RESUMEN
Alternative sigma (σ) factors, proteins that recruit RNA polymerase core enzyme to target promoters, are one mechanism by which bacteria transcriptionally regulate groups of genes in response to environmental stimuli. A class of σ(70) proteins, termed extracytoplasmic function (ECF) σ factors, are involved in cellular processes such as bacterial stress responses and virulence. Here, we describe an ECF16 σ factor, EcfS (Blr4928) from the gram-negative soil bacterium Bradyrhizobium japonicum USDA110, that plays a critical role in the establishment of a functional symbiosis with soybean. Nonpolar insertional mutants of ecfS form immature nodules that do not fix nitrogen, a defect that can be successfully complemented by expression of ecfS. Overexpression of the cocistronic gene, tmrS (blr4929), phenocopies the ecfS mutant in planta and, therefore, we propose that TmrS is a negative regulator of EcfS, a determination consistent with the prediction that it encodes an anti-σ factor. Microarray analysis of the ecfS mutant and tmrS overexpressor was used to identify 40 transcripts misregulated in both strains. These transcripts primarily encode proteins of unknown and transport-related functions and may provide insights into the symbiotic defect in these strains.
Asunto(s)
Bradyrhizobium/metabolismo , Regulación Bacteriana de la Expresión Génica/genética , Glycine max/microbiología , Factor sigma/metabolismo , Proteínas Bacterianas/genética , Proteínas Bacterianas/metabolismo , Bradyrhizobium/genética , Bradyrhizobium/fisiología , ADN Complementario/genética , Expresión Génica/genética , Perfilación de la Expresión Génica , Genes Bacterianos/genética , Prueba de Complementación Genética , Mutagénesis Insercional , Fijación del Nitrógeno , Análisis de Secuencia por Matrices de Oligonucleótidos , Fenotipo , Hojas de la Planta/microbiología , ARN Bacteriano/genética , ARN Mensajero/genética , Nódulos de las Raíces de las Plantas/microbiología , Nódulos de las Raíces de las Plantas/ultraestructura , Factor sigma/genética , Glycine max/ultraestructura , Estrés Fisiológico , Simbiosis , Transcripción Genética , TranscriptomaRESUMEN
The gene encoding L-lactate dehydrogenase from Thermoanaerobacterium saccharolyticum JW/SL-YS485 was cloned, sequenced, and used to obtain an L-ldh deletion mutant strain (TD1) following a site-specific double-crossover event as confirmed by PCR and Southern blot. Growth rates and final cell densities were similar for strain TD1 and the wild-type grown on glucose and xylose. Lactic acid was below the limit of detection (0.3 mM) for strain TD1 on both glucose and xylose at all times tested, but was readily detected for the wild-type strain, with average final concentrations of 8.1 and 1.8 mM on glucose and xylose, respectively. Elimination of lactic acid as a fermentation product was accompanied by a proportional increase in the yields of acetic acid and ethanol. The results reported here represent a step toward using metabolic engineering to develop strains of thermophilic anaerobic bacteria that do not produce organic acids, and support the methodological feasibility of this goal.
Asunto(s)
Clonación Molecular , Eliminación de Gen , L-Lactato Deshidrogenasa/genética , Ácido Láctico/metabolismo , Thermoanaerobacterium/enzimología , Ácido Acético/análisis , Proteínas Bacterianas/genética , Proteínas Bacterianas/fisiología , Proliferación Celular , ADN Bacteriano/química , ADN Bacteriano/aislamiento & purificación , Etanol/análisis , Genes Bacterianos , Glucosa/metabolismo , L-Lactato Deshidrogenasa/fisiología , Datos de Secuencia Molecular , Recombinación Genética , Análisis de Secuencia de ADN , Thermoanaerobacterium/crecimiento & desarrollo , Xilosa/metabolismoRESUMEN
Uptake and translocation of cationic nutrients play essential roles in physiological processes including plant growth, nutrition, signal transduction, and development. Approximately 5% of the Arabidopsis genome appears to encode membrane transport proteins. These proteins are classified in 46 unique families containing approximately 880 members. In addition, several hundred putative transporters have not yet been assigned to families. In this paper, we have analyzed the phylogenetic relationships of over 150 cation transport proteins. This analysis has focused on cation transporter gene families for which initial characterizations have been achieved for individual members, including potassium transporters and channels, sodium transporters, calcium antiporters, cyclic nucleotide-gated channels, cation diffusion facilitator proteins, natural resistance-associated macrophage proteins (NRAMP), and Zn-regulated transporter Fe-regulated transporter-like proteins. Phylogenetic trees of each family define the evolutionary relationships of the members to each other. These families contain numerous members, indicating diverse functions in vivo. Closely related isoforms and separate subfamilies exist within many of these gene families, indicating possible redundancies and specialized functions. To facilitate their further study, the PlantsT database (http://plantst.sdsc.edu) has been created that includes alignments of the analyzed cation transporters and their chromosomal locations.
Asunto(s)
Arabidopsis/genética , Proteínas Portadoras/genética , Proteínas de Transporte de Catión , Canales Iónicos/genética , Antiportadores/clasificación , Antiportadores/genética , Arabidopsis/clasificación , Transporte Biológico Activo , Proteínas Portadoras/clasificación , Proteínas Portadoras/metabolismo , Cationes , Mapeo Cromosómico , Canales Catiónicos Regulados por Nucleótidos Cíclicos , Canales Iónicos/clasificación , Transporte Iónico/genética , Proteínas de la Membrana/metabolismo , Filogenia , Potasio/metabolismoAsunto(s)
Ácido Azetidinocarboxílico/farmacología , Hierro/metabolismo , Oryza/genética , Plantas Modificadas Genéticamente , Ácido Azetidinocarboxílico/análogos & derivados , Alimentos Fortificados , Hordeum/genética , Concentración de Iones de Hidrógeno , Deficiencias de Hierro , Oryza/metabolismo , Proteínas de Plantas/genética , Plantas Modificadas Genéticamente/genética , Plantas Modificadas Genéticamente/crecimiento & desarrollo , Rhizobium/genética , Sideróforos/biosíntesis , Suelo/análisis , Transaminasas/genética , TransfecciónRESUMEN
Characteristics of 13 newly isolated thermophilic, anaerobic, and cellulolytic strains were compared with previously described strains of Clostridium thermocellum: ATCC 27405 and JW20 (ATCC 31549). Colony morphology, antibiotic sensitivity, fermentation end-products, and cellulose degradation were documented. All 13 strains were sensitive to erythromycin (5 microg/ml) and chloramphenicol (25 microg/ml), and all strains but one were sensitive to kanamycin (20 microg/ml). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification using primers based on gene sequences from C. thermocellum ATCC 27405 was successful for all 13 strains in the case of the hydrogenase gene and 11 strains in the case of phosphotransacetylase/acetate kinase genes. Ten strains amplified a product of the expected size with primers developed to be specific for C. thermocellum 16SrRNA primers. Two of the 13 strains did not amplify any product with the PCR primers designed for the phosphotransacetylase/acetate kinase and 16SrRNA primers. A MboI-like GATC- recognizing restriction activity was present in all of the five strains examined. The results of this study have several positive implications with respect to future development of a transformation system for cellulolytic thermophiles.
Asunto(s)
Bacterias Anaerobias/aislamiento & purificación , Celulosa/metabolismo , Bacterias Anaerobias/genética , Bacterias Anaerobias/metabolismo , Calor , Hidrogenasas/genética , Pruebas de Sensibilidad Microbiana , Datos de Secuencia Molecular , Fosfato Acetiltransferasa/genética , Reacción en Cadena de la Polimerasa , ARN Ribosómico 16S/genéticaRESUMEN
Plants require metals for essential functions ranging from respiration to photosynthesis. These metals also contribute to the nutritional value of plants for both humans and livestock. Additionally, plants have the ability to accumulate nonessential metals such as cadmium and lead, and this ability could be harnessed to remove pollutant metals from the environment. Designing a transporter that specifically accumulates certain cations while excluding others has exciting applications in all of these areas. The Arabidopsis root membrane protein IRT1 is likely to be responsible for uptake of iron from the soil. Like other Fe(II) transporters identified to date, IRT1 transports a variety of other cations, including the essential metals zinc and manganese as well as the toxic metal cadmium. By heterologous expression in yeast, we show here that the replacement of a glutamic acid residue at position 103 in wild-type IRT1 with alanine increases the substrate specificity of the transporter by selectively eliminating its ability to transport zinc. Two other mutations, replacing the aspartic acid residues at either positions 100 or 136 with alanine, also increase IRT1 metal selectivity by eliminating transport of both iron and manganese. A number of other conserved residues in or near transmembrane domains appear to be essential for all transport function. Therefore, this study identifies at least some of the residues important for substrate selection and transport in a protein belonging to the ZIP gene family, a large transporter family found in a wide variety of organisms.
Asunto(s)
Proteínas de Arabidopsis , Arabidopsis/química , Proteínas Portadoras/química , Proteínas de Transporte de Catión , Proteínas de Plantas/química , Secuencia de Aminoácidos , Proteínas Portadoras/genética , Proteínas Portadoras/metabolismo , Prueba de Complementación Genética , Hierro/metabolismo , Datos de Secuencia Molecular , Proteínas de Plantas/genética , Proteínas de Plantas/metabolismo , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/genética , Homología de Secuencia de AminoácidoRESUMEN
Members of the ZIP gene family, a novel metal transporter family first identified in plants, are capable of transporting a variety of cations, including cadmium, iron, manganese and zinc. Information on where in the plant each of the ZIP transporters functions and how each is controlled in response to nutrient availability may allow the manipulation of plant mineral status with an eye to (1) creating food crops with enhanced mineral content, and (2) developing crops that bioaccumulate or exclude toxic metals.
Asunto(s)
Proteínas de Arabidopsis , Proteínas Portadoras/genética , Proteínas de Transporte de Catión , Genes de Plantas , Hierro/metabolismo , Proteínas de la Membrana/genética , Proteínas de Plantas/genética , Proteínas de Saccharomyces cerevisiae , Zinc/metabolismo , Animales , Arabidopsis , Transporte Biológico , Proteínas Portadoras/metabolismo , Proteínas Fúngicas/genética , Humanos , Manganeso/metabolismo , Proteínas de la Membrana/metabolismo , Datos de Secuencia Molecular , Filogenia , Proteínas de Plantas/metabolismo , Saccharomyces cerevisiaeAsunto(s)
Ingeniería Genética , Oryza/genética , Oryza/metabolismo , Semillas/metabolismo , beta Caroteno/biosíntesis , Transferasas Alquil y Aril/genética , Productos Agrícolas/genética , Productos Agrícolas/metabolismo , Genes de Plantas , Geranilgeranil-Difosfato Geranilgeraniltransferasa , Liasas Intramoleculares/genética , Oxidorreductasas/genética , Plantas Modificadas Genéticamente/genética , Plantas Modificadas Genéticamente/metabolismo , Transformación GenéticaRESUMEN
The molecular basis for the transport of manganese across membranes in plant cells is poorly understood. We have found that IRT1, an Arabidopsis thaliana metal ion transporter, can complement a mutant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain defective in high-affinity manganese uptake (smf1 delta). The IRT1 protein has previously been identified as an iron transporter. The current studies demonstrated that IRT1, when expressed in yeast, can transport manganese as well. This manganese uptake activity was inhibited by cadmium, iron(II) and zinc, suggesting that IRT1 can transport these metals. The IRT1 cDNA also complements a zinc uptake-deficient yeast mutant strain (zrt1zrt2), and IRT1-dependent zinc transport in yeast cells is inhibited by cadmium, copper, cobalt and iron(III). However, IRT1 did not complement a copper uptake-deficient yeast mutant (ctr1), implying that this transporter is not involved in the uptake of copper in plant cells. The expression of IRT1 is enhanced in A. thaliana plants grown under iron deficiency. Under these conditions, there were increased levels of root-associated manganese, zinc and cobalt, suggesting that, in addition to iron, IRT1 mediates uptake of these metals into plant cells. Taken together, these data indicate that the IRT1 protein is a broad-range metal ion transporter in plants.
Asunto(s)
Proteínas de Arabidopsis , Proteínas Portadoras/metabolismo , Proteínas de Transporte de Catión , Metales Pesados/metabolismo , Proteínas de Plantas/metabolismo , Raíces de Plantas/metabolismo , Oligoelementos/metabolismo , Arabidopsis/metabolismo , Transporte Biológico , Cadmio/metabolismo , Proteínas Portadoras/genética , Prueba de Complementación Genética , Hierro/metabolismo , Manganeso/metabolismo , Proteínas de Plantas/genética , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/genética , Zinc/metabolismoRESUMEN
The sdhCDAB operon, encoding succinate dehydrogenase, was cloned from the soybean symbiont Bradyrhizobium japonicum. Sdh from B. japonicum is phylogenetically related to Sdh from mitochondria. This is the first example of a mitochondrion-like Sdh functionally expressed in Escherichia coli.
Asunto(s)
Bradyrhizobium/enzimología , Mitocondrias/enzimología , Operón , Filogenia , Succinato Deshidrogenasa/genética , Animales , Secuencia de Bases , Bradyrhizobium/clasificación , Bradyrhizobium/genética , Clonación Molecular , Secuencia de Consenso , Prueba de Complementación Genética , Humanos , Datos de Secuencia Molecular , Alineación de Secuencia , Homología de Secuencia de Ácido Nucleico , Glycine max/microbiología , Succinato Deshidrogenasa/química , Succinato Deshidrogenasa/metabolismo , SimbiosisRESUMEN
Zinc is an essential micronutrient. Genes responsible for zinc uptake have now been identified from yeast and plants. These genes belong to an extended family of cation transporters called the ZIP gene family. Zinc efflux genes that belong to another transporter family, the CDF family, have also been identified in yeast and Arabidopsis. It is clear that studies in yeast can greatly aid our understanding of zinc metabolism in plants.
Asunto(s)
Plantas/metabolismo , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/metabolismo , Zinc/metabolismo , Animales , Transporte Biológico , Proteínas Portadoras/genética , Proteínas Portadoras/metabolismo , HumanosRESUMEN
Iron deficiency afflicts more than three billion people worldwide, and plants are the principal source of iron in most diets. Low availability of iron often limits plant growth because iron forms insoluble ferric oxides, leaving only a small, organically complexed fraction in soil solutions. The enzyme ferric-chelate reductase is required for most plants to acquire soluble iron. Here we report the isolation of the FRO2 gene, which is expressed in iron-deficient roots of Arabidopsis. FRO2 belongs to a superfamily of flavocytochromes that transport electrons across membranes. It possesses intramembranous binding sites for haem and cytoplasmic binding sites for nucleotide cofactors that donate and transfer electrons. We show that FRO2 is allelic to the frd1 mutations that impair the activity of ferric-chelate reductase. There is a nonsense mutation within the first exon of FRO2 in frd1-1 and a missense mutation within FRO2 in frd1-3. Introduction of functional FRO2 complements the frd1-1 phenotype in transgenic plants. The isolation of FRO2 has implications for the generation of crops with improved nutritional quality and increased growth in iron-deficient soils.
Asunto(s)
FMN Reductasa , Hierro/metabolismo , NADH NADPH Oxidorreductasas/genética , NADPH Oxidasas , Proteínas de Plantas/genética , Secuencia de Aminoácidos , Arabidopsis , Transporte Biológico , Clonación Molecular , Genes de Plantas , Glicoproteínas de Membrana/metabolismo , Datos de Secuencia Molecular , Mutación , NADH NADPH Oxidorreductasas/metabolismo , NADPH Oxidasa 2 , Proteínas de Plantas/metabolismo , Raíces de Plantas/metabolismo , Plantas Modificadas Genéticamente , Reacción en Cadena de la Polimerasa de Transcriptasa Inversa , Homología de Secuencia de Aminoácido , SueloRESUMEN
Several novel but similar heavy metal ion transporters, Zrt1, Zrt2, Zip1-4 and Irt1, have recently been characterized. Zrt1, Zrt2 and Zip1-4 are probably zinc transporters in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Arabidopsis thaliana whereas Irt1 appears to play a role in iron uptake in A. thaliana. The family of proteins including these functionally characterized transporters has been designated the Zrt- and Irt-related protein (ZIP) family. In this report, ZIP family proteins in the current databases were identified and multiply aligned, and a phylogenetic tree for the family was constructed. A family specific signature sequence was derived, and the available sequences were analyzed for residues of potential functional significance. A fully conserved intramembranous histidyl residue, present within a putative amphipathic, alpha-helical, transmembrane spanning segment, was identified which may serve as a part of an intrachannel heavy metal ion binding site. The occurrence of a proposed extramembranal metal binding motif (H X H X H) was examined in order to evaluate its potential functional significance for various members of the family. The computational analyses reported in this topical review should serve as a guide to future researchers interested in the structure-function relationships of ZIP family proteins.
Asunto(s)
Proteínas de Arabidopsis , Proteínas Portadoras/genética , Proteínas de Transporte de Catión , Proteínas de la Membrana/genética , Metales/metabolismo , Proteínas de Plantas/genética , Proteínas de Saccharomyces cerevisiae , Secuencia de Aminoácidos , Arabidopsis/genética , Arabidopsis/metabolismo , Proteínas Fúngicas/genética , Genes Fúngicos , Genes de Plantas , Transporte Iónico , Datos de Secuencia Molecular , Filogenia , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/genética , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/metabolismo , Alineación de Secuencia , Análisis de SecuenciaRESUMEN
Millions of people worldwide suffer from nutritional imbalances of essential metals like zinc. These same metals, along with pollutants like cadmium and lead, contaminate soils at many sites around the world. In addition to posing a threat to human health, these metals can poison plants, livestock, and wildlife. Deciphering how metals are absorbed, transported, and incorporated as protein cofactors may help solve both of these problems. For example, edible plants could be engineered to serve as better dietary sources of metal nutrients, and other plant species could be tailored to remove metal ions from contaminated soils. We report here the cloning of the first zinc transporter genes from plants, the ZIP1, ZIP2, and ZIP3 genes of Arabidopsis thaliana. Expression in yeast of these closely related genes confers zinc uptake activities. In the plant, ZIP1 and ZIP3 are expressed in roots in response to zinc deficiency, suggesting that they transport zinc from the soil into the plant. Although expression of ZIP2 has not been detected, a fourth related Arabidopsis gene identified by genome sequencing, ZIP4, is induced in both shoots and roots of zinc-limited plants. Thus, ZIP4 may transport zinc intracellularly or between plant tissues. These ZIP proteins define a family of metal ion transporters that are found in plants, protozoa, fungi, invertebrates, and vertebrates, making it now possible to address questions of metal ion accumulation and homeostasis in diverse organisms.