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Review
. 2015 Dec:28:106-13.
doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2015.09.006. Epub 2015 Nov 2.

Spirochetal motility and chemotaxis in the natural enzootic cycle and development of Lyme disease

Md A Motaleb  1 , Jun Liu  2 , R Mark Wooten  3
Affiliations
Review

Spirochetal motility and chemotaxis in the natural enzootic cycle and development of Lyme disease

Md A Motaleb et al. Curr Opin Microbiol. 2015 Dec.

Abstract

Two-thirds of all bacterial genomes sequenced to-date possess an organelle for locomotion, referred to as flagella, periplasmic flagella or type IV pili. These genomes may also contain a chemotaxis-signaling system which governs flagellar rotation, thus leading a coordinated function for motility. Motility and chemotaxis are often crucial for infection or disease process caused by pathogenic bacteria. Although motility-associated genes are well-characterized in some organisms, the highly orchestrated synthesis, regulation, and assembly of periplasmic flagella in spirochetes are just being delineated. Recent advances were fostered by development of unique genetic manipulations in spirochetes coupled with cutting-edge imaging techniques. These contemporary advances in understanding the role of spirochetal motility and chemotaxis in host persistence and disease development are highlighted in this review.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek’s illustrations of various bacteria isolated from a human mouth that was published in September 1683, which he referred to as “animalcules.” Bacteria shown are (A) a rod-shaped bacterium, (B) a motile bacterium moving from points (C) to (D), (E) micrococci, (F) fusiform bacteria and (G) a spirochete illustrating characteristic wave-like shape. Adapted from [5].
Figure 2
Figure 2
General morphology and periplasmic flagellar structures in spirochetes. (A) Schematic model of a spirochete cell showing the periplasmic flagellar filaments located between the outer membrane (OM) and the inner membrane (IM), causing the characteristic flat-wave morphology. (B) Schematic model of the periplasmic flagellar motor illustrating various flagellar motor components. PG, peptidoglycan layer; EXP, export apparatus.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Cellular structures of B. burgdorferi. A B. burgdorferi cell (A) was imaged by cryo-electron tomography microscopy near a cell tip/pole (B) and the middle of the cell body (C). Periplasmic flagellar motors are observed to be attached in an ordered fashion at each cellular pole (B), and regions exhibiting characteristic spirochetal morphology present endoflagella in an ordered flagellar ribbon-like structure. Motor structures are outlined with yellow broken lines. Adapted from [38].
Figure 4
Figure 4
Model for the roles of B. burgdorferi motility in bacterial persistence and dissemination within and between hosts. During tick feeding, wild-type (WT) bacteria replicate and use spirochetal back-and-forth motility to cross the tight junction of the midgut basement membrane, and subsequently traverse through the salivary glands into the skin of the mammalian host (left diagram). Dissemination from the host skin tissues to the distant colonization sites also requires bacterial motility. During tick feeding, WT motility likely enables the bacteria to intimately bind to the midgut (e.g. OspA-TROSPA), which is believed to be important for bacterial viability in the tick. WT B. burgdorferi then undergoes a “biphasic mode of dissemination” during tick feeding [62], which we intentionally omitted in this model as we are comparing WT with our genetically modified non-motile mutants, and it has not been investigated if the paralyzed cells also undergo a similar biphasic mode. Red curves and rod-shapes represent WT and non-motile B. burgdorferi, respectively. Half-moon yellow shapes ( formula image) represent tick or host blood-borne noxious factors that clear non-motile spirochetes from the tick midgut. BM, basement membrane.
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References

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