IDENTIFICATION AND MAPPING OF THE GENE TRANSLATION PRODUCTS INVOLVED IN THE FIRST STEPS OF THE COMAMONAS-TESTOSTERONI-B-356 BIPHENYL CHLOROBIPHENYL BIODEGRADATION PATHWAY
J. Bergeron et al., IDENTIFICATION AND MAPPING OF THE GENE TRANSLATION PRODUCTS INVOLVED IN THE FIRST STEPS OF THE COMAMONAS-TESTOSTERONI-B-356 BIPHENYL CHLOROBIPHENYL BIODEGRADATION PATHWAY, Canadian journal of microbiology, 40(9), 1994, pp. 743-753
In this study, we have mapped Comamonas testosteroni B-356 genes encod
ing enzymes for the conversion of biphenyl and 4-chlorobiphenyl into t
he corresponding meta-cleavage compounds onto a 6.3-kb DNA fragment, a
nd we have determined the subunit composition of the enzymes involved
in this pathway. The various proteins encoded by this 6.3-kb DNA fragm
ent and by subclones derived from it were overexpressed and selectivel
y labelled using the T7 polymerase promoter system in Escherichia call
. They were then analyzed using SDS-PAGE, which allowed the encoding l
ocus of each polypeptide to be mapped. Despite apparent dissimilarity
in the congener selectivity patterns of the initial oxygenase of strai
n B-356 with those of Pseudomonas sp. strain LB400, the number and siz
es of the polypeptides involved in the enzymatic conversion of bipheny
l or di-chlorobiphenyl into the meta-cleavage product appear to be sim
ilar in the two strains. In both strains, the bph operon encodes the f
ollowing: the large (51-kDa polypeptide encoded by bphA) and the small
(22-kDa polypeptide encoded by bphE) subunits of the iron sulphur pro
tein, which is thought to interact directly with the substrate to intr
oduce the oxygen molecule; the ferredoxin (12-kDa polypeptide encoded
by bphF) involved in electron transfer from the reduced ferredoxin red
uctase to the oxidized iron sulphur protein; the 29-kDa polypeptide of
the 2,3-dihydro-2,3-dihydroxybiphenyl dehydrogenase encoded by bphB;
and the 32-kDa polypeptide of the 2,3-dihydroxybiphenyl-1,2-dioxygenas
e encoded by bphC, which catalyzes meta-1,2 fission of the aromatic ri
ng. A major difference between strain B-356 and strain LB400 is that t
he bphG gene encoding biphenyl dioxygenase ferredoxin reductase is loc
ated outside the bph gene cluster in strain B-356. Several lines of ev
idence indicate that bphG is absent in clones carrying the bph operon
from strain B-356.