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Conjugative Mating Assays for Sequence-specific Analysis of Transfer Proteins Involved in Bacterial Conjugation
Published on: January 4, 2017
An analysis of type-III secretion gene clusters in Chromobacterium violaceum
Helen J Betts1, Roy R Chaudhuri, Mark J Pallen
1Bacterial Pathogenesis and Genomics Unit, Division of Immunity and Infection, Institute for Biomedical Research, Medical School, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT UK.
Abstract:
Chromobacterium violaceum is an environmental Gram-negative bacterium that is common in soil and water in tropical and sub-tropical regions. It is also a model organism for studying quorum-sensing and is a rare but deadly human pathogen. Recent completion of the genome sequence of C. violaceum strain ATCC 12472 revealed the presence of genes associated with type-III secretion systems (TTSSs). One of these systems resembles the Spi-1 system found in Salmonella enterica, whereas another is similar to the Spi-2 system from the same organism. Here, we present a detailed analysis and a fresh annotation of the two gene clusters. Moreover, we highlight the presence of several genes encoding putative type-III effector proteins that lead us to predict that this organism can manipulate vesicular trafficking, the actin cytoskeleton and apoptotic pathways within mammalian cells to its own advantage.
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