ArticleJournal of bacteriology2014
A genetic screen in Myxococcus xanthus identifies mutants that uncouple outer membrane exchange from a downstream cellular response.
Article in Journal of bacteriology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Identification and characterization of ugpE associated with the full virulence of Streptococcus suis.Veterinary research · 2025Article
- The Limits of Our Explanation: A Case Study inBiological theory · 2025Article
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- Cell-cell transfer of adaptation traits benefits kin and actor in a cooperative microbe.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Loratadine Combats Methicillin-ResistantACS infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Two reasons to kill: predation and kin discrimination in myxobacteria.Microbiology (Reading, England) · 2023Review
- Occurrence and dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes in mine soil ecosystems.Applied microbiology and biotechnology · 2022Article
- Article
- Polymorphic Toxins and Their Immunity Proteins: Diversity, Evolution, and Mechanisms of Delivery.Annual review of microbiology · 2020Review
- Self-identity barcodes encoded by six expansive polymorphic toxin families discriminate kin in myxobacteria.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2019Article
- Article
- Rapid curation of gene disruption collections using Knockout Sudoku.Nature protocols · 2017Article
- Infectious polymorphic toxins delivered by outer membrane exchange discriminate kin in myxobacteria.eLife · 2017Article
- Multifaceted Interfaces of Bacterial Competition.Journal of bacteriology · 2016Review
- Tissue repair in myxobacteria: A cooperative strategy to heal cellular damage.BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology · 2016Article
- Sibling Rivalry in Myxococcus xanthus Is Mediated by Kin Recognition and a Polyploid Prophage.Journal of bacteriology · 2016Article
- Myxobacteria: Moving, Killing, Feeding, and Surviving Together.Frontiers in microbiology · 2016Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Upon physical contact with sibling cells, myxobacteria transiently fuse their outer membranes (OMs) and exchange OM proteins and lipids. From previous work, TraA and TraB were identified to be essential factors for OM exchange (OME) in donor and recipient cells. To define the genetic complexity of OME, we carried out a comprehensive forward genetic screen. The screen was based on the observation that Myxococcus xanthus nonmotile cells, by a Tra-dependent mechanism, block swarm expansion of motile cells when mixed. Thus, mutants defective in OME or a downstream responsive pathway were readily identified as escape flares from mixed inocula seeded on agar. This screen was surprisingly powerful, as we found >50 mutants defective in OME. Importantly, all of the mutations mapped to the traAB operon, suggesting that there may be few, if any, proteins besides TraA and TraB directly required for OME. We also found a second and phenotypically different class of mutants that exhibited wild-type OME but were defective in a responsive pathway. This pathway is postulated to control inner membrane homeostasis by covalently attaching amino acids to phospholipids. The identified proteins are homologous to the Staphylococcus aureus MprF protein, which is involved in membrane adaptation and antibiotic resistance. Interestingly, we also found that a small number of nonmotile cells were sufficient to block the swarming behavior of a large gliding-proficient population. This result suggests that an OME-derived signal could be amplified from a few nonmotile producers to act on many responder cells.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.