Amino acid chemoreceptors of Bacillus subtilis

Abstract

Specificities of chemoreceptors for the 20 common amino acids, toward which Bacillus subtilis shows chemotaxis, were assessed by competition ('jamming') experiments using a modification of the traditional capillary assay, called the 'sensitivity capillary assay'. Many amino acids were sensed by at least two chemoreceptors. All the highest affinity chemoreceptors for the amino acids were distinct, except glutamate and aspartate, which may share one chemoreceptor, and tyrosine, for which the data could not be collected due to low solubility. The data suggest the hypothesis that each amino acid chemoreceptor complex binds to a different signaler (from which signals travel to the flagella to modify behavior appropriately), and that many of the signalers can also bind other attractant chemoreceptor complexes as antagonists (no signals to flagella).