ArticlePLoS genetics2014
Ras GTPase-like protein MglA, a controller of bacterial social-motility in Myxobacteria, has evolved to control bacterial predation by Bdellovibrio.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers.
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Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 49 citations in OpenAlex.
- The polar landscape of bacterial pathogens and predators.Current opinion in microbiology · 2026Review
- Predation in microbial communities: gradients of nutritive killing.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2026Review
- Article
- Distinct motors, shared mechanics: unifying principles of microbial gliding.Journal of bacteriology · 2026Review
- Using AlphaFold-Multimer to study novel protein-protein interactions of predation essential hypothetical proteins inFrontiers in bioinformatics · 2025Article
- Combinatorial control of type IVa pili formation by the four polarized regulators MglA, SgmX, FrzS, and SopA.Journal of bacteriology · 2024Article
- The Predatory Properties of Bradymonabacteria, the Representative of Facultative Prey-Dependent Predators.Microorganisms · 2024Article
- Article
- Controlling the expression of heterologous genes in Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus using synthetic biology strategies.Microbial biotechnology · 2024Article
- Distinct dynamics and proximity networks of hub proteins at the prey-invading cell pole in a predatory bacterium.Journal of bacteriology · 2024Article
- Prey killing without invasion by Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus defective for a MIDAS-family adhesin.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Perspectives on polarity - exploring biological asymmetry across scales.Journal of cell science · 2024Article
- Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus uses chimeric fibre proteins to recognize and invade a broad range of bacterial hosts.Nature microbiology · 2024Article
- Cell cycle-dependent organization of a bacterial centromere through multi-layered regulation of the ParABS system.PLoS genetics · 2023Article
- Moving toward a better understanding of the model bacterial predatorMicrobiology (Reading, England) · 2023Article
- Chromosome choreography during the non-binary cell cycle of a predatory bacterium.Current biology : CB · 2021Article
- A Tad-like apparatus is required for contact-dependent prey killing in predatory social bacteria.eLife · 2021Article
- The polar Ras-like GTPase MglA activates type IV pilus via SgmX to enable twitching motility inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2020Article
- The small GTPase MglA together with the TPR domain protein SgmX stimulates type IV pili formation inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2020Article
- Dynamics of Chromosome Replication and Its Relationship to Predatory Attack Lifestyles in Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus invade Gram-negative bacteria in a predatory process requiring Type IV pili (T4P) at a single invasive pole, and also glide on surfaces to locate prey. Ras-like G-protein MglA, working with MglB and RomR in the deltaproteobacterium Myxococcus xanthus, regulates adventurous gliding and T4P-mediated social motility at both M. xanthus cell poles. Our bioinformatic analyses suggested that the GTPase activating protein (GAP)-encoding gene mglB was lost in Bdellovibrio, but critical residues for MglA(Bd) GTP-binding are conserved. Deletion of mglA(Bd) abolished prey-invasion, but not gliding, and reduced T4P formation. MglA(Bd) interacted with a previously uncharacterised tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR) domain protein Bd2492, which we show localises at the single invasive pole and is required for predation. Bd2492 and RomR also interacted with cyclic-di-GMP-binding receptor CdgA, required for rapid prey-invasion. Bd2492, RomR(Bd) and CdgA localize to the invasive pole and may facilitate MglA-docking. Bd2492 was encoded from an operon encoding a TamAB-like secretion system. The TamA protein and RomR were found, by gene deletion tests, to be essential for viability in both predatory and non-predatory modes. Control proteins, which regulate bipolar T4P-mediated social motility in swarming groups of deltaproteobacteria, have adapted in evolution to regulate the anti-social process of unipolar prey-invasion in the "lone-hunter" Bdellovibrio. Thus GTP-binding proteins and cyclic-di-GMP inputs combine at a regulatory hub, turning on prey-invasion and allowing invasion and killing of bacterial pathogens and consequent predatory growth of Bdellovibrio.
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