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Genome-wide gene expression patterns and growth requirements suggest that Pelobacter carbinolicus reduces Fe(III) indirectly via sulfide production.

ABSTRACT: Although Pelobacter species are closely related to Geobacter species, recent studies suggested that Pelobacter carbinolicus may reduce Fe(III) via a different mechanism because it lacks the outer-surface c-type cytochromes that are required for Fe(III) reduction by Geobacter sulfurreducens. Investigation into the mechanisms for Fe(III) reduction demonstrated that P. carbinolicus had growth yields on both soluble and insoluble Fe(III) consistent with those of other Fe(III)-reducing bacteria. Comparison of whole-genome transcript levels during growth on Fe(III) versus fermentative growth demonstrated that the greatest apparent change in gene expression was an increase in transcript levels for four contiguous genes. These genes encode two putative periplasmic thioredoxins; a putative outer-membrane transport protein; and a putative NAD(FAD)-dependent dehydrogenase with homology to disulfide oxidoreductases in the N terminus, rhodanese (sulfurtransferase) in the center, and uncharacterized conserved proteins in the C terminus. Unlike G. sulfurreducens, transcript levels for cytochrome genes did not increase in P. carbinolicus during growth on Fe(III). P. carbinolicus could use sulfate as the sole source of sulfur during fermentative growth, but required elemental sulfur or sulfide for growth on Fe(III). The increased expression of genes potentially involved in sulfur reduction, coupled with the requirement for sulfur or sulfide during growth on Fe(III), suggests that P. carbinolicus reduces Fe(III) via an indirect mechanism in which (i) elemental sulfur is reduced to sulfide and (ii) the sulfide reduces Fe(III) with the regeneration of elemental sulfur. This contrasts with the direct reduction of Fe(III) that has been proposed for Geobacter species.

SUBMITTER: Haveman SA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2493185 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Genome-wide gene expression patterns and growth requirements suggest that Pelobacter carbinolicus reduces Fe(III) indirectly via sulfide production.

Haveman Shelley A SA DiDonato Raymond J RJ Villanueva Laura L Shelobolina Evgenya S ES Postier Bradley L BL Xu Bo B Liu Anna A Lovley Derek R DR

Applied and environmental microbiology 20080530 14

Although Pelobacter species are closely related to Geobacter species, recent studies suggested that Pelobacter carbinolicus may reduce Fe(III) via a different mechanism because it lacks the outer-surface c-type cytochromes that are required for Fe(III) reduction by Geobacter sulfurreducens. Investigation into the mechanisms for Fe(III) reduction demonstrated that P. carbinolicus had growth yields on both soluble and insoluble Fe(III) consistent with those of other Fe(III)-reducing bacteria. Comp ...[more]

PMID: 18515480

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Project description:Pelobacter carbinolicus and P. acetylenicus oxidize ethanol in syntrophic cooperation with methanogens. Cocultures with Methanospirillum hungatei served as model systems for the elucidation of syntrophic ethanol oxidation previously done with the lost "Methanobacillus omelianskii" coculture. During growth on ethanol, both Pelobacter species exhibited NAD+-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase activity. Two different acetaldehyde-oxidizing activities were found: a benzyl viologen-reducing enzyme forming acetate, and a NAD+-reducing enzyme forming acetyl-CoA. Both species synthesized ATP from acetyl-CoA via acetyl phosphate. Comparative 2D-PAGE of ethanol-grown P. carbinolicus revealed enhanced expression of tungsten-dependent acetaldehyde: ferredoxin oxidoreductases and formate dehydrogenase. Tungsten limitation resulted in slower growth and the expression of a molybdenum-dependent isoenzyme. Putative comproportionating hydrogenases and formate dehydrogenase were expressed constitutively and are probably involved in interspecies electron transfer. In ethanol-grown cocultures, the maximum hydrogen partial pressure was about 1,000 Pa (1 mM) while 2 mM formate was produced. The redox potentials of hydrogen and formate released during ethanol oxidation were calculated to be EH2 = -358±12 mV and EHCOOH = -366±19 mV, respectively. Hydrogen and formate formation and degradation further proved that both carriers contributed to interspecies electron transfer. The maximum Gibbs free energy that the Pelobacter species could exploit during growth on ethanol was -35 to -28 kJ per mol ethanol. Both species could be cultivated axenically on acetaldehyde, yielding energy from its disproportionation to ethanol and acetate. Syntrophic cocultures grown on acetoin revealed a two-phase degradation: first acetoin degradation to acetate and ethanol without involvement of the methanogenic partner, and subsequent syntrophic ethanol oxidation. Protein expression and activity patterns of both Pelobacter spp. grown with the named substrates were highly similar suggesting that both share the same steps in ethanol and acetalydehyde metabolism. The early assumption that acetaldehyde is a central intermediate in Pelobacter metabolism was now proven biochemically.

Project description:BackgroundPelobacter carbinolicus, a bacterium of the family Geobacteraceae, cannot reduce Fe(III) directly or produce electricity like its relatives. How P. carbinolicus evolved is an intriguing problem. The genome of P. carbinolicus contains clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) separated by unique spacer sequences, which recent studies have shown to produce RNA molecules that interfere with genes containing identical sequences.ResultsCRISPR spacer #1, which matches a sequence within hisS, the histidyl-tRNA synthetase gene of P. carbinolicus, was shown to be expressed. Phylogenetic analysis and genetics demonstrated that a gene paralogous to hisS in the genomes of Geobacteraceae is unlikely to compensate for interference with hisS. Spacer #1 inhibited growth of a transgenic strain of Geobacter sulfurreducens in which the native hisS was replaced with that of P. carbinolicus. The prediction that interference with hisS would result in an attenuated histidyl-tRNA pool insufficient for translation of proteins with multiple closely spaced histidines, predisposing them to mutation and elimination during evolution, was investigated by comparative genomics of P. carbinolicus and related species. Several ancestral genes with high histidine demand have been lost or modified in the P. carbinolicus lineage, providing an explanation for its physiological differences from other Geobacteraceae.ConclusionsThe disappearance of multiheme c-type cytochromes and other genes typical of a metal-respiring ancestor from the P. carbinolicus lineage may be the consequence of spacer #1 interfering with hisS, a condition that can be reproduced in a heterologous host. This is the first successful co-introduction of an active CRISPR spacer and its target in the same cell, the first application of a chimeric CRISPR construct consisting of a spacer from one species in the context of repeats of another species, and the first report of a potential impact of CRISPR on genome-scale evolution by interference with an essential gene.

Project description:Whole-genome DNA microarray analysis of Geobacter sulfurreducens cells grown on Fe(III)-oxide or Mn(IV)-oxide versus cells grown on soluble Fe(III) citrate indicated that there were significant differences in transcription patterns during growth on the insoluble metal oxides compared to growth on soluble Fe(III). Many of the genes that appeared to be up-regulated during growth on the metal hydroxides were involved in electron transport. The most highly up-regulated genes for both conditions were omcS and omcT, which encode co-transcribed c-type cytochromes exposed on the outer surface of the cell that are known to be required for Fe(III) and Mn(IV)-oxide reduction. Other electron transport genes that were up-regulated on both insoluble metals included the gene coding for the outer membrane c-type cytochrome, OmcG, genes for the outer membrane proteins, OmpB and OmpC, and the gene that codes for the structural protein of electrically conductive pili, PilA. Genes that were up-regulated in cells grown on Fe(III)-oxide but not Mn(IV)-oxide, included outer membrane c-type cytochromes including OmcE, a putative DMSO reductase protein, and proteins from the cytochrome bc1 complex. Electron transport genes that were only up-regulated in Mn(IV)-oxide grown cells included the genes that code for the outer membrane c-type cytochromes, OmcZ and OmcB, the periplasmic c-type cytochrome, MacA, and fumarate reductase. Genetic studies indicated that the c-type cytochrome proteins, PpcH, OmcJ, OmcM, OmcV, MacA, OmcF, OmcI, and OmcQ, and the iron sulfur subunit of the cytochrome b/b6 complex, QcrA, are important for reduction of insoluble Fe(III)-oxides but do not appear to be important for Mn(IV) reduction. These results demonstrate that the physiology of Fe(III) reducing bacteria differ significantly during growth on insoluble electron and soluble electron acceptors and emphasizes the importance of c-type cytochromes in extracellular electron transfer in G. sulfurreducens. Geobacter sulfurreducens cells were grown with acetate (5 mM) provided as the electron donor and either Fe(III) oxide or Fe(III) citrate provided as the electron acceptor. Cells were harvested at mid-log and total RNA was extracted. Total RNA (0.5 μg) was amplified using the MessageAmp II-Bacteria Kit (Ambion, Foster City, CA) according to the manufacturers instructions. Ten micrograms of amplified RNA (aRNA) was chemically labeled with Cy3 (for the control or soluble electron acceptor condition) or Cy5 (for the experimental or insoluble electron acceptor condition) dye using the MicroMax ASAP RNA Labeling Kit (Perkin Elmer, Wellesley, MA) according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Dataset Information

Genome-wide gene expression patterns and growth requirements suggest that Pelobacter carbinolicus reduces Fe(III) indirectly via sulfide production.

Publications

Genome-wide gene expression patterns and growth requirements suggest that Pelobacter carbinolicus reduces Fe(III) indirectly via sulfide production.

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