Disease relevance of pilE

• A pilE mutant, designated MJ-6, was broadly resistant to pili-specific phages and unable to translocate across solid surfaces by the pilus-dependent mechanism of twitching motility (Twt-) [1].
• The pilE gene product of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, required for pilus biogenesis, shares amino acid sequence identity with the N-termini of type 4 prepilin proteins [1].
• The pilE gene encodes the pilin subunit in Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Neisseria meningitidis [2].

High impact information on pilE

• The requirement of PilE in pilus biogenesis was confirmed by demonstrating that chromosomal pilE insertion mutants were pilus- and twitching-motility deficient [1].
• Genetic studies aimed at localizing the pilE mutation on the P. aeruginosa PAO chromosome demonstrated a strong co-linkage between MJ-6 phage resistance and the proB marker located at 71 min [1].
• The nucleotide sequence of a 1 kb EcoRV-ClaI fragment containing the pilE region revealed a single complete open reading frame with characteristic P. aeruginosa codon bias [1].
• Cloning of the pilE gene was facilitated by the isolation and identification of a pro(B+)-containing plasmid from a PAO1 cosmid library [1].
• Subcellular fractionation showed that the pilE gene product that had been processed by PulO remained associated with the cytoplasmic membrane, as did the unprocessed precursor [3].

Other interactions of pilE

• One pil locus, designated pilE, resides at approx. 71 min on the PAO genetic map, a region of the chromosome previously shown to harbor a number of genes required for pilus assembly (i.e., pilA, -B, -C, -D, -R and -S) [4].

References