ArticleApplied and environmental microbiology2014
Sinorhizobium meliloti chemoreceptor McpU mediates chemotaxis toward host plant exudates through direct proline sensing.
Article in Applied and environmental microbiology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers.
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41 citing papers in PubMed, 88 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Insights into Chemoreceptor MCP2201-Sensing D-Malate.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Thermal shift assay to identify ligands for bacterial sensor proteins.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2025Review
- Deciphering Bacterial Chemorepulsion: The Complex Response of Microbes to Environmental Stimuli.Microorganisms · 2024Review
- Signaling in Legume-Rhizobia Symbiosis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
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- The Biosynthesis and Functions of Polyamines in the Interaction of Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria with Plants.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
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- Diverse Sensory Repertoire of Paralogous Chemoreceptors Tlp2, Tlp3, and Tlp4 inMicrobiology spectrum · 2022Article
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- McpT, a Broad-Range Carboxylate Chemoreceptor in Sinorhizobium meliloti.Journal of bacteriology · 2021Article
- Rhizobial Chemoattractants, the Taste and Preferences of Legume Symbionts.Frontiers in plant science · 2021Review
- Cellular Stoichiometry of Chemotaxis Proteins inJournal of bacteriology · 2020Article
- Structure-Activity Relationship Study Reveals the Molecular Basis for Specific Sensing of Hydrophobic Amino Acids by theBiomolecules · 2020Article
- The Mechanism of Bidirectional pH Taxis in Bacillus subtilis.Journal of bacteriology · 2020Article
- Chemotactic Host-Finding Strategies of Plant Endoparasites and Endophytes.Frontiers in plant science · 2020Review
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4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Bacterial chemotaxis is an important attribute that aids in establishing symbiosis between rhizobia and their legume hosts. Plant roots and seeds exude a spectrum of molecules into the soil to attract their bacterial symbionts. The alfalfa symbiont Sinorhizobium meliloti possesses eight chemoreceptors to sense its environment and mediate chemotaxis toward its host. The methyl accepting chemotaxis protein McpU is one of the more abundant S. meliloti chemoreceptors and an important sensor for the potent attractant proline. We established a dominant role of McpU in sensing molecules exuded by alfalfa seeds. Mass spectrometry analysis determined that a single germinating seed exudes 3.72 nmol of proline, producing a millimolar concentration near the seed surface which can be detected by the chemosensory system of S. meliloti. Complementation analysis of the mcpU deletion strain verified McpU as the key proline sensor. A structure-based homology search identified tandem Cache (calcium channels and chemotaxis receptors) domains in the periplasmic region of McpU. Conserved residues Asp-155 and Asp-182 of the N-terminal Cache domain were determined to be important for proline sensing by evaluating mutant strains in capillary and swim plate assays. Differential scanning fluorimetry revealed interaction of the isolated periplasmic region of McpU (McpU40-284) with proline and the importance of Asp-182 in this interaction. Using isothermal titration calorimetry, we determined that proline binds with a Kd (dissociation constant) of 104 μM to McpU40-284, while binding was abolished when Asp-182 was substituted by Glu. Our results show that McpU is mediating chemotaxis toward host plants by direct proline sensing.
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