Abstract
To date only marine strains of the genus Beggiatoa have been proven to have the capacity for lithoautotrophic growth. The two best characterized freshwater strains (B18LD and OH-75-2a) — previously tested with no evidence of autotrophic potential — were reinvestigated in the current study. Heterotrophically grown cells from exponential or early stationary phase showed extremely low ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO) activities (0.002–0.2 nmol CO2·mg prot-1 min-1). After acetate limitation terminated growth both strains demonstrated increased RuBisCO activity with a maximum achieved 1–3 days into stationary phase. For a single growth cycle, activity could increase by more than 100-fold (strain OH-75-2a), but the highest activity achieved was less than 5% of that observed in a lithoautotrophic control. Phosphoribulokinase activity was approximately an order of magnitude greater than the corresponding RuBisCO activity and showed a similar pattern of regulation. A gene probe derived from the RuBisCO large subunit gene of Anacystis nidulans hybridized strongly with DNA from strain OH-75-2a and the autotrophic marine control but not with DNA from strain B18LD.
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Abbreviations
- RuBisCO:
-
ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (EC 4.1.1.39)
- RuBP:
-
ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate
- PR:
-
kinase phosphoribulokinase (EC 2.7.1.19)
- Ru5P:
-
ribulose-5-phosphate
- CFE:
-
cell-free extract
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Nelson, D.C., Williams, C.A., Farah, B.A. et al. Occurence and regulation of Calvin cycle enzymes in non-autotrophic Beggiatoa strains. Arch. Microbiol. 151, 15–19 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00444662
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00444662