Dataset Information

Molecular characterization of the sor gene, which encodes the sulfur oxygenase/reductase of the thermoacidophilic Archaeum Desulfurolobus ambivalens.

ABSTRACT: A 5.8-kbp HindIII fragment containing the sor gene which encodes the aerobically induced sulfur oxygenase/reductase of the thermoacidophilic, chemolithoautotrophic, and facultatively anaerobic archaeum Desulfurolobus ambivalens, was cloned in pUC18 by using an oligonucleotide derived from the N-terminal amino acid sequence for identification (pSOR-1/17). The native enzyme is a 550,000-molecular-weight oligomer composed of single 40,000-molecular-weight subunits; this oligomer is capable of the simultaneous oxidation and reduction of sulfur (A. Kletzin, J. Bacteriol. 171:1638-1643, 1989). From the fragment, 3,025 bp that contained the entire sor gene were sequenced. The sor gene encoded a protein with 309 amino acid residues (molecular weight, 35,317). The transcript length was determined by Northern RNA hybridization to be 960 to 1,020 nucleotides, and the transcriptional start site was mapped by primer extension analysis. The transcript of the sor gene in aerobically grown cells was amplified 38- to 42-fold relative to that in anaerobically grown cells. An initial transcriptional characterization of three neighboring genes of unknown function is also reported.

SUBMITTER: Kletzin A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC207119 | biostudies-other | 1992 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Molecular characterization of the sor gene, which encodes the sulfur oxygenase/reductase of the thermoacidophilic Archaeum Desulfurolobus ambivalens.

Kletzin A A

Journal of bacteriology 19920901 18

A 5.8-kbp HindIII fragment containing the sor gene which encodes the aerobically induced sulfur oxygenase/reductase of the thermoacidophilic, chemolithoautotrophic, and facultatively anaerobic archaeum Desulfurolobus ambivalens, was cloned in pUC18 by using an oligonucleotide derived from the N-terminal amino acid sequence for identification (pSOR-1/17). The native enzyme is a 550,000-molecular-weight oligomer composed of single 40,000-molecular-weight subunits; this oligomer is capable of the s ...[more]

PMID: 1522063

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Project description:Sequence comparisons showed that the sulfur oxygenase reductase (SOR) of the haloalkaliphilic bacterium Thioalkalivibrio paradoxus Arh 1 (TpSOR) is branching deeply within dendrograms of these proteins (29 to 34% identity). A synthetic gene encoding TpSOR expressed in Escherichia coli resulted in a protein 14.7 ± 0.9 nm in diameter and an apparent molecular mass of 556 kDa. Sulfite and thiosulfate were formed from elemental sulfur in a temperature range of 10 to 98°C (optimum temperature ≈ 80°C) and a pH range of 6 to 11.5 (optimum pH ≈ 9; 308 ± 78 U/mg of protein). Sulfide formation had a maximum specific activity of 0.03 U/mg, or <1% of the corresponding activity of other SORs. Hence, reductase activity seems not to be an integral part of the reaction mechanism. TpSOR was most active at NaCl or glycine betaine concentrations of 0 to 1 M, although 0.2% of the maximal activity was detected even at 5 M NaCl and 4 M betaine. The melting point of TpSOR was close to 80°C, when monitored by circular dichroism spectroscopy or differential scanning fluorimetry; however, the denaturation kinetics were slow: 55% of the residual activity remained after 25 min of incubation at 80°C. Site-directed mutagenesis showed that the active-site residue Cys44 is essential for activity, whereas alanine mutants of the two other conserved cysteines retained about 0.5% residual activity. A model of the sulfur metabolism in T. paradoxus is discussed. Sulfur oxygenase reductases (SORs) are the only enzymes catalyzing an oxygen-dependent disproportionation of elemental sulfur and/or polysulfides to sulfite, thiosulfate, and hydrogen sulfide. SORs are known from mesophilic and extremophilic archaea and bacteria. All SORs seem to form highly thermostable 24-subunit hollow spheres. They carry a low-potential mononuclear nonheme iron in the active site and an indispensable cysteine; however, their exact reaction mechanisms are unknown. Typically, the reductase activity of SORs is in the range of 5 to 50% of the oxygenase activity, but mutagenesis studies had so far failed to identify residues crucial for the reductase reaction. We describe here the first SOR, which is almost devoid of the reductase reaction and which comes from a haloalkaliphilic bacterium.

Project description:BackgroundThe thermoacidophilic and chemolithotrophic archaeon Acidianus ambivalens is routinely grown with sulfur and CO(2)-enriched air. We had described a membrane-bound, tetrathionate (TT) forming thiosulfate:quinone oxidoreductase. Here we describe the first TT hydrolase (TTH) from Archaea.ResultsA. ambivalens cells grown aerobically with TT as sole sulfur source showed doubling times of 9 h and final cell densities of up to 8 × 10(8)/ml. TTH activity (≈0.28 U/mg protein) was found in cell-free extracts of TT-grown but not of sulfur-grown cells. Differential fractionation of freshly harvested cells involving a pH shock showed that about 92% of the TTH activity was located in the pseudo-periplasmic fraction associated with the surface layer, while 7.3% and 0.3% were present in the soluble and membrane fractions, respectively. The enzyme was enriched 54-fold from the cytoplasmic fraction and 2.1-fold from the pseudo-periplasmic fraction. The molecular mass of the single subunit was 54 kDa. The optimal activity was at or above 95°C at pH 1. Neither PQQ nor divalent cations had a significant effect on activity. The gene (tth1) was identified following N-terminal sequencing of the protein. Northern hybridization showed that tth1 was transcribed in TT-grown cells in contrast to a second paralogous tth2 gene. The deduced amino acid sequences showed similarity to the TTH from Acidithiobacillus and other proteins from the PQQ dehydrogenase superfamily. It displayed a β-propeller structure when being modeled, however, important residues from the PQQ-binding site were absent.ConclusionThe soluble, extracellular, and acidophilic TTH identified in TT-grown A. ambivalens cells is essential for TT metabolism during growth but not for the downstream processing of the TQO reaction products in S°-grown cells. The liberation of TTH by pH shock from otherwise intact cells strongly supports the pseudo-periplasm hypothesis of the S-layer of Archaea.

Dataset Information

Molecular characterization of the sor gene, which encodes the sulfur oxygenase/reductase of the thermoacidophilic Archaeum Desulfurolobus ambivalens.

Publications

Molecular characterization of the sor gene, which encodes the sulfur oxygenase/reductase of the thermoacidophilic Archaeum Desulfurolobus ambivalens.

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