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Presence of a functional flagellar cluster Flag-2 and low-temperature expression of flagellar genes in Yersinia enterocolitica W22703

Janja Trek

Zentralinstitut für Ernährungs- und Lebensmittelforschung (ZIEL), Abteilung Mikrobiologie, Technische Universität München, Weihenstephaner Berg 3, 85354 Freising, Germany

Correspondence
Thilo M. Fuchs
thilo.fuchs{at}wzw.tum.de

Twelve Yersinia enterocolitica mutants carrying luxCDABE-transposon insertions in motility and chemotaxis genes were isolated on the basis of strong low-temperature induction. Two transposons were located within an 11.2 kb enteric flagellar cluster 2 (Flag-2) of Y. enterocolitica biotype 2, serotype O : 9 strain W22703. The Flag-2 gene cluster is absent from the corresponding genomic location of the sequenced strain Y. enterocolitica biotype 1B, serotype O : 8 strain 8081. Evidence for the functionality of the O : 9 Flag-2 genes, probably located within the plasticity zone of the genome, is provided by swarming assays. PCR analysis of 49 strains revealed the presence of Flag-2 genes in biotypes 2–5, but not in biotypes 1A or 1B. Bioluminescence, measured between 6 and 37 °C, showed that the expression of all genes located in Flag-2 and in the known flagellar cluster, Flag-1, was highest at approximately 20 °C, and that expression of two Flag-2 genes is FlhC-dependent. In a motility assay, a non-motile and a hyper-motile phenotype resulted from knockout mutations of the Flag-1 genes fliS1 and fliT, respectively. Complemented strains validated these results, confirming the regulatory role of FliT.

The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession number for the Flag-2 sequence of Yersinia enterocolitica is AM600695.

A supplementary table listing the primers used is available with the online version of this paper.