Transposon mutagenesis in a marine synechococcus strain: isolation of swimming motility mutants

Certain marine unicellular cyanobacteria of the genus Synechococcus exhibit a unique type of swimming motility characterized by the absence of flagella or any other obvious organelles of motility. While the abundant cell surface-associated 130-kDa glycoprotein SwmA is known to be required for the generation of thrust, identification of other components of the motility apparatus has, until recently, been unsuccessful. Here we report on the development of a transposon mutagenesis system for use with marine Synechococcus sp. strain WH8102, a model organism for which the genome has been sequenced. Utilizing this mutagenesis technique, we have isolated 17 independent mutants impaired in swimming motility. These 17 transposon insertions are located in nine open reading frames, which cluster in three separate regions of the genome. Included within these clusters are several multicomponent transport systems as well as a number of glycosyltransferases.