Anaerobic growth, a property horizontally transferred by an Hfr-like mechanism among extreme thermophiles.

ABSTRACT: Despite the fact that the extreme thermophilic bacteria belonging to the genus Thermus are classified as strict aerobes, we have shown that Thermus thermophilus HB8 (ATCC 27634) can grow anaerobically when nitrate is present in the growth medium. This strain-specific property is encoded by a respiratory nitrate reductase gene cluster (nar) whose expression is induced by anoxia and nitrate (S. Ramírez-Arcos, L. A. Fernández-Herrero, and J. Berenguer, Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1396:215-1997). We show here that this nar operon can be transferred by conjugation to an aerobic Thermus strain, enabling it to grow under anaerobic conditions. We show that this transfer takes place through a DNase-insensitive mechanism which, as for the Hfr (high frequency of recombination) derivatives of Escherichia

SUBMITTER: Ramirez-Arcos S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC107814 | biostudies-literature | 1998 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature