It is intriguing that all of the organisms identified to date that have homologs of mglA also carry structural genes for the assembly of Tfp. Anaeromyxobacter dehalogens [52], Geobacter metallireducens [53], and members of the related genera Deinococcus and Thermus, have genes encoding Tfp [54]. Similarly, some genes for Tfp determinants are found in the genome of the filamentous glider Chloroflexus aurantiacus, an anoxygenic, thermophilic photosynthetic bacterium [55]. Not all organisms that have Tfp

have an mglA homolog, nor is it clear that all organisms encoding Tfp use these components for motility. find more For example, Thermus thermophilus uses Tfp machinery for DNA EPZ015938 purchase transfer [56]. Future studies might reveal a novel pathway by which these unusual GTPases regulate Tfp components in organisms from diverse habitats and in diverse functions. Methods Strains and media Strains and plasmids are listed in Additional file 9: Table S1. M. xanthus strains

were grown routinely in vegetative CTPM (1% Casitone, 10 mM Tris, 1 mM potassium phosphate, 5 mM MgSO4, final pH 7.6) medium at 32°. Unless otherwise noted, solid medium contained 1.5% agar. E. coli strains were grown in LB medium [57] at 37°, and were used for plasmid constructions and DNA purifications. When appropriate, media were supplemented with kanamycin sulfate (Kan; 40 μg/ml). Construction Methisazone of plasmids with mutations in mglA and recombination of mutant alleles of mglA into the M. xanthus chromosome in single copy We performed the site-directed mutagenesis of mglA using the PCR-overlap extension method [29]. To make each mutation,

pairs of overlapping oligonucleotides, shown in Additional file 9: Table S1, were synthesized. The first round of PCR was done using each of two mutagenic oligonucleotides and each of two (flanking) oligonucleotides complementary either to the 5′ or 3′ ends of the mglBA operon, to amplify overlapping portions of this operon from pPLH325. Gel-purified PCR products were cloned into plasmid vector pCR2.1 Blunt TOPO and recombinant plasmids, otherwise isogenic with their parental plasmid, pPLH325, were recovered from KanR transformants of either E. coli JM107 or Top10. The presence of each mutation was confirmed by the analysis of the entire mglBA coding sequence by RFLP analysis and/or sequencing. These plasmids were introduced into the M. xanthus genome by homologous recombination. Examination of mglA Wortmannin in vivo transcription M. xanthus strains were grown to a density of 5 × 108 cells/ml in CTPM medium at 32°C, and harvested by centrifugation. Total mRNA was harvested using Trizol reagent RNA extraction protocol (Invitrogen). Each sample was then treated with 6 units of DNaseI (Fermentas) for 45 min to remove any potential genomic DNA contaminants.