However, no direct functional studies of yeeZ have been undertaken until now. Based on the results of the fluorescence staining with acridine orange, the bacterial cells of yeeZ mutant were multinucleate (Fig. 4e), and the bacterial cell walls were intact, as revealed

by electron microscopy (Fig. 4f). Hydrophilicity of the mutant decreased compared with the wild type (Fig. S2) and the insertional mutation in yeeZ gene also resulted in dramatic low growth rate (Fig. S3). These features suggest that the function of yeeZ gene may be associated with bacterial cell division. However, the downstream gene, CKO_00769, which encodes a putative LysR-type transcriptional regulator, overlaps in sequence with the yeeZ gene. So the possibility that the novel features of CF204 AZD5363 mw NVP-BGJ398 purchase may be due to the polar effect of transposon on the expression of the CKO_00769 must be considered. In liquid media, the mutant bacteria were motile but less active than the

wild type even though the flagellin level of the yeeZ mutant was comparable to that of the wild type (Fig. 2b and Video S5). Cell elongation has been previously suggested as a key factor for swarming process. Some swarming null mutants and crippled mutants of P. mirabilis have been identified previously as defective in swarming cell elongation (Belas et al., 1991). However, in C. freundii, our results indicated that an elongated shape was not always advantageous for swarming motility. Three of the new swarming-related genetic loci were found to be involved in different metabolic pathways, and the mutation of these genes resulted in a moderately defective swarming (Fig. 3j–l). CKO_03941 encodes a putative polyketide cyclase/dehydrase family protein that has an unclear function. Its role in swarming motility has yet to be determined. The glgC gene encodes an ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase, which catalyzes the first rate-limiting step in glycogen biosynthesis. Glycogen is widespread in enteric genera as a major energy storage

compound. Glycogen reserves are important for biofilm formation, virulence in Salmonella enteritidis Aspartate (Bonafonte et al., 2000), and sporulation in Clostridium and Bacillus (Preiss, 1984). Based on our results, the growth rate of the glgC mutant was less than that of the parent strain (Fig. S3). The growth rate change may be reflected in the defective swarming. The ttrA gene encodes tetrathionate reductase subunit A. The ability to respire tetrathionate is a characteristic of certain genera of Enterobacteriaceae, including Citrobacter, Salmonella, and Proteus (Hensel et al., 1999). Although no exogenous tetrathionate was added to the swarming media used in the study, the protein digests in the complex media were shown to contain thiosulfate, which was readily oxidized to tetrathionate (Barrett & Clark, 1987).