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A contractile injection system stimulates tubeworm metamorphosis by translocating a proteinaceous effector.
Journal article

A contractile injection system stimulates tubeworm metamorphosis by translocating a proteinaceous effector.

  • Ericson CF Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, United States.
  • Eisenstein F Department of Biology, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biophysics, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zürich, Switzerland.
  • Medeiros JM Department of Biology, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biophysics, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zürich, Switzerland.
  • Malter KE Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, United States.
  • Cavalcanti GS Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, United States.
  • Zeller RW Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, United States.
  • Newman DK Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States.
  • Pilhofer M Department of Biology, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biophysics, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zürich, Switzerland.
  • Shikuma NJ Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, United States.
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  • 2019-09-19
Published in:
  • eLife. - 2019
T6SS
contractile injection system
development
infectious disease
metamorphosis
microbiology
molecular biophysics
phage
structural biology
symbiosis
Animals
Bacterial Proteins
Cryoelectron Microscopy
Electron Microscope Tomography
Host Microbial Interactions
Metamorphosis, Biological
Polychaeta
Protein Transport
Pseudoalteromonas
English The swimming larvae of many marine animals identify a location on the sea floor to undergo metamorphosis based on the presence of specific bacteria. Although this microbe-animal interaction is critical for the life cycles of diverse marine animals, what types of biochemical cues from bacteria that induce metamorphosis has been a mystery. Metamorphosis of larvae of the tubeworm Hydroides elegans is induced by arrays of phage tail-like contractile injection systems, which are released by the bacterium Pseudoalteromonas luteoviolacea. Here we identify the novel effector protein Mif1. By cryo-electron tomography imaging and functional assays, we observe Mif1 as cargo inside the tube lumen of the contractile injection system and show that the mif1 gene is required for inducing metamorphosis. Purified Mif1 is sufficient for triggering metamorphosis when electroporated into tubeworm larvae. Our results indicate that the delivery of protein effectors by contractile injection systems may orchestrate microbe-animal interactions in diverse contexts.
Language
  • English
Open access status
gold
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/185276
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