecular microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 247
eISSN - 1365-2958
pISSN - 0950-382X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1991.tb02140.x
Subject(s) - periplasmic space , biology , gene , signal peptide , mutant , peptidoglycan , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , peptide sequence , escherichia coli
Summary Translational fusions between a mutant phoA (lacking its promoter, ribosomal binding site and signal peptide sequence) and Rhizobium ‘symbiotic’ genes were isolated. Since these fusions expressed alkaline phosphatase (AP), the product of phoA , the genes into which phoA was inserted apparently specify proteins located in the bacterial periplasm or cell membrane, the compartment in which AP has activity. These genes were psiA and genes upstream of psiA (psiA is required for normal nodule development and strains with multicopy psiA fall to make exopolysaccharide (EPS) and to nodulate). Fusions between phoA and pss (exo) genes, which are required for EPS production, also resulted in the expression of AP indicating that products of these pss genes were located at the cell surface. Using grus fusions to psiA and pssA , we found that the former was expressed in N 2 ‐fixing bean root nodules but the latter was not.