Myxococcus xanthus fibril appendages are essential for excitation by a phospholipid attractant

Isolated (A-motile) Myxococcus xanthus cells glide over solid surfaces and display excitation, a suppression of direction reversals, when presented with phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) purified from its own membranes or synthetic dilauroyl PE and dioleoyl PE. Although the mechanism of PE signal transduction is unknown, we hypothesized that M. xanthus might use surface-associated factors to detect exogenous PE to prevent endogenous lipids from self-stimulating the sensory system. Peritrichous protein and polysaccharide appendages called fibrils were correlated with dilauroyl PE excitation. Wild-type cells treated with Congo red, an inhibitor of fibril assembly, and mutants defective in fibril biosynthesis showed an elevated reversal period, which suggested that fibrils regulate the gliding motor. Furthermore, the loss of fibrils resulted in loss of excitation to dilauroyl PE but not dioleoyl PE. Restoration of fibril production to these mutants restored the dilauroyl PE response. In addition, the dif cytoplasmic signal transduction system and starvation conditions were required for dilauroyl PE excitation. The chemically specific nature of the response and the dependence on the dif system suggests that fibrils define a novel sensory organelle whose evolution may have been necessary to prevent autostimulation by endogenous membrane lipids. Because the hydrophobic nature of dilauroyl PE would be inaccessible to periplasmic chemosensors, we suggest that fibrils act as extracellular signal transducers to probe surfaces for insoluble chemical signals.