Abstract
BackgroundOuter membrane vesicles (OMVs) are released from the outer membrane of many Gram-negative bacteria. These extracellular compartments are known to transport compounds involved in cell-cell signalling as well as virulence associated proteins, e.g. the cytolysine from enterotoxic E. coli.ResultsWe have demonstrated that Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc) releases OMVs into the culture supernatant during growth. A proteome study identified 31 different proteins that associate with the OMV fraction of which half are virulence-associated. A comparison with the most abundant outer membrane (OM) proteins revealed that some proteins are enriched in the OMV fraction. This may be connected to differences in the LPS composition between the OMVs and the OM. Furthermore, a comparison of the OMV proteomes from two different culture media indicated that the culture conditions have an impact on the protein composition. Interestingly, the proteins that are common to both culture conditions are mainly involved in virulence.ConclusionOuter membrane vesicles released from the OM of Xcc contain membrane- and virulence-associated proteins. Future experiments will prove whether these structures can serve as "vehicles" for the transport of virulence factors into the host membrane.
Highlights
Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) are released from the outer membrane of many Gram-negative bacteria
A comparison with the most abundant proteins from the outer membrane fraction revealed, that not all high abundant proteins are released with OMVs, suggesting that some proteins are favourably released with these structures
This may be connected to the membrane composition of the OMVs, which differs from whole cell LPS preparations [33]
Summary
Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) are released from the outer membrane of many Gram-negative bacteria. These extracellular compartments are known to transport compounds involved in cell-cell signalling as well as virulence associated proteins, e.g. the cytolysine from enterotoxic E. coli. Campestris (Xcc) is the causal agent of "black rot" disease in crucifers, which include a number of plants of economical importance. Xanthomonas campestris can be subdivided into different pathovars according to their host range [1,2]. To gather a deeper understanding of how these bacteria cause disease in different plants, the genome sequences of four different Xanthomonas pathovars were established [3,4,5].
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