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Making sense of it all: bacterial chemotaxis

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 5, pages 1024–1037 (2004)Cite this article

Key Points

  • Bacterial chemotaxis is the biasing of movement towards environments that contain higher concentrations of beneficial, or lower concentrations of toxic, chemicals. The signalling pathway that is involved has long been viewed as a paradigm of histidine–aspartate-phosphorelay signalling, and is one of the most well-understood physiological processes in biology.

  • The pathway is composed of chemoreceptors, the histidine protein kinase chemotaxis protein (Che)A and two diffusable response regulators (CheY and CheB). CheY controls flagellar motor switching, whereas CheB controls chemoreceptor adaptation.

  • The chemoreceptors and other proteins of the chemotaxis signalling pathway localize to specific regions of the cell as large higher-order arrays. This is thought to allow sensitivity and gain — cells can respond to a change of just a few molecules over background concentrations that can vary over five orders of magnitude.

  • Biochemical, cellular-concentration and molecular-structure data for the various components of this pathway are available. These data have allowed various mathematical and computational models to be generated and tested.

  • Many bacterial species have several chemosensory pathways, as well as further components that might be expressed under particular environmental conditions to allow bacteria to tune their responses to a specific environment.

  • Chemotaxis is thought to be involved in pathogenicity, symbiosis, biofilm formation and stability, and in maintaining bacteria in their optimal environmental niche. The correct interplay between chemotaxis and other sensing systems is essential for bacterial survival in a changing environment.

Abstract

Bacteria must be able to respond to a changing environment, and one way to respond is to move. The transduction of sensory signals alters the concentration of small phosphorylated response regulators that bind to the rotary flagellar motor and cause switching. This simple pathway has provided a paradigm for sensory systems in general. However, the increasing number of sequenced bacterial genomes shows that although the central sensory mechanism seems to be common to all bacteria, there is added complexity in a wide range of species.

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Figure 1: The domain organization of selected histidine–aspartate-phosphorelay systems.
Figure 2: Schematic diagram of the chemosensory system of Escherichia coli.
Figure 3: The structures of components of the chemosensory system of Escherichia coli.
Figure 4: Chemotaxis-protein localization.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council for funding the research on R. sphaeroides behaviour that has been carried out in our laboratory, and we apologise to the many authors whose work we have not been able to include because of space restraints.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QU, UK

    George H. Wadhams & Judith P. Armitage

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  1. George H. Wadhams
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  2. Judith P. Armitage
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Correspondence to Judith P. Armitage.

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DATABASES

Entrez Gene

ArcB

CheA

CheB

CheC

CheD

CheR

CheV

CheW

CheY

CheZ

FliM

KinB

McpB

NtrB

PrrB

Tap

Tar

Trg

Tsr

Interpro

FAD-binding domain

HAMP domain

HPt domain

PAS domain

SH3

Protein Data Bank

1A2O

1ANF

1B3Q

1BC5

1EAY

1EHC

1I5N

1KMI

1KOS

1QU7

1WAT

FURTHER INFORMATION

Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute

The Institute for Genomic Research

Glossary

HAMP DOMAIN

('Histidine kinases, adenylyl cyclases, methyl-binding proteins and phosphatases' domain). A domain that is broadly conserved in histidine protein kinases, chemoreceptors and phosphatases. It contains two amphipathic helices, and is presumed to have a role in signal transduction.

NODULE

A swelling on the roots of nitrogen-fixing plants that contains symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria.

QUORUM SENSING

The ability of bacteria to sense their own cell density by detecting the concentration of signalling molecules that have been released in their environment.

PILI

Short, polymerized-protein projections that protrude from the bacterial cell and are used for surface attachment and twitching motility.

PAS DOMAIN

(PER, ARNT, SIM domain). A domain that is involved in recognizing stimuli such as light, oxygen, redox potential, energy status and small ligands.

HPt DOMAIN

(Histidine-containing phosphotransfer domain). These domains are ∼120 amino acids long and contain a histidine residue that can participate in phosphoryl-transfer reactions. They function as phosphoreceivers and phosphodonors, and can therefore be used to create multistep phosphorelay systems.

HYPERFLAGELLATE

An increased number of flagella.

GAIN

A parameter of chemotactic behaviour that describes the relationship between the stimulus and the response. It is defined as the fractional increase in anticlockwise motor bias divided by the fractional change in receptor occupancy.

CHEMORECEPTOR

A sensory receptor that responds to chemical stimuli. The term covers transmembrane receptors (such as the methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins) and cytoplasmic receptors (such as transducer-like proteins).

METHYL-ACCEPTING CHEMOTAXIS PROTEIN

(MCP). A transmembrane chemoreceptor that shows methylation-dependent adaptation.

FLAVIN ADENINE DINUCLEOTIDE

(FAD). FAD functions as a redox centre in many proteins.

SRC-HOMOLOGY-3 DOMAIN

(SH3 domain). A 60-amino-acid domain that mediates the assembly of specific protein complexes through binding to proline-rich peptides. It is found in many proteins that are involved in signal transduction and membrane–cytoskeleton interactions.

TRANSDUCER-LIKE PROTEIN

(Tlp). Tlp proteins are cytoplasmic chemoreceptors that have the cytoplasmic domain of methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins and lack transmembrane domains.

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Wadhams, G., Armitage, J. Making sense of it all: bacterial chemotaxis. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 5, 1024–1037 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm1524

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