Identification of an aox system that requires cytochrome c in the highly arsenic-resistant bacterium Ochrobactrum tritici SCII24.

ABSTRACT: Microbial biotransformations have a major impact on environments contaminated with toxic elements, including arsenic, resulting in an increasing interest in strategies responsible for how bacteria cope with arsenic. In the present work, we investigated the metabolism of this metalloid in the bacterium Ochrobactrum tritici SCII24. This heterotrophic organism contains two different ars operons and is able to oxidize arsenite to arsenate. The presence of arsenite oxidase genes in this organism was evaluated, and sequence analysis revealed structural genes for an As(III) oxidase (aoxAB), a c-type cytochrome (cytC), and molybdopterin biosynthesis (moeA). Two other genes coding for a two-component signal transduction pair (aoxRS) were also identified upstream from the previous gene cluster. The

SUBMITTER: Branco R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2725503 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature