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Nucleic Acids Research Advance Access published online on June 18, 2007
Nucleic Acids Research, doi:10.1093/nar/gkm456
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© 2007 The Author(s)
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Genomics

Adaptation in bacterial flagellar and motility systems: from regulon members to ‘foraging’-like behavior in E. coli

Kai Zhao1, Mingzhu Liu2,3 and Richard R. Burgess1,*

1McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, 2Department of Genetics and 3Department of Computer Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +1-608-263-2635; Fax: +1-608-262-2824; Email: burgess{at}oncology.wisc.edu

Received March 13, 2007. Revised May 20, 2007. Accepted May 22, 2007.

Bacterial flagellar motility and chemotaxis help cells to reach the most favorable environments and to successfully compete with other micro-organisms in response to external stimuli. Escherichia coli is a motile gram-negative bacterium, and the flagellar regulon in E. coli is controlled by a master regulator FlhDC as well as a second regulator, flagellum-specific sigma factor, {sigma}F. To define the physiological role of these two regulators, we carried out transcription profiling experiments to identify, on a genome-wide basis, genes under the control of these two regulators. In addition, the synchronized pattern of increasing CRP activity causing increasing FlhDC expression with decreasing carbon source quality, together with the apparent coupling of motility activity with the activation of motility and chemotaxis genes in poor quality carbon sources, highlights the importance of CRP activation in allowing E. coli to devote progressively more of its limited reserves to search out better conditions. In adaptation to a variety of carbon sources, the motile bacteria carry out tactical responses by increasing flagellar operation but restricting costly flagellar synthesis, indicating its capability of strategically using the precious energy in nutrient-poor environments for maximizing survival.

Present address: Mingzhu Liu, Department of Biomolecular Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA


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