PubMed · 6662392
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R Tamir, A I Pick. 1983-03-01. [The complement and its interaction with leukocytes].. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6662392/
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The dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in wastewater environments poses a severe threat to public health. Extracellular ARGs (eARGs) persist as free DNA fragments that are refractory to efficient removal by conventional physicochemical treatment technologies. Here, we isolated Stutzerimonas stutzeri CHY07 from municipal sewage and demonstrated that extracellular DNA fragments, including eARGs, can serve as chemoattractants for environmental bacteria. Through genomic mining, molecular docking, surface plasmon resonance (SPR), isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and protein-ligand interaction profiling, we identified the chemoreceptor Mcp16 as the primary sensor of extracellular DNA and revealed that it achieves sequence-independent recognition of the DNA phosphate backbone. We further established the endogenous pentapeptide VRSVR as a methylation substrate for CheR and constructed the engineered strain CHY07-2 (mcp16::VRSVR) using an SSB/CRISPR-Cas9 ribonucleoprotein (RNP) system. This strain exhibited significantly enhanced chemotactic responsiveness, achieving 72-h removal efficiencies of 96.56% and 91.60% for low- and high-molecular-weight eARGs in non-sterile WWTP secondary effluent; conversely, mcp16 deletion markedly attenuated both chemotaxis and removal, whereas in situ complementation restored them. These findings reveal a "chemotaxis-contact-removal" cascade - with a proposed self-reinforcing loop - in eARG-removing bacteria, providing both a theoretical framework and a technical paradigm for enhancing pollutant removal through targeted amplification of microbial chemotaxis.
BACKGROUND: Chemotaxis is the process by which organisms migrate toward nutrients and favorable environments and away from toxins and unfavorable environments. In many species of bacteria, this occurs when extracellular signals are detected by transmembrane receptors and relayed to flagellar motors, which control the cell's swimming behavior. RESULTS: We used a molecularly detailed reaction-kinetics model of the chemotaxis pathway in Escherichia coli coupled to a graphical display based on known swimming parameters to simulate the responses of bacteria to 2D gradients of attractants. The program gives the correct phenotype of over 60 mutants in which chemotaxis-pathway components are deleted or overexpressed and accurately reproduces the responses to pulses and step increases of attractant. In order to match the known sensitivity of bacteria to low concentrations of attractant, we had to introduce a set of "infectivity" reactions based on cooperative interactions between neighboring chemotaxis receptors in the membrane. In order to match the impulse response to a brief stimulus and to achieve an effective accumulation in a gradient, we also had to increase the activities of the adaptational enzymes CheR and CheB at least an order of magnitude greater than published values. Our simulations reveal that cells develop characteristic levels of receptor methylation and swimming behavior at different positions along a gradient. They also predict a distinctive "volcano" profile in some gradients, with peaks of cell density at intermediate concentrations of attractant. CONCLUSIONS: Our results display the potential use of computer-based bacteria as experimental objects for exploring subtleties of chemotactic behavior.
Magnetotactic bacteria orient and migrate along geomagnetic field lines. Each cell contains membrane-enclosed, nano-scale, iron-mineral particles called magnetosomes that cause alignment of the cell in the geomagnetic field as the bacteria swim propelled by flagella. In this work we studied the ultrastructure of the flagellar apparatus in many-celled magnetotactic prokaryotes (MMP) that consist of several Gram-negative cells arranged radially around an acellular compartment. Flagella covered the organism surface, and were observed exclusively at the portion of each cell that faced the environment. The flagella were helical tubes never as long as a complete turn of the helix. Flagellar filaments varied in length from 0.9 to 3.8 micro m (average 2.4 +/- 0.5 micro m, n = 150) and in width from 12.0 to 19.5 nm (average 15.9 +/- 1.4 nm, n = 52), which is different from previous reports for similar microorganisms. At the base of the flagella, a curved hook structure slightly thicker than the flagellar filaments was observed. In freeze-fractured samples, macromolecular complexes about 50 nm in diameter, which possibly corresponded to part of the flagella basal body, were observed in both the P-face of the cytoplasmic membrane and the E-face of the outer membrane. Transmission electron microscopy showed that magnetosomes occurred in planar groups in the cytoplasm close and parallel to the organism surface. A striated structure, which could be involved in maintaining magnetosomes fixed in the cell, was usually observed running along magnetosome chains. The coordinated movement of the MMP depends on the interaction between the flagella of each cell with the flagella of adjacent cells of the microorganism.