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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 1998, p. 2882-2887, Vol. 64, No. 8
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Deletion of the rbo Gene Increases the Oxygen Sensitivity of the Sulfate-Reducing Bacterium Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough

Johanna K. Voordouw and Gerrit Voordouw*

Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada

Received 10 March 1998/Accepted 24 May 1998

The rbo gene of Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough encodes rubredoxin oxidoreductase (Rbo), a 14-kDa iron sulfur protein; forms an operon with the gene for rubredoxin; and is preceded by the gene for the oxygen-sensing protein DcrA. We have deleted the rbo gene from D. vulgaris with the sacB mutagenesis procedure developed previously (R. Fu and G. Voordouw, Microbiology 143:1815-1826, 1997). The absence of the rbo-gene in the resulting mutant, D. vulgaris L2, was confirmed by PCR and protein blotting with Rbo-specific polyclonal antibodies. D. vulgaris L2 grows like the wild type under anaerobic conditions. Exposure to air for 24 h caused a 100-fold drop in CFU of L2 relative to the wild type. The lag times of liquid cultures of inocula exposed to air were on average also greater for L2 than for the wild type. These results demonstrate that Rbo, which is not homologous with superoxide dismutase or catalase, acts as an oxygen defense protein in the anaerobic, sulfate-reducing bacterium D. vulgaris Hildenborough and likely also in other sulfate-reducing bacteria and anaerobic archaea in which it has been found.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. N.W., Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada. Phone: (403) 220-6388. Fax: (403) 289-9311. E-mail: voordouw{at}acs.ucalgary.ca.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 1998, p. 2882-2887, Vol. 64, No. 8
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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