Lateral transfer of the denitrification pathway genes among Thermus thermophilus strains.

ABSTRACT: Nitrate respiration is a common and strain-specific property in Thermus thermophilus encoded by the nitrate respiration conjugative element (NCE) that can be laterally transferred by conjugation. In contrast, nitrite respiration and further denitrification steps are restricted to a few isolates of this species. These later steps of the denitrification pathway are under the regulatory control of an NCE-encoded transcription factor, but nothing is known about their coding sequences or its putative genetic linkage to the NCE. In this study we examine the genetic linkage between nitrate and nitrite respiration through lateral gene transfer (LGT) assays and describe a cluster of genes encoding the nitrite-nitric oxide respiration in T. thermophilus PRQ25. We show that the whole denitrification

SUBMITTER: Alvarez L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3067210 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature