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1 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
2 Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa 903-0213, Japan
3 Department of Biological Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Yamaguchi University, Yamaguchi 753-8515, Japan
Correspondence
Alisa S. Vangnai
alisa.v{at}chula.ac.th
Piamsook Pongsawasdi
piamsook.p{at}chula.ac.th
| ABSTRACT |
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| INTRODUCTION |
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P. putida HK5 was originally isolated as a 1-octanol utilizer. When grown on different alcohols, P. putida HK5 expresses three distinct soluble ADHs (ADH-I, ADH-IIB and ADH-IIG), each of which contains a PQQ prosthetic group. ADH-I and ADH-IIB are formed in cells either grown on or induced with short-chain-length alcohols, while the induction of ADH-IIG is mainly restricted to 1,2-propanediol (Toyama et al., 1995
). P. putida HK5 is one of only two organisms reported so far that expresses more than one type of PQQ-ADH in response to exposure to alcohols (Vangnai et al., 2002
). Therefore, it is interesting to examine how the expression of the three enzymes is distinguished and regulated at a molecular level. The cloning and molecular analysis of the three PQQ-ADH genes, encoding ADH-I, ADH-IIB and ADH-IIG, was performed previously (Promden et al., 2008
; Toyama et al., 2003
, 2005
). The aim of the present study was to analyse the promoter activities under various induction conditions in P. putida HK5, using a transcriptional lacZ fusion promoter-probe vector as a reporter, and to investigate the role of a two-component system that controls the three ADH clusters.
| METHODS |
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β-Galactosidase assay.
P. putida HK5 containing pQF50-lacZ derivatives was grown overnight in 5 ml LB medium containing 200 µg piperacillin ml–1 at 30 °C on a rotary shaker at 200 r.p.m. Cell cultures (1 ml) were collected by centrifugation at 15 000 g for 5 min, washed with basal medium, and resuspended in an equal volume of basal medium. The cell suspension was then diluted fivefold in basal medium containing piperacillin and the desired alcohol (at 0.5 %, v/v, final concentration) and/or 20 mM glucose. After shaking the culture for 6 h at 30 °C, the β-galactosidase activity was determined with cells treated with chloroform, according to the procedure of Miller (1992)
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Determination of ADH activity and protein assay.
Cells from 100 ml culture of OD600 0.8–1.0 were harvested, washed once with ice-cold saline, and resuspended in 3 ml 50 mM Tris/HCl buffer (pH 8.0). The suspension was passed through a French pressure cell at 16 000 p.s.i. (110 400 kPa) at 4 °C. The cell debris was removed by centrifugation at 15 000 g for 20 min, and the resulting supernatant was obtained as a crude fraction. Phenazine methosulfate (PMS) reductase activity was measured for ADH-I activity, and ferricyanide reductase activity was used for ADH-IIB and ADH-IIG activity assays, as described previously (Toyama et al., 1995
). The rate of reduction of electron acceptor observed with substrate was subtracted from that obtained without substrate. Protein content was estimated by a modified method of Lowry (Dulley & Grieve, 1975
) with serial dilutions of BSA (Sigma) as a standard.
| RESULTS AND DISCUSSION |
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70 promoter consensus sequence (Harley & Reynolds, 1987
Promoter-probe vectors, i.e. pQW-ADHI and pQW-CYT (Fig. 1a
), were constructed and used to monitor the promoter activities of qedA and qedC genes, respectively. In response to various alcohol inducers, both promoters exhibited similar transcriptional patterns, though to different magnitudes. Significant promoter activities were observed towards primary and secondary short-chain-length alcohols (C2–C4), diols and glycerol. The highest promoter activity was obtained with ethanol induction, while the activity diminished upon induction with longer-chain-length alcohols (C5–C8) (Fig. 2a
, b). Previous results, based upon the relative activities of ADH-I towards different substrates, indicated that C2–C8 primary alcohols were good substrates for the enzyme (Toyama et al., 1995
). Nonetheless, our present work suggested that longer-chain-length alcohols act as repressors for the qedA and qedC promoters. In contrast, though the secondary alcohols, diols and glycerol have been reported to be poor substrates for ADH-I (Toyama et al., 1995
), significant promoter activities of qedA and qedC with these inducers were observed (Fig. 2a
, b). These results suggested that short-chain-length alcohols (C2–C4) act as signal molecules for a specific regulator that controls transcription of qedA and qedC. Although the similar transcriptional patterns of the two promoters under alcohol induction suggested that qedA and qedC might be under the control of the same regulator, the expression level of qedC was higher than that of qedA under the same conditions. This directly contrasts with an earlier study of P. aeruginosa, in which the promoter activity of exaB (cytochrome c550) was reported to be significantly lower than that of exaA (qEDH) (Schobert & Görisch, 2001
). The high expression level of qedC was anticipated, because P. putida HK5 has three types of qADHs, each of which requires cytochrome c for electron translocation during alcohol oxidation. In the present work, qedA and qedC promoters were found to likely be affected by a catabolite repression control by glucose, as the combination of glucose with ethanol led to a low induction of the qedA and qedC promoter activities (Fig. 2a
, b). Lactate, acetate and tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates such as citrate and succinate were also found to act as catabolite repressors of qedA (data not shown).
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54- nor a
70-promoter consensus sequence could be found in the qedAB intergenic region, and no promoter activity was attained with the qedAB intergenic region-containing construct (pQW-PEN) under the conditions tested (data not shown). Thus, according to these results, qedB may not be a true ORF.
ADH-IIB gene cluster: C3/C4 alcohols and butyraldehyde as the inducers of ADH and ADH-IIB expression
The quinohaemoprotein ADH-IIB gene cluster of P. putida HK5 consists of the ADH gene (aldA), an ORF of unknown function (qbdB), and the ADH-IIB structural gene (qbdA) (Fig. 1b
) (Toyama et al., 2003
). The RT-PCR result suggested that the qbdBA genes were co-transcribed from a promoter upstream of qbdB (data not shown). A
54-consensus sequence, with the conserved sequence (underlined) centred around –24 and –12, respectively (Barrios et al., 1999
), was found upstream of aldA [TGGCACAA]GGG[TTGCT] and qbdBA [TGGCACGA]AGC[CTGCT]. The promoter-probe vectors pQW-ALDA and pQW-ADHIIB were constructed (Fig. 1b
), and the transcriptional expression levels in response to various alcohol substrates were evaluated. The results, summarized in Fig. 2
(c, d), suggest that glucose acted as a catabolite repressor of the aldA and qbdBA promoters. The promoter activities of aldA and qbdBA demonstrated a similar induction pattern in response to primary and secondary C3 and C4 alcohols as well as butyraldehyde induction (Fig. 2c
, d). Since the qedA and qbdBA promoters were differentially induced by alcohols that differed in their chain lengths, their activities may be either controlled by different regulators or influenced by different regulatory factors. Nonetheless, it cannot be excluded that these regulators have broad specificity to other short-chain alcohols, resulting in the concurrent expression of ADH-I and ADH-IIB (Promden et al., 2008
; Toyama et al., 1995
).
ADH-IIG gene cluster: (S)-(+)-1,2-propanediol is a specific inducer
The ADH-IIG gene cluster consists of qgdA, a structural gene of quinohaemoprotein ADH-IIG, followed by the aldB gene, encoding an NAD-aldehyde dehydrogenase in the same direction, and orf1, encoding a hypothetical protein oriented in the opposite direction and located upstream of qgdA (Toyama et al., 2005
). The activities of the divergent qgdA and orf1 promoters were investigated when induced with alcohols and aldehydes. The lacZ promoter-probe vector of orf1, i.e. pQW-ORFG1 (Fig. 1c
), showed a low constitutive activity with all substrates tested, suggesting that orf1 might not be directly involved in alcohol utilization in P. putida HK5 (data not shown). Since the
54-dependent promoter consensus sequence, [TGGCATGG]CGG[TTGCG], was found at the upstream region of the qgdA gene, the qgdA promoter-probe vector, pQW-ADHIIG (Fig. 1c
), was constructed. The highest promoter activity of pQW-ADHIIG was observed after growth on (S)-(+)-1,2-propanediol. Ethanediol, glycerol and (R)-(–)-1,2-propanediol were weaker inducers, whereas ethanol, 1-butanol and butyraldehyde were ineffective inducers (Fig. 2e
). It should be noted that (S)-(+)-1,2-propanediol not only is a strong inducer for the qgdA promoter, but is also the preferred substrate of ADH-IIG with a higher substrate specificity (Km=0.055 mM) than that of (R)-(–)-1,2-propanediol (Km=3.32 mM) (Toyama et al., 2005
). Interestingly, even though 1-butanol was a substrate of ADH-IIG (Km=0.043 mM) (Toyama et al., 1995
, 2005
), it was not found to be an effective signal molecule for the qgdA promoter. These results suggest that the qgdA promoter is specifically regulated by (S)-(+)-1,2-propanediol and that different regulators control the activities of the qedA, qbdB and qgdA promoters.
Roles of regulatory genes, exaE and agmR, for alcohol oxidation in P. putida HK5
Downstream of qedA (ADH-I structural gene) lie exaE and agmR, two regulatory genes that encode likely DNA-binding response regulators, and orf9, which encodes a hypothetical protein similar to that in P. putida KT2440. The RT-PCR results suggested that orf9 and agmR did not form an operon (data not shown). In fact, no orf9 transcriptional product was detected under ethanol induction. Although the role of orf9 has not yet been conclusively determined, a previous report has shown that disruption of the orf9 sequence adversely affects the expression of ADH-I (Promden et al., 2008
).
An earlier study of the genetic regulation of qADH in P. aeruginosa ATCC 17933 revealed a two-component regulatory system composed of the sensor kinase ExaD and the DNA binding response regulatory protein ExaE (Schobert & Görisch, 2001
). However, in P. putida HK5, the homologous gene corresponding to exaD could not be observed within the 10 kb ADH-I cluster gene fragment (Promden et al., 2008
). Nevertheless, the activity of the exaE promoter was investigated in this study using the promoter-probe vector pQW-EXAE, which was constructed with the putative
70 promoter region –35[TCGACA] and –10[AGTAGT], upstream of the exaE gene (Fig. 1a
). The results revealed that the exaE promoter was transcribed to an approximately similar level with all alcohols and the aldehyde tested, but that this expression level was relatively low (Fig. 3
). In addition, it was found that the exaE promoter was likely to be affected by catabolite repression control by glucose, as the combination of glucose with ethanol led to a low activity of the exaE promoter (Fig. 3
). To investigate the promoter activity of agmR, the plasmid pQW-AGMR was used (Fig. 1a
). The results are consistent with the notion that the agmR promoter is constitutively transcribed (Fig. 3
).
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80–90 % ADH-I activity relative to that seen in wild-type cells (Table 2
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30 % (1725±80 Miller units) and
16 % (955±100 Miller units), respectively, relative to that seen in the wild-type cells (data not shown). These results are consistent with the notion that both ExaE and AgmR are necessary for the transcription of not only PqedA but also PqedC. The regulation of ethanol oxidation by ExaE and AgmR regulators in P. putida HK5 is partly distinct from that in P. aeruginosa. In P. aeruginosa, ExaDE regulators regulate only the expression of ethanol dehydrogenase, but not that of cytochrome c550 (Görisch, 2003
Involvement of agmR, but not exaE, in ADH-IIB and ADH-IIG expression
The disruption of agmR completely abolished the ADH-I activity, while the activities of ADH-IIB and ADH-IIG were reduced by 38 and 33 %, respectively (Table 2
). Complementation of the agmR gene using pCM-AGMRZ fully restored the ADH-IIB and ADH-IIG activities, and neither enzyme activity was affected when the exaE gene was disrupted.
In addition, the lacZ promoter-probe constructs harbouring the qbdBA, aldA and qgdA promoters (Fig. 1b
, c) were examined in the wild-type, and exaE : : Kmr and agmR : : Kmr mutant strains, under induction with butanol (for qbdBA and aldA promoter-probe vectors) or 1,2-propanediol (for the qgdA promoter-probe vector) (Fig. 4d–f
). The promoter activities of qbdBA (pQW-ADHIIB) and aldA (pQW-ALDA) in the wild-type and exaE : : Kmr mutant strains were not significantly different (Fig. 4d
, e). For qgdA (pQW-ADHIIG), the promoter activities were higher. Nevertheless, for all the three promoters, the activities were significantly reduced in agmR : : Kmr mutant strains. These results suggest that the AgmR, but not the ExaE, regulator plays a major role in the regulation of ADH-IIB and ADH-IIG expression. The findings agree well with results from a previous report on total ADH activities demonstrated by native PAGE with in situ enzyme activity staining (Promden et al., 2008
).
Hypothetical scheme of the regulatory network controlling the alcohol oxidation system of P. putida HK5
P. putida HK5 expresses three distinct qADHs, depending on the type of alcohol presented as the signal molecule. The regulatory network scheme controlling the transcriptional expression of these three ADH genes and alcohol oxidation systems in P. putida HK5 was derived from the properties of exaE- and agmR-disrupted mutants and the promoter activities of each ADH gene cluster examined under various growth and induction conditions (Fig. 5
). The results indicated that AgmR is a primary, although not sole, regulator involved in all three alcohol oxidation systems. The product of agmR also regulates the transcription of exaE. ExaE subsequently influences the transcription of qedA (for ADH-I expression), but ExaE cannot direct the transcription of qedA in the absence of AgmR. Both AgmR and ExaE are therefore annotated as response regulators, for which corresponding sensor kinases are generally required. Since a sensor kinase homologue of the AgmR regulator is not currently known (Gliese et al., 2004
), and the exaD gene encoding the histidine sensor kinase of ExaE (Schobert & Görisch, 2001
) could not be detected in P. putida HK5 cloned fragments, there may be other sensing regulatory factor(s) which respond to ethanol, and the primary and secondary C3 and C4 alcohols involved. As for the transcription of qbdBA (ADH-IIB) and qgdA (ADH-IIG), AgmR played a partial role in governing their transcription. In this case, AgmR may be differentially controlled by other promoter(s), if any. In addition, we cannot rule out that besides AgmR and ExaE, other regulator(s) or effector(s) could be involved. For instance, the involvement of a protein X (Fig. 5
), which responds to the primary and secondary C3- and C4-chain-length alcohols, butyraldehyde and 1,2-propanediol, in directing qbdBA transcription, and a protein Y (Fig. 5
), which senses the stereospecific (S)-(+)-1,2-propanediol for controlling qgdA transcription, could be proposed.
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| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
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Edited by: M. A. Kertesz
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Received 4 July 2008;
revised 14 October 2008;
accepted 27 October 2008.
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