Biomaterial Database

New clusters of genes required for gliding motility in Myxococcus xanthus. 1994

S D MacNeil, and F Calara, and P L Hartzell

Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles 90024-1489.

Gliding is the directed movement of cells across surfaces which occurs in the absence of external organelles such as flagella. Gliding of the complex prokaryote, Myxococcus xanthus, results from the action of two independent sets of genes known as the A (adventurous motility) and S (social motility) genes. Strains with mutations in both systems (A-S-) do not spread on agar surfaces because both individual and group movement is abolished. To generate regulated, transcriptional fusions with operons including A and S genes, we introduced TN5-lac into A- and S- strains to obtain non-motile A-S::Tn5-lac and A::Tn5-lac S- double mutants. These insertions identify five separate clusters of A genes and three separate clusters of S genes on the M. xanthus genome. Some Tn5-lac insertions map near two of the five previously identified motility gene clusters, but at least five new clusters were identified in this search. Single mutations at only one locus, mglA, block motility; the mglA locus is epistatic to A and S motility genes. A- and S- Tn5-lac insertions were transduced into mgl+ and delta mgl strains. The levels of beta-galactosidase activity produced from each A- or S- Tn5-lac insertion are similar in otherwise isogenic mgl+ and delta mgl strains, showing that MglA does not regulate the transcription of many A and S genes.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D002465	Cell Movement	The movement of cells from one location to another. Distinguish from CYTOKINESIS which is the process of dividing the CYTOPLASM of a cell.	Cell Migration,Locomotion, Cell,Migration, Cell,Motility, Cell,Movement, Cell,Cell Locomotion,Cell Motility,Cell Movements,Movements, Cell
D002876	Chromosomes, Bacterial	Structures within the nucleus of bacterial cells consisting of or containing DNA, which carry genetic information essential to the cell.	Bacterial Chromosome,Bacterial Chromosomes,Chromosome, Bacterial
D004251	DNA Transposable Elements	Discrete segments of DNA which can excise and reintegrate to another site in the genome. Most are inactive, i.e., have not been found to exist outside the integrated state. DNA transposable elements include bacterial IS (insertion sequence) elements, Tn elements, the maize controlling elements Ac and Ds, Drosophila P, gypsy, and pogo elements, the human Tigger elements and the Tc and mariner elements which are found throughout the animal kingdom.	DNA Insertion Elements,DNA Transposons,IS Elements,Insertion Sequence Elements,Tn Elements,Transposable Elements,Elements, Insertion Sequence,Sequence Elements, Insertion,DNA Insertion Element,DNA Transposable Element,DNA Transposon,Element, DNA Insertion,Element, DNA Transposable,Element, IS,Element, Insertion Sequence,Element, Tn,Element, Transposable,Elements, DNA Insertion,Elements, DNA Transposable,Elements, IS,Elements, Tn,Elements, Transposable,IS Element,Insertion Element, DNA,Insertion Elements, DNA,Insertion Sequence Element,Sequence Element, Insertion,Tn Element,Transposable Element,Transposable Element, DNA,Transposable Elements, DNA,Transposon, DNA,Transposons, DNA
D004269	DNA, Bacterial	Deoxyribonucleic acid that makes up the genetic material of bacteria.	Bacterial DNA
D005798	Genes, Bacterial	The functional hereditary units of BACTERIA.	Bacterial Gene,Bacterial Genes,Gene, Bacterial
D005810	Multigene Family	A set of genes descended by duplication and variation from some ancestral gene. Such genes may be clustered together on the same chromosome or dispersed on different chromosomes. Examples of multigene families include those that encode the hemoglobins, immunoglobulins, histocompatibility antigens, actins, tubulins, keratins, collagens, heat shock proteins, salivary glue proteins, chorion proteins, cuticle proteins, yolk proteins, and phaseolins, as well as histones, ribosomal RNA, and transfer RNA genes. The latter three are examples of reiterated genes, where hundreds of identical genes are present in a tandem array. (King & Stanfield, A Dictionary of Genetics, 4th ed)	Gene Clusters,Genes, Reiterated,Cluster, Gene,Clusters, Gene,Families, Multigene,Family, Multigene,Gene Cluster,Gene, Reiterated,Multigene Families,Reiterated Gene,Reiterated Genes
D016254	Mutagenesis, Insertional	Mutagenesis where the mutation is caused by the introduction of foreign DNA sequences into a gene or extragenic sequence. This may occur spontaneously in vivo or be experimentally induced in vivo or in vitro. Proviral DNA insertions into or adjacent to a cellular proto-oncogene can interrupt GENETIC TRANSLATION of the coding sequences or interfere with recognition of regulatory elements and cause unregulated expression of the proto-oncogene resulting in tumor formation.	Gene Insertion,Insertion Mutation,Insertional Activation,Insertional Mutagenesis,Linker-Insertion Mutagenesis,Mutagenesis, Cassette,Sequence Insertion,Viral Insertional Mutagenesis,Activation, Insertional,Activations, Insertional,Cassette Mutagenesis,Gene Insertions,Insertion Mutations,Insertion, Gene,Insertion, Sequence,Insertional Activations,Insertional Mutagenesis, Viral,Insertions, Gene,Insertions, Sequence,Linker Insertion Mutagenesis,Mutagenesis, Linker-Insertion,Mutagenesis, Viral Insertional,Mutation, Insertion,Mutations, Insertion,Sequence Insertions
D016941	Myxococcus xanthus	A species of gliding bacteria found on soil as well as in surface fresh water and coastal seawater.