Inorganic polyphosphates in the acquisition of competence in Escherichia coli

A complex of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), Ca2+, and inorganic polyphosphate (polyP) was proposed as the membrane component responsible for competence for DNA entry in Escherichia coli (Reusch, R. N., and Sadoff, H. L. (1988) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 85, 4176-4180). While chemical and immunological assays and 1H NMR have unequivocally established the identity and content of PHB in the complex, comparable methods were not available for polyP. With specific enzyme assays developed for polyP, we have identified, in chloroform extracts of competent cell membranes, a novel form of polyP of about 60 to 70 residues in a stoichiometric ratio of PHB to polyP of 2:1. In E. coli mutants, incapable of synthesizing the predominant, thousand-long polyP chains, appearance of this short polyP and its inclusion in membranes can account for their capacity to develop competence and indicates an auxiliary pathway for polyP synthesis. A variety of fluorescent lipid probes demonstrate the appearance of extensive rigid domains in membranes of competent cells. We propose that the PHB.Ca2+.polyP complex perturbs the conformation of the lipid matrix, making it more permeable to charged molecules and thus allowing the entry of DNA.