University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations August 2019 Flavobacterium Gliding Motility: From Protein Secretion to Cell Surface Adhesin Movements Joseph Johnston University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the Biology Commons, Microbiology Commons, and the Molecular Biology Commons Recommended Citation Johnston, Joseph, "Flavobacterium Gliding Motility: From Protein Secretion to Cell Surface Adhesin Movements" (2019). Theses and Dissertations. 2202. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/2202 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. FLAVOBACTERIUM GLIDING MOTILITY: FROM PROTEIN SECRETION TO CELL SURFACE ADHESIN MOVEMENTS by Joseph J. Johnston A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Biological Sciences at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee August 2019 ABSTRACT FLAVOBACTERIUM GLIDING MOTILITY: FROM PROTEIN SECRETION TO CELL SURFACE ADHESIN MOVEMENTS by Joseph J. Johnston The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2019 Under the Supervision of Dr. Mark J. McBride Flavobacterium johnsoniae exhibits rapid gliding motility over surfaces. At least twenty genes are involved in this process. Seven of these, gldK, gldL, gldM, gldN, sprA, sprE, and sprT encode proteins of the type IX protein secretion system (T9SS). The T9SS is required for surface localization of the motility adhesins SprB and RemA, and for secretion of the soluble chitinase ChiA. This thesis demonstrates that the gliding motility proteins GldA, GldB, GldD, GldF, GldH, GldI and GldJ are also essential for secretion.