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First characterisation of the active oligomer form of sulfur oxygenase reductase from the bacterium Aquifex aeolicus

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Abstract

Sulfur oxygenase reductase (SOR) enzyme is responsible for the initial oxidation step of elemental sulfur in archaea. Curiously, Aquifex aeolicus, a hyperthermophilic, chemolithoautotrophic and microaerophilic bacterium, has the SOR-encoding gene in its genome. We showed, for the first time the presence of the SOR enzyme in A. aeolicus, its gene was cloned and recombinantly expressed in Escherichia coli and the protein was purified and characterised. It is a 16 homo-oligomer of approximately 600 kDa that contains iron atoms indispensable for the enzyme activity. The optimal temperature of SOR activity is 80°C and it is inactive at 20°C. Studies of the factors involved in getting the fully active molecule at high temperature show clearly that (1) incubation at high temperature induces more homogeneous form of the enzyme, (2) conformational changes observed at high temperature are required to get the fully active molecule and (3) acquisition of an active conformation induced by the temperature seems to be more important than the subunit number. Differences between A. aeolicus SOR and the archaea SORs are described.

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Abbreviations

A. aeolicus :

Aquifex aeolicus

A. ambivalens :

Acidianus ambivalens

S°:

Elemental sulfur

SOR:

Sulfur oxygenase reductase

SOX:

Sulfur oxidising enzyme system

TOMES:

Thiosulfate oxidising multienzyme system

TQOR:

Thiosulfate quinone oxidoreductase

ORF:

Open reading frame

CMC:

Carboxymethyl cellulose

MALDI-TOF:

Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight

E. coli :

Escherichia coli

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of Marielle Bauzan (Institute of Microbiology and Structural Biology, CNRS, Marseilles, France) for growing bacteria; Bruno Gugliarelli for EPR experiments; and Danielle Moinier and Sabrina Lignon (Proteomic Analysis Center, Marseilles, France) for mass spectroscopy analysis. We also thank Alain Dolla, Wolfgang Nitschke, Mari Luz Cardenas and Athel Cornish-Bowden for helpful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Bioénergétique et Ingénierie des Protéines, IBSM-CNRS, 31 Chemin Joseph Aignier, 13402, Marseille, France

    Nicolas Pelletier, Gisèle Leroy, Marianne Guiral, Marie-Thérèse Giudici-Orticoni & Corinne Aubert

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  1. Nicolas Pelletier
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  2. Gisèle Leroy
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  3. Marianne Guiral
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  4. Marie-Thérèse Giudici-Orticoni
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  5. Corinne Aubert
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Correspondence to Corinne Aubert.

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Communicated by K. Horikoshi.

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Pelletier, N., Leroy, G., Guiral, M. et al. First characterisation of the active oligomer form of sulfur oxygenase reductase from the bacterium Aquifex aeolicus . Extremophiles 12, 205–215 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-007-0119-5

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