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Second acyl homoserine lactone production system in the extreme acidophile Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans.

ABSTRACT: The acidophilic proteobacterium Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans is involved in the industrial biorecovery of copper. It is found in acidic environments in biofilms and is important in the biogeochemical cycling of metals and nutrients. Its genome contains a cluster of four genes, glyQ, glysS, gph, and act, that are predicted to encode the alpha and beta subunits of glycine tRNA synthetase, a phosphatase, and an acyltransferase, respectively (GenBank accession no. DQ149607). act, cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli, produces acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) principally of chain length C14 according to gas chromatography and mass spectrometry measurements. The AHLs have biological activity as shown by in vivo studies using the reporter strain Sinorhizobium meliloti Rm41 SinI-. Reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) experiments indicate that the four genes are expressed as a single transcript, demonstrating that they constitute an operon. According to semiquantitative RT-PCR results, act is expressed more highly when A. ferrooxidans is grown in medium containing iron than when it is grown in medium containing sulfur. Since AHLs are important intercellular signaling molecules used by many bacteria to monitor their population density in quorum-sensing control of gene expression, this result suggests that A. ferrooxidans has two quorum-sensing systems, one based on Act, as described herein, and the other based on a Lux-like quorum-sensing system, reported previously. The latter system was shown to be upregulated in A. ferrooxidans grown in sulfur medium, suggesting that the two quorum-sensing systems respond to different environmental signals that may be related to their abilities to colonize and use different solid sulfur- and iron-containing minerals.

SUBMITTER: Rivas M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1907126 | biostudies-literature | 2007 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Second acyl homoserine lactone production system in the extreme acidophile Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans.

Rivas Mariella M Seeger Michael M Jedlicki Eugenia E Holmes David S DS

Applied and environmental microbiology 20070309 10

The acidophilic proteobacterium Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans is involved in the industrial biorecovery of copper. It is found in acidic environments in biofilms and is important in the biogeochemical cycling of metals and nutrients. Its genome contains a cluster of four genes, glyQ, glysS, gph, and act, that are predicted to encode the alpha and beta subunits of glycine tRNA synthetase, a phosphatase, and an acyltransferase, respectively (GenBank accession no. DQ149607). act, cloned and expres ...[more]

PMID: 17351095

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Project description:Hydrogen can be an important source of energy for chemolithotrophic acidophiles, especially in the deep terrestrial subsurface. Nevertheless, the current knowledge of microbial hydrogen utilization in acidic environments is minimal. A multi-omics analysis was applied on Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans growing aerobically and anaerobically (with ferric iron) on hydrogen as an electron donor, and a respiratory model proposed from the results obtained. In this model, both [NiFe] hydrogenases, cytoplasmic uptake and membrane-bound respiratory, oxidize molecular hydrogen to two protons and two electrons. The electrons are used to reduce membrane-soluble ubiquinone to ubiquinol. Genetically associated [FeS]-binding proteins mediate electron relay from the hydrogenases to the ubiquinone pool. Under aerobic conditions, reduced ubiquinol transfers electrons to either cytochrome aa3 oxidase via cytochrome bc1 complex and cytochrome c4 or the alternate directly to cytochrome bd oxidase, resulting in proton efflux together with the reduction of molecular oxygen to water. Under anaerobic conditions, reduced ubiquinol transfers electrons to outer membrane cytochrome c (ferric iron reductase) via cytochrome bc1 complex and a cascade of electron transporters (cytochrome c4, cytochrome c552, rusticyanin, and high potential iron-sulfur protein), resulting in proton efflux together with the reduction of ferric iron to ferrous iron. The proton gradient generated by molecular hydrogen oxidation maintains the membrane potential and allows the generation of ATP via ATP synthase and NADH via NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase. To a lesser extent, NADH can also be generated by another bidirectional cytoplasmic hydrogenase. ATP and NADH are further utilized in the Calvin–Benson–Bassham cycle for inorganic carbon uptake and assimilation. These results further clarify the role of extremophiles in biogeochemical processes and their impact on the composition and features of the deep terrestrial subsurface from the distant past to the present.

Dataset Information

Second acyl homoserine lactone production system in the extreme acidophile Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans.

Publications

Second acyl homoserine lactone production system in the extreme acidophile Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans.

Similar Datasets

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