Glycine betaine metabolism is enabled in Methylorubrum extorquens PA1 by alterations to dimethylglycine dehydrogenase.

ABSTRACT: Low nutrient availability is a key characteristic of the phyllosphere (the aerial surface of plants). Phyllospheric bacteria utilize a wide array of carbon sources generated by plant hosts. Glycine betaine (GB) is a plant-derived compound that can be metabolized by certain members of the phyllosphere microbiota. Metabolism of glycine betaine generates formaldehyde, an intermediate of methylotrophic metabolism, leading us to investigate how the ubiquitous plant colonizing bacterium Methylorubrum extorquens PA1 might metabolize GB encountered in its native environment. M. extorquens PA1 cannot utilize GB as a sole carbon source. Through suppressor mutation analysis, we show that M. extorquens PA1 encodes a conserved GB utilization pathway that can be activated by single

SUBMITTER: Hying ZT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11267896 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature