@article{a73018264a414931a1273ececa0e3674,
title = "Role of the major determinant of polar flagellation FlhG in the endoflagella-containing spirochete Leptospira",
abstract = "Spirochetes can be distinguished from other bacteria by their spiral-shaped morphology and subpolar periplasmic flagella. This study focused on FlhF and FlhG, which control the spatial and numerical regulation of flagella in many exoflagellated bacteria, in the spirochete Leptospira. In contrast to flhF which seems to be essential in Leptospira, we demonstrated that flhG− mutants in both the saprophyte L. biflexa and the pathogen L. interrogans were less motile than the wild-type strains in gel-like environments but not hyperflagellated as reported previously in other bacteria. Cryo-electron tomography revealed that the distance between the flagellar basal body and the tip of the cell decreased significantly in the flhG− mutant in comparison to wild-type and complemented strains. Additionally, comparative transcriptome analyses of L. biflexa flhG− and wild-type strains showed that FlhG acts as a negative regulator of transcription of some flagellar genes. We found that the L. interrogans flhG− mutant was attenuated for virulence in the hamster model. Cross-species complementation also showed that flhG is not interchangeable between species. Our results indicate that FlhF and FlhG in Leptospira contribute to governing cell motility but our data support the hypothesis that FlhF and FlhG function differently in each bacterial species, including among spirochetes.",
keywords = "FlhG, Leptospira, endoflagellum, motility, spirochetes",
author = "Lenka Fule and Ruben Halifa and Celia Fontana and Odile Sismeiro and Rachel Legendre and Hugo Varet and Copp{\'e}e, {Jean Yves} and Murray, {Gerald L.} and Ben Adler and Hendrixson, {David R.} and Alejandro Buschiazzo and Shuaiqi Guo and Jun Liu and Mathieu Picardeau",
note = "Funding Information: We thank Olivier Gorgette (UBI platform, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France) and Ariel Mechaly (Plateforme de Cristallographie, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France) for help in electron microscopy and protein structure analysis, respectively. We thank Christophe Becavin for RNA-seq analysis, S{\'e}bastien Le Hu Nghia for genetic studies and Meng Shao and Qin Gong for their assistance in cryo-ET sample preparation and segmentation. We also thank David {\v S}majs for the gift of Borrelia DNA. This research was supported by ANR LEPTOMOVE (18-CE15-0027-01) and the Pasteur International Unit « Integrative Microbiology of Zoonotic Agents » (IMiZA) to MP, NIH R01AI065539 to DRH, and NIAID R01AI087946 to JL. This work is part of the PhD of Lenka Fule. Funding Information: We thank Olivier Gorgette (UBI platform, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France) and Ariel Mechaly (Plateforme de Cristallographie, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France) for help in electron microscopy and protein structure analysis, respectively. We thank Christophe Becavin for RNA‐seq analysis, S{\'e}bastien Le Hu Nghia for genetic studies and Meng Shao and Qin Gong for their assistance in cryo‐ET sample preparation and segmentation. We also thank David {\v S}majs for the gift of DNA. This research was supported by ANR LEPTOMOVE (18‐CE15‐0027‐01) and the Pasteur International Unit « Integrative Microbiology of Zoonotic Agents » (IMiZA) to MP, NIH R01AI065539 to DRH, and NIAID R01AI087946 to JL. This work is part of the PhD of Lenka Fule. Borrelia Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd",
year = "2021",
month = nov,
doi = "10.1111/mmi.14831",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "116",
pages = "1392--1406",
journal = "Molecular Microbiology",
issn = "0950-382X",
publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",
number = "5",
}