Gene cloning and molecular characterization of a two-enzyme system catalyzing the oxidative detoxification of beta-endosulfan.

ABSTRACT: The gram-positive bacterium Mycobacterium sp. strain ESD is able to use the cyclodiene insecticide endosulfan as a source of sulfur for growth. This activity is dependent on the absence of sulfite or sulfate in the growth medium. A cosmid library of strain ESD DNA was constructed in a Mycobacterium-Escherichia coli shuttle vector and screened for endosulfan-degrading activity in Mycobacterium smegmatis, a species that does not degrade endosulfan. Using this method, we identified a single cosmid that conferred sulfur-dependent endosulfan-degrading activity on the host strain. An open reading frame (esd) was identified within this cosmid that, when expressed behind a constitutive promoter in a mycobacterial expression vector, conferred sulfite- and sulfate-independent beta-endosulfan degrada

SUBMITTER: Sutherland TD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC134410 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature