AUTHOR=Kudryakova Irina V. , Afoshin Alexey S. , Ivashina Tanya V. , Suzina Natalia E. , Leontyevskaya Elena A. , Leontyevskaya (Vasilyeva) Natalia V. 

TITLE=Deletion of alpB Gene Influences Outer Membrane Vesicles Biogenesis of Lysobacter sp. XL1

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.715802

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2021.715802

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) produced by Gram-negative bacteria constitute important factors in defining interactions with the extracellular milieu. <italic>Lysobacter</italic> sp. XL1 produces OMVs capable of lysing microbial cells due to the presence in their cargo of bacteriolytic protease L5 (AlpB). Although protein L5 has been functionally and biochemically characterized (including aspects of its packing into OMVs), its role in vesicle biogenesis through genetic deletion of <italic>alpB</italic> had not been studied previously. Here, we have successfully deleted <italic>alpB</italic> by allelic replacement and show that the <italic>alpB</italic> deletion mutant produces a significantly lower amount of OMVs that lack bacteriolytic activity and display altered ultrastructural characteristics in relation to the OMVs produced by the wild-type strain. These results confirm that, as previously proposed, protein L5 participates in OMV production through a mechanism that is not yet fully understood.</p>