The BphP–AlgB phosphotransfer relay is conserved in diverse bacteria.

Abstract

(A) Maximum likelihood based phylogenetic tree for BphP showing the 150 closest orthologs to P. aeruginosa BphP. Co-occurrences of AlgB and KinB are depicted in red and blue, respectively. BphR is shown in purple. The other colors indicate bacterial phyla. The black square indicates Arabidopsis thaliana as the root of the tree. (B) In vitro phosphorylation of AlgB orthologs from the α-Proteobacterium Rce, the β-Proteobacterium Axy, and the γ-Proteobacterium Ppu by P. aeruginosa BphP–BV that had been autophosphorylated for 30 min. The bottom panel shows that phosphotransfer from P. aeruginosa phospho-BphP-BV to P. aeruginosa NtrC does not occur. To assess the quality of the protein preparations used in panel B, see S4B Fig. The original autoradiographs with the data for panel B are available in supplemental file S2 Data. Axy, Achromobacter xylosocidans; BV, biliverdin; Ppu, P. putida; Rce, Rhodospirillum centenum.</p