BACKGROUND
magnetotactic bacteria  produce nano-sized membrane-enveloped magnetic organelles termed magnetosomes, consisting of single-domain magnetite  or greigite  crystals that are integrated into one to several chains depending on the species  <cit> .
mtb are aquatic prokaryotes that utilize the magnetosomes to align themselves relative to magnetic fields and swim toward favorable low-oxygen, nutrient-rich environments.
this behavior is called magneto-aerotaxis  <cit> .
many studies over the past several decades have focused on the molecular mechanism of magnetosome formation and revealed several important facts.
magnetosome-related genes are concentrated in a structure called the “magnetosome island”  in the genomes of mtb  <cit> .
in magnetospirillum strains such as m. gryphiswaldense msr- <dig>  m. magneticum amb- <dig>  and m. magnetotacticum ms- <dig>  the mai conservatively contains four common gene operons: mms <dig>  mamgfdc, mamab, and mamxy <cit> .
the mamxy operon is also conserved in magnetococcus sp.
mc- <dig>  <cit> .
mms <dig>  a tightly bound protein found in the magnetosome membrane, plays an essential role in the control of magnetite crystallization and crystal size  <cit> .
the mamgfdc proteins have partially redundant and collective functions in the control of magnetosome size  <cit> .
the mamab operon is a large cluster containing most of the mtb-specific genes, including those that encode the proteins mame , mamk , and mamj   <cit> .
recent studies have shown that the mamab operon is necessary and sufficient for magnetite biomineralization  <cit> .
the mamxy operon received less attention than mms <dig>  mamgfdc, and mamab.
mamxy is the last cluster in the mai and contains four sequential genes termed mamy, mamx, mamz, and ftsz-like, identified as a polycistronic transcription unit  <cit> .
the mamxy proteins were shown to play crucial roles in magnetite biomineralization through whole operon deletion in msr- <dig>  <cit> .
such effect was less obvious in amb- <dig>  <cit> .
mamy was reported to constrict the magnetosome membrane in amb- <dig>  <cit> .
deletion of ftsz-like resulted in smaller superparamagnetic particles  <cit> .
mamz has been predicted  to be an ortholog of mamh and likely a permease belonging to the major facilitator superfamily.
mamx has similarities to the serine-like proteases mame and mams, but there have been no systematic studies of its function to date.
in view of the high conservation of mamxy in mtb, functional studies of this operon are needed to elucidate the entire mai and its role in the mechanism of magnetosome formation.
the present study is focused on the highly conserved but hitherto uncharacterized mamx protein.
RESULTS
deletion of the mamx gene had no effect on cell growth
to elucidate the function of mamx in the absence of polar effect, msr- <dig> was subjected to in-frame gene deletion  and complementation of mamx  as described in methods.
we validated the construction of the mutant and complemented strains, detected the genes in the mai, and measured cell growth and magnetic responses.
there were no notable differences in the growth curves of wt, ∆mamx, and cmamx , although the od <dig> of ∆mamx was slightly lower than that of wt and cmamx at each sample point.
the maximal od <dig> values for wt, ∆mamx, and cmamx were  <dig> ,  <dig> , and  <dig> , respectively, and were reached by  <dig> hr in each case.
∆mamx showed decreased intracellular iron content and magnetic response
cmag can be used as an efficient value for measuring the magnetosome content of mtb  <cit> .
for wt, cmag increased from  <dig>  at  <dig> hr to a maximum of  <dig>  at  <dig> hr and gradually decreased thereafter , while the cmag value of ∆mamx remained zero throughout the culture period.
this observation indicates a complete loss of magnetism in ∆mamx.
cmamx partially recovered its cmag value, which increased from  <dig>  at  <dig> hr to  <dig>  at  <dig> hr .
the complemented plasmid may exist as a free plasmid in cytoplasm rather than being integrated into the msr- <dig> genome, resulting in an unstable phenotype.
to further characterize the mamx mutant, we measured the iron content in cells.
the intracellular iron content of ∆mamx  was much lower than that of wt and cmamx  ; this difference was statistically significant .
the deletion of mamx resulted in irregular and smaller crystals
phenotypic changes in the mutant cells and magnetosomes were observed by hr-tem.
wt had regular cubo-octahedral magnetosomes  , mature chains , and a standard magnetite crystal lattice .
in ∆mamx, the magnetosomes were much smaller   and irregularly shaped, and the crystal lattice was very poorly developed, although the chains were organized normally .
cmamx showed a normal crystal size and phenotype   and a typical magnetite crystal lattice .
the mean numbers of crystals per cell were  <dig> ± <dig>  for wt,  <dig> ± <dig>  for ∆mamx, and  <dig> ± <dig>  for cmamx .
the number of intracellular magnetosomes was slightly higher in ∆mamx than in the other two strains.
an energy-dispersive spectroscopic analysis showed that iron and oxygen were the primary elemental components of magnetosomes in ∆mamx, the same as in wt and cmamx .
for each strain, 20– <dig> cells and 250– <dig> crystals were visualized and measured.
a: there is significant difference between the mean crystal diameter of wt and ∆mamx ; b: there is significant difference between the mean crystal number of wt and ∆mamx .
to further characterize the magnetosome crystals, we performed rock magnetic measurements on whole-cell samples of wt, ∆mamx and cmamx strains .
the wt sample had a pot-bellied hysteresis loop with the hysteresis parameters coercivity bc, remanence coercivity bcr, and remanence ratio mrs/ms being  <dig>  mt,  <dig>  mt, and  <dig> , respectively.
this indicated that the wt cell formed dominant single domain particles and small portion of superparamagnetic particles.
the domain states of wt strain formed magnetosomes were further demonstrated by its corresponding first-order reversal curves  diagram: a set of concentrated contours distributes around a peak of coercivity at hc ≈  <dig> mt and slightly intersects with the hb axis.
in contrast, the ∆mamx sample had a wasp-waist hysteresis loop; and its forcs diagram slightly expanded in the horizontal distribution, but strongly intersected with the hb axis with the peak coercivity reducing to ~ <dig> mt.
these features indicated an increased heterogeneity in microcoercivity  and a larger portion of superparamagnetic particles than in the wt sample  <cit> .
the cmamx sample had stoner-wohlfarth-type hysteresis loop with the mrs/ms value being  <dig> ; its forc diagram was characterized by a set of closed contours concentrated around the peak coercivity of ~ <dig> mt narrowly along the horizontal axis.
these features, similar to whole-cell samples of other mtb  <cit> , were typical behaviors of a randomly oriented array of non-interacting uniaxial single-domain particles  <cit> .
the stronger magnetic properties  exhibited by cmamx than wt, associated with better magnetosome formation like larger crystal size  and/or higher crystallinity within the former than the later, was probably due to the over expression of mamx.
this result, consistent with our previous study on c_ftsz-like strain of msr- <dig>  <cit> , further demonstrated that the mamx play a role in controlling the crystal size and/or crystallinity of magnetosomes within msr- <dig>
mamxy gene transcription levels were affected by mamx deletion
mamxy gene transcription levels were evaluated in the three strains.
in wt, each of the four genes  in the mamxy operon showed high transcription levels from  <dig> to  <dig> hr in absolute qpcr assay .
this period corresponds to the log phase of growth, which is the period of rapid cell growth and magnetosome synthesis.
the transcription level of mamz was much higher than those of the other three genes at each of the four time points ; i.e., the level of mamz was 3– <dig> times that of mamy, 4– <dig> times that of mamx, and 10– <dig> times that of ftsz-like .
these findings suggest that the mamz protein plays a crucial role during cell growth.
a, b, c and d: ratios of taranscription level mamz/mamy have significant differences between in wt and in Δmamx strain at all the four time points ; e, f, g and h: ratios of taranscription level mamz/ftsz-like have significant differences between in wt and in Δmamx strain at all the four time points .
we used qpcr to measure the transcription levels of mamy, mamz, and ftsz-like in ∆mamx.
the relative transcription level of mamy was similar in ∆mamx and wt at  <dig> and  <dig> hr but was twice as high in ∆mamx as in wt at  <dig> hr .
the transcription level of mamz was much higher than those of the other three genes at all four sampling points in wt  but was only slightly different in ∆mamx .
as a result of the loss of mamx in the mutant, the transcription of mamy and ftsz-like increased.
the transcriptional disparity between mamz and the other three genes was large in wt but much smaller in ∆mamx .
regardless of whether mamx was knocked out, the transcription level of mamz was highest during the period of cell growth and high magnetosome synthesis.
ftsz-like showed dramatic changes of transcription level during cell growth in ∆mamx.
its level was twice as high as in wt at  <dig> hr, decreased 6-fold by  <dig> hr, increased >4-fold by  <dig> hr, and then gradually declined until  <dig> hr .
the phase of old cell division and new cell formation presumably places a high demand on the protein ftsz-like.
in summary, the deletion of mamx evidently resulted in higher expression of mamy and ftsz-like, particularly at later cell growth phases, but had no major effect on the expression of mamz.
it should be noted that gene expression in the complemented strain cmamx was not identical to that in wt.
discussion
mamx is involved in magnetite crystal maturation in msr- <dig> cells
to elucidate the function of the highly conserved mamx protein in mtb, we constructed mamx deletion mutant  and complemented  strains of m. gryphiswaldense msr- <dig>  for ∆mamx, the cmag value was zero and intracellular iron content was significantly reduced, although cell growth was similar to that of wt .
hr-tem observations revealed that the magnetite particles in ∆mamx were irregularly shaped, small , and predominantly superparamagnetic, whereas those in wt were symmetrically cuboid, large , and predominantly single-domain.
these findings indicate that mamx plays an essential role in the control of magnetosome morphology and that mamx is involved in magnetite crystal maturation in msr- <dig>
there was a notable reduction of intracellular iron content in ∆mamx, corresponding to a crystal diameter much smaller than that in wt.
the observed alteration of the crystal lattice may account for the reduction of cmag in ∆mamx and result in a phenotype similar to that of a mamxy operon knock-out in msr- <dig>  <cit> .
surprisingly, the mean crystal number per cell for ∆mamx  was 36% higher than that for wt .
this finding may be due to the fact that crystals in the mutant strain were smaller; i.e., equivalent amounts of materials  in the cells may have been capable of producing more crystals, as supported by hr-tem observations .
mamx has conserved double heme-binding motifs
mamx is conserved in not only spirillum strains such as m. gryphiswaldense msr- <dig> , m. magneticum amb- <dig> , and m. magnetotacticum ms- <dig>  but also in vibrio and cocci strains such as magnetovibrio mv- <dig>  and magnetococcus sp.
mc- <dig> .
a comparative genomic analysis showed that mamx is one of a set of  <dig> genes that are specifically associated with the magnetotactic phenotype  <cit> .
the ubiquity and specific presence of mamx within mtb suggest that this protein plays a role in magnetotaxis.
the results of the present study indicate that mamx is involved in magnetite crystal maturation but do not clarify its exact function.
a protein sequence blast search using prosite  showed that mamx contains two cxxch heme-binding motifs that are typical of c-type cytochromes .
similar double heme-binding motifs were found recently in the magnetosome proteins mame, mamp, and mamt  <cit> .
site-directed mutagenesis of the two motifs in mame resulted in the production of smaller magnetite crystals  <cit> .
these motifs were suggested to be involved in electron transport or as a redox buffer during magnetite formation  <cit> .
such a function could explain the specific requirement of redox potential for magnetite formation in several mtb strains  <cit>  and may be related to the function of the double heme-binding motif in mamx.
the four proteins encoded by the mamxy operon may have a close relationship
the qpcr results showed that the four genes in the mamxy operon were all highly expressed during the log phase of growth, supporting previous findings that the log phase is an essential period for mmp function and magnetosome synthesis  <cit> .
the expression of mamz was much higher than that of the other three genes at each of the sampling times , indicating that mamz plays a crucial role during growth.
mamz is a highly hydrophobic protein with a predicted weight of  <dig>  kda and contains a major facilitator superfamily domain , a ferric reductase-like transmembrane component , and up to  <dig> transmembrane helices .
it is therefore possible that mamz is involved in ferric iron reduction, although there is no direct experimental evidence to date for such a function.
the results of the relative qpcr assay indicated that deletion of mamx resulted in a notable increase in mamy and ftsz-like transcription but had no effect on mamz transcription.
these findings suggest some redundancy among the functions of mamx, mamy, and ftsz-like.
application of the online tool string  predicted interactions among the four proteins encoded by the mamxy operon .
according to this predicted network view, the four mamxy proteins undergo intrinsic interactions with each other and are also associated with certain proteins related to cell division  and to cell wall formation  through ftsz-like.
these associated proteins in strain amb- <dig> have predicted functions similar to those in msr- <dig>  further experiments are needed to test this model.
interestingly, the phenotypes of a mamx mutant, ftsz-like mutant, and mamxy operon deleted mutant in msr- <dig> are similar in that they produce magnetosomes that are small and irregularly shaped in comparison with those of wt  <cit> .
in view of the previous finding that mamgfdc proteins have partially redundant and collective functions in controlling magnetosome size  <cit> , and the results of the present study, we propose that the four genes in the mamxy operon have redundant functions involved in the complex process of magnetosome formation.
a recent study showed that a single deletion of the mamab operon in msr- <dig> resulted in the complete loss of magnetosome synthesis, whereas deletion of the conserved mms <dig>  mamgfdc, and mamxy operons led to severe defects in the morphology, size, and organization of magnetite crystals  <cit> .
the mamp, mams, mamr, and mamt proteins were shown to function in the regulation of crystal number, size, and shape  <cit> .
magnetite biocrystallization in mtb is clearly a complex process in which many proteins are involved.
it is appropriate now to consider completing the model of mmp functions and magnetosome formation that was proposed previously  <cit> .
CONCLUSIONS
the results of the present study show that the mamx protein plays an important role in controlling magnetosome size, maturation, and crystal form.
previous studies have shown that a single gene deletion in mamxy and knock-out of the entire operon result in very similar phenotypic characteristics.
the mamxy proteins may therefore have redundant functions involved in magnetosome synthesis.
these findings are important for further elucidation of the biomineralization process in mtb.

 magnetotactic bacteria produce nano-sized membrane-enveloped magnetic organelles termed magnetosomes, consisting of single-domain magnetite or greigite crystals that are integrated into one to several chains depending on the species. mtb are aquatic prokaryotes that utilize the magnetosomes to align themselves relative to magnetic fields and swim toward favorable low-oxygen, nutrient-rich environments. this behavior is called magneto-aerotaxis. many studies over the past several decades have focused on the molecular mechanism of magnetosome formation and revealed several important facts. magnetosome-related genes are concentrated in a structure called the “magnetosome island” in the genomes of mtb. in magnetospirillum strains such as m. gryphiswaldense msr- m. magneticum amb- and m. magnetotacticum ms- the mai conservatively contains four common gene operons: mms mamgfdc, mamab, and mamxy. the mamxy operon is also conserved in magnetococcus sp. mc-. mms a tightly bound protein found in the magnetosome membrane, plays an essential role in the control of magnetite crystallization and crystal size. the mamgfdc proteins have partially redundant and collective functions in the control of magnetosome size. the mamab operon is a large cluster containing most of the mtb-specific genes, including those that encode the proteins mame, mamk, and mamj. recent studies have shown that the mamab operon is necessary and sufficient for magnetite biomineralization. the mamxy operon received less attention than mms mamgfdc, and mamab. mamxy is the last cluster in the mai and contains four sequential genes termed mamy, mamx, mamz, and ftsz-like, identified as a polycistronic transcription unit. the mamxy proteins were shown to play crucial roles in magnetite biomineralization through whole operon deletion in msr-. such effect was less obvious in amb-. mamy was reported to constrict the magnetosome membrane in amb-. deletion of ftsz-like resulted in smaller superparamagnetic particles. mamz has been predicted to be an ortholog of mamh and likely a permease belonging to the major facilitator superfamily. mamx has similarities to the serine-like proteases mame and mams, but there have been no systematic studies of its function to date. in view of the high conservation of mamxy in mtb, functional studies of this operon are needed to elucidate the entire mai and its role in the mechanism of magnetosome formation. the present study is focused on the highly conserved but hitherto uncharacterized mamx protein.  deletion of the mamx gene had no effect on cell growth to elucidate the function of mamx in the absence of polar effect, msr- was subjected to in-frame gene deletion and complementation of mamx as described in methods. we validated the construction of the mutant and complemented strains, detected the genes in the mai, and measured cell growth and magnetic responses. there were no notable differences in the growth curves of wt, ∆mamx, and cmamx, although the od of ∆mamx was slightly lower than that of wt and cmamx at each sample point. the maximal od values for wt, ∆mamx, and cmamx were,, and, respectively, and were reached by hr in each case. ∆mamx showed decreased intracellular iron content and magnetic response cmag can be used as an efficient value for measuring the magnetosome content of mtb. for wt, cmag increased from at hr to a maximum of at hr and gradually decreased thereafter, while the cmag value of ∆mamx remained zero throughout the culture period. this observation indicates a complete loss of magnetism in ∆mamx. cmamx partially recovered its cmag value, which increased from at hr to at hr. the complemented plasmid may exist as a free plasmid in cytoplasm rather than being integrated into the msr- genome, resulting in an unstable phenotype. to further characterize the mamx mutant, we measured the iron content in cells. the intracellular iron content of ∆mamx was much lower than that of wt and cmamx; this difference was statistically significant. the deletion of mamx resulted in irregular and smaller crystals phenotypic changes in the mutant cells and magnetosomes were observed by hr-tem. wt had regular cubo-octahedral magnetosomes, mature chains, and a standard magnetite crystal lattice. in ∆mamx, the magnetosomes were much smaller and irregularly shaped, and the crystal lattice was very poorly developed, although the chains were organized normally. cmamx showed a normal crystal size and phenotype and a typical magnetite crystal lattice. the mean numbers of crystals per cell were ± for wt, ± for ∆mamx, and ± for cmamx. the number of intracellular magnetosomes was slightly higher in ∆mamx than in the other two strains. an energy-dispersive spectroscopic analysis showed that iron and oxygen were the primary elemental components of magnetosomes in ∆mamx, the same as in wt and cmamx. for each strain, 20– cells and 250– crystals were visualized and measured. a: there is significant difference between the mean crystal diameter of wt and ∆mamx; b: there is significant difference between the mean crystal number of wt and ∆mamx. to further characterize the magnetosome crystals, we performed rock magnetic measurements on whole-cell samples of wt, ∆mamx and cmamx strains. the wt sample had a pot-bellied hysteresis loop with the hysteresis parameters coercivity bc, remanence coercivity bcr, and remanence ratio mrs/ms being mt, mt, and, respectively. this indicated that the wt cell formed dominant single domain particles and small portion of superparamagnetic particles. the domain states of wt strain formed magnetosomes were further demonstrated by its corresponding first-order reversal curves diagram: a set of concentrated contours distributes around a peak of coercivity at hc ≈ mt and slightly intersects with the hb axis. in contrast, the ∆mamx sample had a wasp-waist hysteresis loop; and its forcs diagram slightly expanded in the horizontal distribution, but strongly intersected with the hb axis with the peak coercivity reducing to ~ mt. these features indicated an increased heterogeneity in microcoercivity and a larger portion of superparamagnetic particles than in the wt sample. the cmamx sample had stoner-wohlfarth-type hysteresis loop with the mrs/ms value being; its forc diagram was characterized by a set of closed contours concentrated around the peak coercivity of ~ mt narrowly along the horizontal axis. these features, similar to whole-cell samples of other mtb, were typical behaviors of a randomly oriented array of non-interacting uniaxial single-domain particles. the stronger magnetic properties exhibited by cmamx than wt, associated with better magnetosome formation like larger crystal size and/or higher crystallinity within the former than the later, was probably due to the over expression of mamx. this result, consistent with our previous study on c_ftsz-like strain of msr-, further demonstrated that the mamx play a role in controlling the crystal size and/or crystallinity of magnetosomes within msr- mamxy gene transcription levels were affected by mamx deletion mamxy gene transcription levels were evaluated in the three strains. in wt, each of the four genes in the mamxy operon showed high transcription levels from to hr in absolute qpcr assay. this period corresponds to the log phase of growth, which is the period of rapid cell growth and magnetosome synthesis. the transcription level of mamz was much higher than those of the other three genes at each of the four time points; i.e., the level of mamz was 3– times that of mamy, 4– times that of mamx, and 10– times that of ftsz-like. these findings suggest that the mamz protein plays a crucial role during cell growth. a, b, c and d: ratios of taranscription level mamz/mamy have significant differences between in wt and in Δmamx strain at all the four time points; e, f, g and h: ratios of taranscription level mamz/ftsz-like have significant differences between in wt and in Δmamx strain at all the four time points. we used qpcr to measure the transcription levels of mamy, mamz, and ftsz-like in ∆mamx. the relative transcription level of mamy was similar in ∆mamx and wt at and hr but was twice as high in ∆mamx as in wt at hr. the transcription level of mamz was much higher than those of the other three genes at all four sampling points in wt but was only slightly different in ∆mamx. as a result of the loss of mamx in the mutant, the transcription of mamy and ftsz-like increased. the transcriptional disparity between mamz and the other three genes was large in wt but much smaller in ∆mamx. regardless of whether mamx was knocked out, the transcription level of mamz was highest during the period of cell growth and high magnetosome synthesis. ftsz-like showed dramatic changes of transcription level during cell growth in ∆mamx. its level was twice as high as in wt at hr, decreased 6-fold by hr, increased >4-fold by hr, and then gradually declined until hr. the phase of old cell division and new cell formation presumably places a high demand on the protein ftsz-like. in summary, the deletion of mamx evidently resulted in higher expression of mamy and ftsz-like, particularly at later cell growth phases, but had no major effect on the expression of mamz. it should be noted that gene expression in the complemented strain cmamx was not identical to that in wt. discussion mamx is involved in magnetite crystal maturation in msr- cells to elucidate the function of the highly conserved mamx protein in mtb, we constructed mamx deletion mutant and complemented strains of m. gryphiswaldense msr- for ∆mamx, the cmag value was zero and intracellular iron content was significantly reduced, although cell growth was similar to that of wt. hr-tem observations revealed that the magnetite particles in ∆mamx were irregularly shaped, small, and predominantly superparamagnetic, whereas those in wt were symmetrically cuboid, large, and predominantly single-domain. these findings indicate that mamx plays an essential role in the control of magnetosome morphology and that mamx is involved in magnetite crystal maturation in msr- there was a notable reduction of intracellular iron content in ∆mamx, corresponding to a crystal diameter much smaller than that in wt. the observed alteration of the crystal lattice may account for the reduction of cmag in ∆mamx and result in a phenotype similar to that of a mamxy operon knock-out in msr-. surprisingly, the mean crystal number per cell for ∆mamx was 36% higher than that for wt. this finding may be due to the fact that crystals in the mutant strain were smaller; i.e., equivalent amounts of materials in the cells may have been capable of producing more crystals, as supported by hr-tem observations. mamx has conserved double heme-binding motifs mamx is conserved in not only spirillum strains such as m. gryphiswaldense msr-, m. magneticum amb-, and m. magnetotacticum ms- but also in vibrio and cocci strains such as magnetovibrio mv- and magnetococcus sp. mc-. a comparative genomic analysis showed that mamx is one of a set of genes that are specifically associated with the magnetotactic phenotype. the ubiquity and specific presence of mamx within mtb suggest that this protein plays a role in magnetotaxis. the results of the present study indicate that mamx is involved in magnetite crystal maturation but do not clarify its exact function. a protein sequence blast search using prosite showed that mamx contains two cxxch heme-binding motifs that are typical of c-type cytochromes. similar double heme-binding motifs were found recently in the magnetosome proteins mame, mamp, and mamt. site-directed mutagenesis of the two motifs in mame resulted in the production of smaller magnetite crystals. these motifs were suggested to be involved in electron transport or as a redox buffer during magnetite formation. such a function could explain the specific requirement of redox potential for magnetite formation in several mtb strains and may be related to the function of the double heme-binding motif in mamx. the four proteins encoded by the mamxy operon may have a close relationship the qpcr results showed that the four genes in the mamxy operon were all highly expressed during the log phase of growth, supporting previous findings that the log phase is an essential period for mmp function and magnetosome synthesis. the expression of mamz was much higher than that of the other three genes at each of the sampling times, indicating that mamz plays a crucial role during growth. mamz is a highly hydrophobic protein with a predicted weight of kda and contains a major facilitator superfamily domain, a ferric reductase-like transmembrane component, and up to transmembrane helices. it is therefore possible that mamz is involved in ferric iron reduction, although there is no direct experimental evidence to date for such a function. the results of the relative qpcr assay indicated that deletion of mamx resulted in a notable increase in mamy and ftsz-like transcription but had no effect on mamz transcription. these findings suggest some redundancy among the functions of mamx, mamy, and ftsz-like. application of the online tool string predicted interactions among the four proteins encoded by the mamxy operon. according to this predicted network view, the four mamxy proteins undergo intrinsic interactions with each other and are also associated with certain proteins related to cell division and to cell wall formation through ftsz-like. these associated proteins in strain amb- have predicted functions similar to those in msr- further experiments are needed to test this model. interestingly, the phenotypes of a mamx mutant, ftsz-like mutant, and mamxy operon deleted mutant in msr- are similar in that they produce magnetosomes that are small and irregularly shaped in comparison with those of wt. in view of the previous finding that mamgfdc proteins have partially redundant and collective functions in controlling magnetosome size, and the results of the present study, we propose that the four genes in the mamxy operon have redundant functions involved in the complex process of magnetosome formation. a recent study showed that a single deletion of the mamab operon in msr- resulted in the complete loss of magnetosome synthesis, whereas deletion of the conserved mms mamgfdc, and mamxy operons led to severe defects in the morphology, size, and organization of magnetite crystals. the mamp, mams, mamr, and mamt proteins were shown to function in the regulation of crystal number, size, and shape. magnetite biocrystallization in mtb is clearly a complex process in which many proteins are involved. it is appropriate now to consider completing the model of mmp functions and magnetosome formation that was proposed previously.  the results of the present study show that the mamx protein plays an important role in controlling magnetosome size, maturation, and crystal form. previous studies have shown that a single gene deletion in mamxy and knock-out of the entire operon result in very similar phenotypic characteristics. the mamxy proteins may therefore have redundant functions involved in magnetosome synthesis. these findings are important for further elucidation of the biomineralization process in mtb. 
the mamx protein plays an important role in controlling magnetosome size, maturation, and crystal form. quantitative real-time rt-pcr results indicated that the deletion of mamx had differential effects on the transcription levels of the other three genes in the operon. the mamx gene, located in the mamxy operon, is highly conserved in the mai of all magnetospirillum strains studied to date. there were no striking differences in cell growth among ∆mamx, cmamx, and wild-type strain. the four mamxy proteins appear to have redundant functions involved in magnetosome formation. a mamx deletion mutant and its complemented strain by conjugation in m. gryphiswaldense strain msr- were constructed. the phenotype of ∆mamx was similar to that of an ftsz-like deleted mutant and mamxy operon deleted mutant reported previously. magnetotactic bacteria produce membrane-enveloped magnetite crystals whose formation is controlled primarily by a gene island termed the magnetosome island. characterization of single gene and operon function in mai has elucidated in part the genetic basis of magnetosome formation. our findings provide new insights into the coordinated function of mai genes and operons in magnetosome formation.
 magnetotactic bacteria produce membrane-enveloped magnetite crystals whose formation is controlled primarily by a gene island termed the magnetosome island. characterization of single gene and operon function in mai has elucidated in part the genetic basis of magnetosome formation. the mamx gene, located in the mamxy operon, is highly conserved in the mai of all magnetospirillum strains studied to date. little is known regarding the function of mamx in the process of biomineralization.  a mamx deletion mutant and its complemented strain by conjugation in m. gryphiswaldense strain msr- were constructed. there were no striking differences in cell growth among ∆mamx, cmamx, and wild-type strain. ∆mamx displayed a much weaker magnetic response than wt. transmission electron microscopy revealed the presence of irregular, superparamagnetic magnetite particles in ∆mamx, in contrast to regular, single-domain particles in wt and cmamx. the phenotype of ∆mamx was similar to that of an ftsz-like deleted mutant and mamxy operon deleted mutant reported previously. quantitative real-time rt-pcr results indicated that the deletion of mamx had differential effects on the transcription levels of the other three genes in the operon.  the mamx protein plays an important role in controlling magnetosome size, maturation, and crystal form. the four mamxy proteins appear to have redundant functions involved in magnetosome formation. our findings provide new insights into the coordinated function of mai genes and operons in magnetosome formation. magnetospirillum gryphiswaldensemamxy operonmamxmagnetosomecrystal maturation 