Three types of motility mechanisms in pathogenic bacteria, class Mollicutes

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17H01544
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Bacteriology (including mycology)
• Research Institution: Osaka City University
• Principal Investigator: Miyata Makoto 大阪市立大学, 大学院理学研究科, 教授 (50209912)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 細胞運動 / 光学顕微鏡 / クライオ電子顕微鏡 / 構造生物学 / 単粒子解析 / 合成細菌 / 電子線クライオトモグラフィー / 遺伝子操作

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Class Mollicutes, pathogenic bacteria that have achieved their specific evolution through parasitism are featured by three unique motility mechanisms. In this study, we clarified the following facts. (i) Energy conversion in the motility mechanism. (ii) Structures of motors and legs forming the core parts of motility. (iii) Reproduction of spiroplasma swimming by transferring and expressing some genes in a synthetic bacterium created by Craig Venter Institute. These results have partly already been published as ten English articles. This study was developed into the JST CREST study led by Miyata, titled “Construction of a cell evolution model using the synthetic bacterium JCVI syn3.0B and genome manipulation”.

Free Research Field

細菌学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

地球上の細胞には全部で18種類の運動メカニズムが存在するが（Miyata M et al. Genes to Cells 2020 10.1111/gtc.12737），これまでにそのメカニズムが詳細に調べられたのは4つに過ぎなかった．本研究の進展によりさらに3つのメカニズムが加わることで，細胞運動能の法則や原理などが議論できるようになった．研究対象となっているモリクテス綱細菌はヒトや上海ガニなどの動物や，オレンジなどの植物に被害を与える病原菌で，運動能はそれらの感染性に必須である．本研究はこれらの被害を抑えるための基礎研究としても有用である．