Skip to main content
Log in

Functional activity of the modA 2 gene in Methylobacterium dichloromethanicum DM4

  • Experimental Articles
  • Published:
Microbiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The putative METDI2644 (modA 2 ) gene of Methylobacterium dichloromethanicum DM4, present in the 126-kb chromosomal fragment associated with dichloromethane (DCM) degradation, was investigated. While this gene is presumed to encode the periplasmic substrate-binding subunit of a molybdate ABC transporter, its conceptual translation also exhibits similarity to proteins containing the ostA conservative domain and responsible for resistance of gram-negative bacteria to organic solvents. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) revealed RNA transcripts of this gene in the cells grown on either DCM or cells grown on methanol. The mobilizable suicide vector pK18mob was used to obtain a knockout mutant with the METDI2644 gene inactivated by insertion of the gentamycin cassette. The mutant pregrown on methanol exhibited lower growth rate on DCM than the wild-type strain DM4. The difference was not alleviated by the addition of sodium molybdate. Our results demonstrate that the METDI2644 gene product plays a role in cell adaptation to DCM degradation.

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.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Vuilleumier, S. and Pagni, M., Bacterial glutathione S-transferases: new lessons from bacterial genomes, Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 2002, vol. 58, pp. 138–146.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Kayser, M.F., Ucurum, Z., and Vuilleumier, S., Dichloromethane metabolism and C1 utilization genes in Methylobacterium strains, Microbiology (UK), 2002, vol. 148, pp. 1915–1922.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Vuilleumier, S., Chistoserdova, L., Lee, M.-L., Bringel, F., et al., Methylobacterium genome sequences: a reference blueprint to investigate microbial metabolism of C1 compounds from natural and industrial sources, PloS One, 2009. vol. 4., no. 5, e5584.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Aono, R., Negishi, T., and Nakajima, H., Cloning of organic solvent tolerance gene ostA that determines n-hexane tolerance level in Escherichia coli, Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 1994, vol. 60, no. 12, pp. 4624–4626.

    CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Doronina, N.V., Trotsenko, Y.A., Tourova, T.P., Kuznetzov, B.B., and Leisinger, T., Methylopila helvetica sp. nov. and Methylobacterium dichloromethanicum sp. nov.—novel aerobic facultatively methylotrophic bacteria utilizing dichloromethane, Syst. Appl. Microbiol., 2000, vol. 23, pp. 210–218.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Firsova, Yu.E., Fedorov, D.N., and Trotsenko, Yu.A., Analysis of the 3′-region of the dcmA gene of dichloromethane dehalogenase of Methylobacterium dichloromethanicum DM4, Microbiology (Moscow), 2011, vol. 80, no. 6, pp. 805–811.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Simon, R., Priefer, U., and Puhler, A., A broad host range mobilization system for in vivo genetic engineering: transposon mutagenesis in Gram-negative bacteria, Bio. Technology, 1983, vol. 1, pp. 784–791.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Schäfer, A., Tauch, A., Jager, W., Kalinowski, J., Thierbach, G., and Pühler, A., Small mobilizable multi-purpose cloning vectors derived from the Escherichia coli plasmids pK18 and pK19: selection of defined deletions in the chromosome of Corynebacterium glutamicum, Gene, 1994, vol. 145, pp. 69–73.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Dennis, J.J. and Zylstra, G.J., Plasposons: modular self-cloning minitransposon derivatives for rapid genetic analysis of gram-negative bacterial genomes, Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 1998, vol. 64, pp. 2710–2715.

    CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Firsova, Yu.E., Doronina, N.V., and Trotsenko, Yu.A., Analysis of the key functional genes in new aerobic degraders of dichloromethane, Microbiology (Moscow), 2010, vol. 79, no. 1, pp. 66–72.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Van de Peer, Y. and De Wachter, R., TREECON for Windows: a software package for the construction and drawing of evolutionary trees for the Microsoft Windows environment, Comput. Appl. Biosci., 1994, vol. 10, pp. 569–570.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Sambrook, J. and Russel, D.W., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, 3rd ed., Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Firsova, Yu.E., Fedorov, D.N., and Trotsenko, Yu.A., Functional analysis of the genome fragment involved in aerobic dichloromethane degradation by Methylobacterium dichloromethanicum DM4, Appl. Biochem. Microbiol., 2012, vol. 48, no. 5, pp. 467–472.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Self, W.T., Grunden, A.M., Hasona, A., and Shanmugam, K.T., Molybdate transport, Res. Microbiol., 2001, vol. 152, pp. 311–321.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Chistoserdova, L., Crowther, G.J., Vorholt, J.A., Skovran, E., Portals, J.-C., and Lidstrom, M.E., Identification of a fourth formate dehydrogenase in Methylobacterium extorquens AM1 and confirmation of the essential role of formate oxidation in methylotrophy, J. Bacteriol., 2007, vol. 189, no. 24, pp. 9076–9081.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Firsova, Yu.E., Torgonskaya, M.L., Doronina, N.V., and Trotsenko, Yu.A., Effects of DNA-damaging agents on aerobic methylobacteria capable and incapable of utilizing dichloromethane, Appl. Biochem. Microbiol., 2005, vol. 41, no. 5, pp. 480–485.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Zyakun, A.M., Firsova, Yu.E., Torgonskaya, M.L., Doronina, N.V., and Trotsenko, Yu.A., Changes of chlorine isotope composition characterize bacterial dehalogenation of dichloromethane, Appl. Biochem. Microbiol., 2007, vol. 43, no. 6, pp. 593–597.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Y. A. Trotsenko.

Additional information

Original Russian Text © Y.E. Firsova, Y.A. Trotsenko, 2014, published in Mikrobiologiya, 2014, Vol. 83, No. 3, pp. 295–301.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Firsova, Y.E., Trotsenko, Y.A. Functional activity of the modA 2 gene in Methylobacterium dichloromethanicum DM4. Microbiology 83, 205–210 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0026261714030060

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0026261714030060

Keywords

Navigation