Endocytosis-like protein uptake in the bacterium Gemmata obscuriglobus — PNAS

Endocytosis-like protein uptake in the bacterium Gemmata obscuriglobus
Thierry G. A. Lonhiennea,b,1, Evgeny Sagulenkoa,1, Richard I. Webbc, Kuo-Chang Leea, Josef Franked, Damien P. Devose, Amanda Nouwensa, Bernard J. Carrolla,b, and John A. Fuersta,2
+ Author Affiliations

aSchool of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences,
bAustralian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Integrative Legume Research, and
cCentre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia;
dThe Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065; and
eEuropean Molecular Biology Laboratory, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany
Edited* by Carl R. Woese, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, and approved May 28, 2010 (received for review January 27, 2010)

↵1T.G.A.L. and E.S. contributed equally to this work.

Abstract
Endocytosis is a process by which extracellular material such as macromolecules can be incorporated into cells via a membrane-trafficking system. Although universal among eukaryotes, endocytosis has not been identified in Bacteria or Archaea. However, intracellular membranes are known to compartmentalize cells of bacteria in the phylum Planctomycetes, suggesting the potential for endocytosis and membrane trafficking in members of this phylum. Here we show that cells of the planctomycete Gemmata obscuriglobus have the ability to uptake proteins present in the external milieu in an energy-dependent process analogous to eukaryotic endocytosis, and that internalized proteins are associated with vesicle membranes. Occurrence of such ability in a bacterium is consistent with autogenous evolution of endocytosis and the endomembrane system in an ancestral noneukaryote cell.

eukaryotesevolutionendocytosisbacteriaplanctomycetes

Footnotes
2To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: fuerst@biosci.uq.edu.au. Author contributions: T.G.A.L., E.S., and J.A.F. designed research; T.G.A.L., E.S., R.I.W., K.-C.L., J.F., D.P.D., A.N., and J.A.F. performed research; R.I.W., J.F., D.P.D., B.J.C., and J.A.F. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; T.G.A.L., E.S., R.I.W., K.-C.L., and J.A.F. analyzed data; and T.G.A.L., E.S., B.J.C., and J.A.F. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
↵*This Direct Submission article had a prearranged editor.
See Commentary on page 12739.
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1001085107/-/DCSupplemental.

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Endocytosis-like protein uptake in the bacterium Gemmata obscuriglobus — PNAS