A corrinoid-dependent catabolic pathway for growth of a Methylobacterium strain with chloromethane.

ABSTRACT: Methylobacterium sp. strain CM4, an aerobic methylotrophic alpha-proteobacterium, is able to grow with chloromethane as a carbon and energy source. Mutants of this strain that still grew with methanol, methylamine, or formate, but were unable to grow with chloromethane, were previously obtained by miniTn5 mutagenesis. The transposon insertion sites in six of these mutants mapped to two distinct DNA fragments. The sequences of these fragments, which extended over more than 17 kb, were determined. Sequence analysis, mutant properties, and measurements of enzyme activity in cell-free extracts allowed the definition of a multistep pathway for the conversion of chloromethane to formate. The methyl group of chloromethane is first transferred by the protein CmuA (cmu: chloromethane utilization) t

SUBMITTER: Vannelli T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC16381 | biostudies-literature | 1999 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature