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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 2004, p. 5621-5627, Vol. 70, No. 9
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.9.5621-5627.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Identification and Functional Characterization of a Xenorhabdus nematophila Oligopeptide Permease

Samantha S. Orchard and Heidi Goodrich-Blair*

Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin

Received 20 February 2004/ Accepted 18 May 2004

The bacterium Xenorhabdus nematophila is a mutualist of Steinernema carpocapsae nematodes and a pathogen of insects. Presently, it is not known what nutrients the bacterium uses to thrive in these host environments. In other symbiotic bacteria, oligopeptide permeases have been shown to be important in host interactions, and we therefore sought to determine if oligopeptide uptake is essential for growth or symbiotic functions of X. nematophila in laboratory or host environments. We identified an X. nematophila oligopeptide permease (opp) operon of two sequential oppA genes, predicted to encode oligopeptide-binding proteins, and putative permease-encoding genes oppB, oppC, oppD, and oppF. Peptide-feeding studies indicated that this opp operon encodes a functional oligopeptide permease. We constructed strains with mutations in oppA1, oppA2, or oppB and examined the ability of each mutant strain to grow in a peptide-rich laboratory medium and to interact with the two hosts. We found that the opp mutant strains had altered growth phenotypes in the laboratory medium and in hemolymph isolated from larval insects. However, the opp mutant strains were capable of initiating and maintaining both mutualistic and pathogenic host interactions. These data demonstrate that the opp genes allow X. nematophila to utilize peptides as a nutrient source but that this function is not essential for the existence of X. nematophila in either of its host niches. To our knowledge, this study represents the first experimental analysis of the role of oligopeptide transport in mediating a mutualistic invertebrate-bacterium interaction.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin—Madison, Madison, WI 53706. Phone: (608) 265-4537. Fax: (608) 262-9865. E-mail: hgblair{at}bact.wisc.edu.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 2004, p. 5621-5627, Vol. 70, No. 9
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.9.5621-5627.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Herbert Tran, E. E., Andersen, A. W., Goodrich-Blair, H. (2009). CpxRA Influences Xenorhabdus nematophila Colonization Initiation and Outgrowth in Steinernema carpocapsae Nematodes through Regulation of the nil Locus. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 75: 4007-4014 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
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