Skip to main content
Log in

Homologous overexpression of omcZ, a gene for an outer surface c-type cytochrome of Geobacter sulfurreducens by single-step gene replacement

  • Original Research Paper
  • Published:
Biotechnology Letters Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The electron transfer pathway of Geobacter sulfurreducens has been intensively studied because of its ability of electron transfer to extracellular electron acceptors, such as Fe(III) and on electrode. However, the absence of overexpression system of G. sulfurreducens is one of the main obstacles for studying the physiology of G. sulfurreducens. OmcZ, an outer membrane-related c-type cytochrome of G. sulfurrducens, was homologously overexpressed via genomic integration. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis showed that the omcZ transcript in the knock-in strain was sixfold more abundant than in the wild type. Notably, omcZ expression appears to downregulate the expression level of OmcS, another outer membrane-related c-type cytochrome of G. sulfurreducens, based on the comparisons of total protein and transcript levels. This is the first report of the successful genetic overexpression system for studying functional genomics of G. sulfurreducens.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Afkar E, Reguera G, Schiffer M, Lovley DR (2005) A novel Geobacteraceae-specific outer membrane protein J (OmpJ) is essential for electron transport to Fe(III) and Mn(IV) oxides in Geobacter sulfurreducens. BMC Microbiol 5:41

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Caccavo FJ, Lonergan DJ, Lovley DR, Davis M, Stolz JF, McInerney MJ (1994) Geobacter sulfurreducens sp. nov., a hydrogen- and acetate-oxidizing dissimilatory metal-reducing microorganisms. Appl Environ Microbiol 60:3752–3759

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Coppi MV, Leang C, Sandler SJ, Lovley DR (2001) Development of a genetic system for Geobacter sulfurreducens. Appl Environ Microbiol 67:3180–3187

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dehio M, Knorre A, Lanz C, Dehio C (1998) Construction of versatile high-level expression vectors for Bartonella henselae and the use of green fluorescent protein as a new expression marker. Gene 215:223–229

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Francis RTJ, Becker RR (1984) Specific indication of hemoproteins in polyacrylamide gels using a double-staining process. Anal Biochem 136:509–514

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Holmes DE, Nevin KP, O’Neil RA, Ward JE, Adams L, Woodard TL, Vrionis HA, Lovley DR (2005) Potential for quantifying expression of the Geobacteraceae citrate synthase gene to assess the activity of Geobacteraceae in the subsurface and on current-harvesting electrodes. Appl Environ Microbiol 71:6870–6877

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Holmes DE, Chaudhuri SK, Nevin KP, Mehta T, Methe BA, Liu A, Ward JE, Woodard TL, Webster J, Lovley DR (2006) Microarray and genetic analysis of electron transfer electrodes in Geobacter sulfurreducens. Environ Microbiol 8:1805–1815

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Husseiny MI, Hensel M (2005) Rapid method for the construction of Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium vaccine carrier strains. Infect Immun 73:1598–1605

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Inoue K, Qian X, Morgado L, Kim BC, Mester T, Izallalen M, Salgueiro CA, Lovley DR (2010) Purification and characterization of OmcZ, an outer-surface, octaheme c-type cytochrome essential for optimal current production by Geobacter sulfurreducens. Appl Environ Microbiol 76:3999–4007

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Inoue K, Leang C, Franks AE, Woodard TL, Nevin KP, Lovley DR (2011) Specific localization of the c-type cytochrome OmcZ at the anode surface in current-producing biofilms of Geobacter sulfurreducens. Environ Microbiol Rep. doi:10.1111/j.1758-2229.2010.00210.x

  • Jain C (2006) Overexpression and purification of tagged Escherichia coli proteins using a chromosomal knock-in strategy. Protein Expr Purif 46:294–298

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kim BC, Lovley DR (2008) Investigation of direct vs. indirect involvement of the c-type cytochrome MacA in Fe(III) reduction by Geobacter sulfurreducens. FEMS Micbiobiol Lett 286:39–44

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kim BC, Leang C, Ding YH, Glaven RH, Coppi MV, Lovley DR (2005) OmcF, a putative c-type monoheme outer membrane cytochrome required for the expression of other outer membrane cytochromes in Geobacter sulfurreducens. J Bacteriol 187:4505–4513

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leang C, Coppi MV, Lovley DR (2003) OmcB, a c-type polyheme cytochrome, involved in Fe(III) reduction in Geobacter sulfurreducens. J Bacteriol 185:2096–2103

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leang C, Qian X, Mester T, Lovley DR (2010) Alignment of the c-type cytochrome OmcS along pili of Geobacter sulfurreducens. Appl Environ Microbiol 76:4080–4084

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd JR, Leang C, Hodges-Myerson AL, Coppi MV, Ciufo S, Methe B, Sandler SJ, Lovley DR (2003) Biochemical and genetic characterization of PpcA, a periplasmic c-type cytochrome in Geobacter sulfurreducens. Biochem J 369:153–161

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Londer YY, Pokkuluri PR, Erickson J, Orshonsky V, Schiffer M (2005) Heterologous expression of hexaheme fragments of a multidomain cytochrome from Geobacter sulfurreducens representing a novel class of cytochromes c. Protein Expr Purif 39:254–260

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lovley DR (2006) Bug juice: harvesting electricity with microorganisms. Nat Rev Microbiol 4:497–508

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mehta T, Coppi MV, Childers SE, Lovley DR (2005) Outer membrane c-type cytochromes required for Fe(III) and Mn(IV) oxide reduction in Geobacter sulfurreducens. Appl Environ Microbiol 71:8634–8641

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Methé BA, Nelson KE, Eisen JA, Paulsen IT, Nelson W, Heidelberg JF, Wu D, Wu M, Ward N, Beanan MJ, Dodson RJ, Madupu R, Brinkac LM, Daugherty SC, DeBoy RT, Durkin AS, Gwinn M, Kolonay JF, Sullivan SA, Haft DH, Selengut J, Davidsen TM, Zafar N, White O, Tran B, Romero C, Forberger HA, Weidman J, Khouri H, Feldblyum TV, Utterback TR, Aken SEV, Lovley DR, Fraser CM (2003) Genome of Geobacter sulfurreducens: metal reduction in subsurface environments. Science 302:1967–1969

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Murphy KC, Campellone KG, Poteete AR (2000) PCR-mediated gene replacement in Escherichia coli. Gene 246:321–330

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nevin KP, Kim BC, Glaven RH, Johnson JP, Woodard TL, Methé BA, Didonato RJ, Covalla SF, Franks AE, Liu A, Lovley DR (2009) Anode biofilm transcriptomics reveals outer surface components essential for high density current production in Geobacter sulfurreducens fuel cells. PLoS One 4:e5628

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pokkuluri PR, Pessanha M, Londer YY, Wood SJ, Duke NEC, Wilton R, Catarino T, Salgueiro CA, Schiffer M (2008) Structures and solution properties of two novel periplasmic sensor domains with c-type heme from chemotaxis proteins of Geobacter sulfurreducens: implications for signal transduction. J Mol Biol 377:1498–1517

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shelobolina ES, Coppi MV, Korenevsky AA, DiDonato LN, Sullivan SA, Konishi H, Xu H, Leang C, Butler JE, Kim BC, Lovley DR (2007) Importance of c-type cytochromes for U(VI) reduction by Geobacter sulfurreducens. BMC Microbiol 7:16

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Summers ZM, Fogarty HE, Leang C, Franks AE, Malvankar NS, Lovley DR (2010) Direct exchange of electrons within aggregates of an evolved syntrophic coculture of anaerobic bacteria. Science 330:1413–1415

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Office of Science (BER), U.S. Department of Energy (cooperative agreement DE-FC02-02ER63446), the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2010-0021693), and partially supported by a grant from the KRIBB Research Initiative Program.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Byoung-Chan Kim.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOC 48 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Park, I., Kim, BC. Homologous overexpression of omcZ, a gene for an outer surface c-type cytochrome of Geobacter sulfurreducens by single-step gene replacement. Biotechnol Lett 33, 2043–2048 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-011-0668-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-011-0668-7

Keywords

Navigation