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Taxis of Pseudomonas putida F1 toward phenylacetic acid is mediated by the energy taxis receptor Aer2.

ABSTRACT: The phenylacetic acid (PAA) degradation pathway is a widely distributed funneling pathway for the catabolism of aromatic compounds, including the environmental pollutants styrene and ethylbenzene. However, bacterial chemotaxis to PAA has not been studied. The chemotactic strain Pseudomonas putida F1 has the ability to utilize PAA as a sole carbon and energy source. We identified a putative PAA degradation gene cluster (paa) in P. putida F1 and demonstrated that PAA serves as a chemoattractant. The chemotactic response was induced during growth with PAA and was dependent on PAA metabolism. A functional cheA gene was required for the response, indicating that PAA is sensed through the conserved chemotaxis signal transduction system. A P. putida F1 mutant lacking the energy taxis receptor Aer2 was deficient in PAA taxis, indicating that Aer2 is responsible for mediating the response to PAA. The requirement for metabolism and the role of Aer2 in the response indicate that P. putida F1 uses energy taxis to detect PAA. We also revealed that PAA is an attractant for Escherichia coli; however, a mutant lacking a functional Aer energy receptor had a wild-type response to PAA in swim plate assays, suggesting that PAA is detected through a different mechanism in E. coli. The role of Aer2 as an energy taxis receptor provides the potential to sense a broad range of aromatic growth substrates as chemoattractants. Since chemotaxis has been shown to enhance the biodegradation of toxic pollutants, the ability to sense PAA gradients may have implications for the bioremediation of aromatic hydrocarbons that are degraded via the PAA pathway.

SUBMITTER: Luu RA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3623239 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Styrene is a toxic and potentially carcinogenic alkenylbenzene used extensively in the polymer processing industry. Significant quantities of contaminated liquid waste are generated annually as a consequence. However, styrene is not a true xenobiotic and microbial pathways for its aerobic assimilation, via an intermediate, phenylacetic acid, have been identified in a diverse range of environmental isolates. The potential for microbial bioremediation of styrene waste has received considerable research attention over the last number of years. As a result the structure, organisation and encoded function of the genes responsible for styrene and phenylacetic acid sensing, uptake and catabolism have been elucidated. However, a limited understanding persists in relation to host specific regulatory molecules which may impart additional control over these pathways. In this study the styrene degrader Pseudomonas putida CA-3 was subjected to random mini-Tn5 mutagenesis and mutants screened for altered styrene/phenylacetic acid utilisation profiles potentially linked to non-catabolon encoded regulatory influences.One mutant, D7, capable of growth on styrene, but not on phenylacetic acid, harboured a Tn5 insertion in the rpoN gene encoding ?54. Complementation of the D7 mutant with the wild type rpoN gene restored the ability of this strain to utilise phenylacetic acid as a sole carbon source. Subsequent RT-PCR analyses revealed that a phenylacetate permease, PaaL, was expressed in wild type P. putida CA-3 cells utilising styrene or phenylacetic acid, but could not be detected in the disrupted D7 mutant. Expression of plasmid borne paaL in mutant D7 was found to fully restore the phenylacetic acid utilisation capacity of the strain to wild type levels. Bioinformatic analysis of the paaL promoter from P. putida CA-3 revealed two ?54 consensus binding sites in a non-archetypal configuration, with the transcriptional start site being resolved by primer extension analysis. Comparative analyses of genomes encoding phenylacetyl CoA, (PACoA), catabolic operons identified a common association among styrene degradation linked PACoA catabolons in Pseudomonas species studied to date.In summary, this is the first study to report RpoN dependent transcriptional activation of the PACoA catabolon paaL gene, encoding a transport protein essential for phenylacetic acid utilisation in P. putida CA-3. Bioinformatic analysis is provided to suggest this regulatory link may be common among styrene degrading Pseudomonads.

Project description:BackgroundPseudomonas putida is a model organism for bioremediation because of its remarkable metabolic versatility, extensive biodegradative functions, and ubiquity in contaminated soil environments. To further the understanding of molecular pathways responding to the heavy metal chromium(VI) [Cr(VI)], the proteome of aerobically grown, Cr(VI)-stressed P. putida strain F1 was characterized within the context of two disparate nutritional environments: rich (LB) media and minimal (M9L) media containing lactate as the sole carbon source.ResultsGrowth studies demonstrated that F1 sensitivity to Cr(VI) was impacted substantially by nutrient conditions, with a carbon-source-dependent hierarchy (lactate > glucose >> acetate) observed in minimal media. Two-dimensional HPLC-MS/MS was employed to identify differential proteome profiles generated in response to 1 mM chromate under LB and M9L growth conditions. The immediate response to Cr(VI) in LB-grown cells was up-regulation of proteins involved in inorganic ion transport, secondary metabolite biosynthesis and catabolism, and amino acid metabolism. By contrast, the chromate-responsive proteome derived under defined minimal growth conditions was characterized predominantly by up-regulated proteins related to cell envelope biogenesis, inorganic ion transport, and motility. TonB-dependent siderophore receptors involved in ferric iron acquisition and amino acid adenylation domains characterized up-regulated systems under LB-Cr(VI) conditions, while DNA repair proteins and systems scavenging sulfur from alternative sources (e.g., aliphatic sulfonates) tended to predominate the up-regulated proteome profile obtained under M9L-Cr(VI) conditions.ConclusionsComparative analysis indicated that the core molecular response to chromate, irrespective of the nutritional conditions tested, comprised seven up-regulated proteins belonging to six different functional categories including transcription, inorganic ion transport/metabolism, and amino acid transport/metabolism. These proteins might potentially serve as indicators of chromate stress in natural microbial communities.

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Taxis of Pseudomonas putida F1 toward phenylacetic acid is mediated by the energy taxis receptor Aer2.

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