TY - JOUR
T1 - Five structural genes required for ceramide synthesis in Caulobacter and for bacterial survival
AU - Olea-Ozuna, Roberto Jhonatan
AU - Poggio, Sebastian
AU - Bergström, Ed
AU - Quiroz-Rocha, Elva
AU - García-Soriano, Daniela A.
AU - Sahonero-Canavesi, Diana X.
AU - Padilla-Gómez, Jonathan
AU - Martínez-Aguilar, Lourdes
AU - López-Lara, Isabel M.
AU - Thomas-Oates, Jane
AU - Geiger, Otto
N1 - © 2020 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.
PY - 2021/1/1
Y1 - 2021/1/1
N2 - Sphingolipids are essential and common membrane components in eukaryotic organisms, participating in many important cellular functions. Only a few bacteria are thought to harbour sphingolipids in their membranes, among them the well-studied α-proteobacterium Caulobacter crescentus, a model organism for asymmetric cell division and cellular differentiation. Here, we report that C. crescentus wild type produces several molecular species of dihydroceramides, which are not produced in a mutant lacking the structural gene for serine palmitoyltransferase (spt). Whereas growth of a spt-deficient mutant and wild type are indistinguishable during the exponential phase of growth, survival of the spt-deficient mutant is much reduced, in comparison with wild type, during stationary phase of growth, especially at elevated temperatures. The structural gene for spt is located within a genomic cluster, comprising another 16 genes and which, like spt, are important for fitness of C. crescentus. Mutants deficient in genes linked to spt by high cofitness were unable to produce dihydroceramide or to survive in stationary phase of growth at elevated temperatures. At least five structural genes are required for dihydroceramide biosynthesis in C. crescentus and sphingolipid biosynthesis is needed for survival of this bacterium and the integrity of its outer membrane.
AB - Sphingolipids are essential and common membrane components in eukaryotic organisms, participating in many important cellular functions. Only a few bacteria are thought to harbour sphingolipids in their membranes, among them the well-studied α-proteobacterium Caulobacter crescentus, a model organism for asymmetric cell division and cellular differentiation. Here, we report that C. crescentus wild type produces several molecular species of dihydroceramides, which are not produced in a mutant lacking the structural gene for serine palmitoyltransferase (spt). Whereas growth of a spt-deficient mutant and wild type are indistinguishable during the exponential phase of growth, survival of the spt-deficient mutant is much reduced, in comparison with wild type, during stationary phase of growth, especially at elevated temperatures. The structural gene for spt is located within a genomic cluster, comprising another 16 genes and which, like spt, are important for fitness of C. crescentus. Mutants deficient in genes linked to spt by high cofitness were unable to produce dihydroceramide or to survive in stationary phase of growth at elevated temperatures. At least five structural genes are required for dihydroceramide biosynthesis in C. crescentus and sphingolipid biosynthesis is needed for survival of this bacterium and the integrity of its outer membrane.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85093677964&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/1462-2920.15280
DO - 10.1111/1462-2920.15280
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85093677964
VL - 23
SP - 143
EP - 159
JO - Environmental Microbiology
JF - Environmental Microbiology
SN - 1462-2912
IS - 1
ER -
