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Lead(II) resistance in Cupriavidus metallidurans CH34: interplay between plasmid and chromosomally-located functions

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Abstract

Proteome and transcriptome analysis, combined with mutagenesis, were used to better understand the response of Cupriavidus metallidurans CH34 against lead(II). Structural Pb(II)-resistance genes of the pMOL30-encoded pbrUTRABCD operon formed the major line of defense against Pb(II). However, several general stress response mechanisms under the control of alternative sigma factors such as σ24/rpoK, σ32/rpoH and σ28/fliA were also induced. In addition, the expression of the pbrR 2 cadA pbrC 2 operon of the CMGI-1 region and the chromosomally encoded zntA were clearly induced in the presence of Pb(II), although their respective gene products were not detected via proteomics. After inactivation of the pbrA, pbrB or pbrD genes, the expression of the pbrR 2 cadA pbrC 2 operon went up considerably. This points towards synergistic interactions between pbrUTRABCD and pbrR 2 cadA pbrC 2 to maintain a low intracellular Pb(II) concentration, where pbrR 2 cadA pbrC 2 gene functions can complement and compensate for the mutations in the pbrA and pbrD genes. This role of zntA and cadA to complement for the loss of pbrA was further confirmed by mutation analysis. The pbrB∷Tn(Km2) mutation resulted in the most significant decrease of Pb(II) resistance, indicating that Pb(II) sequestration, avoiding re-entry of this toxic metal ion, forms a critical step in the pbr-encoded Pb(II) resistance mechanism.

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Acknowledgments

The work by D. v. d. L., S. T. and C. L. was supported by Laboratory Directed Research and Development funds at the Brookhaven National Laboratory under contract with the U.S. Department of Energy. S. M. and M. M. were funded by SCK·CEN. R. W. is a Research Associate at the National Funds for Scientific Research (Belgium). The skilful technical assistance of Bill Greenberg is gratefully acknowledged. We are grateful to Dietrich Nies for providing us with the strains DN438, DN439 and DN440.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biology Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Building 463, Upton, NY, 11973-5000, USA

    Safiyh Taghavi, Celine Lesaulnier, Sebastien Monchy & Daniel van der Lelie

  2. Molecular and Cellular Biology, Belgian Center for Nuclear Energy, SCK·CEN, 2400, Mol, Belgium

    Sebastien Monchy & Max Mergeay

  3. Service de Chimie Biologique, Université de Mons-Hainaut, Mons, Belgium

    Ruddy Wattiez

Authors
  1. Safiyh Taghavi
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  2. Celine Lesaulnier
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  3. Sebastien Monchy
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  4. Ruddy Wattiez
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  5. Max Mergeay
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  6. Daniel van der Lelie
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Correspondence to Daniel van der Lelie.

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Taghavi, S., Lesaulnier, C., Monchy, S. et al. Lead(II) resistance in Cupriavidus metallidurans CH34: interplay between plasmid and chromosomally-located functions. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 96, 171–182 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-008-9289-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-008-9289-0

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