Journal
ISME JOURNAL
Volume 6, Issue 6, Pages 1166-1175Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/ismej.2011.183
Keywords
symbiosis; earthworm; flagella; type IV pili; motility
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Funding
- National Science Foundation [IOB 0951119, IOB 0345049, DBI 0805653]
- REU/NSF [IOB 0619945]
- Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems
- Direct For Biological Sciences [0951119] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The bacterial symbiont Verminephrobacter eiseniae colonizes nephridia, the excretory organs, of the lumbricid earthworm Eisenia fetida. E. fetida transfers V. eisenia into the egg capsule albumin during capsule formation and V. eiseniae cells migrate into the earthworm nephridia during embryogenesis, where they bind and persist. In order to characterize the mechanistic basis of selective tissue colonization, methods for site-directed mutagenesis and colonization competence were developed and used to evaluate the consequences of individual gene disruptions. Using these newly developed tools, two distinct modes of bacterial motility were shown to be required for V. eiseniae colonization of nascent earthworm nephridia. Flagella and type IV pili mutants lacked motility in culture and were not able to colonize embryonic earthworms, indicating that both twitching and flagellar motility are required for entrance into the nephridia. The ISME Journal (2012) 6, 1166-1175; doi:10.1038/ismej.2011.183; published online 15 December 2011
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