Chemotactic Motility of Pseudomonas fluorescens F113 under Aerobic and Denitrification Conditions

The sequence of the genome of Pseudomonas fluorescens F113 has shown the presence of multiple traits relevant for rhizosphere colonization and plant growth promotion. Among these traits are denitrification and chemotactic motility. Besides aerobic growth, F113 is able to grow anaerobically using nitrate and nitrite as final electron acceptors. F113 is able to perform swimming motility under aerobic conditions and under anaerobic conditions when nitrate is used as the electron acceptor. However, nitrite can not support swimming motility. Regulation of swimming motility is similar under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, since mutants that are hypermotile under aerobic conditions, such as gacS, sadB, kinB, algU and wspR, are also hypermotile under anaerobic conditions. However, chemotactic behavior is different under aerobic and denitrification conditions. Unlike most pseudomonads, the F113 genome encode three complete chemotaxis systems, Che1, Che2 and Che3. Mutations in each of the cheA genes of the three Che systems has shown that the three systems are functional and independent. Mutation of the cheA1 gene completely abolished swimming motility both under aerobic and denitrification conditions. Mutation of the cheA2 gene, showed only a decrease in swimming motility under both conditions, indicating that this system is not essential for chemotactic motility but is necessary for optimal motility. Mutation of the cheA3 gene abolished motility under denitrification conditions but only produced a decrease in motility under aerobic conditions. The three Che systems proved to be implicated in competitive rhizosphere colonization, being the cheA1 mutant the most affected.