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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 1999, p. 724-731, Vol. 65, No. 2
National Institute of Agro-Environmental
Sciences, 3-1-1 Kan-nondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8604, Japan
Received 10 August 1998/Accepted 17 November 1998
Alcaligenes eutrophus (Ralstonia eutropha)
NH9, isolated in Japan, utilizes 3-chlorobenzoate as its sole source of
carbon and energy. Sequencing of the relevant region of plasmid pENH91 from strain NH9 revealed that the genes for the catabolic enzymes were
homologous to the genes of the modified ortho-cleavage
pathway. The genes from strain NH9 (cbnR-ABCD) showed the
highest homology (89 to 100% identity at the nucleotide level) to the
tcbR-CDEF genes on plasmid pP51 of the
1,2,4-trichlorobenzene-degrading bacterium Pseudomonas sp.
strain P51, which was isolated in The Netherlands. The structure of the
operon, including the lengths of open reading frames and intervening
sequences, was completely conserved between the cbn and
tcb genes. Most nucleotide substitutions were
localized within and proximal to the cbnB
(tcbD) gene. The difference in the chloroaromatics
that the two strains could use as growth substrates seemed to be due to
differences in enzymes that convert substrates to chlorocatechols. The
restriction map of plasmid pENH91 was clearly different from that of
pP51 except in the regions that contained the cbnR-ABCD and
tcbR-CDEF genes, respectively, suggesting that the
chlorocatechol gene clusters might have been transferred as units. Two
homologous sequences, present as direct repeats in both flanking
regions of the cbnR-ABCD genes on pENH91, were found to be
identical insertion sequences (ISs), designated
IS1600, which formed a composite transposon designated
Tn5707. Although the tcbR-CDEF genes
were not associated with similar ISs, a DNA fragment homologous to
IS1600 was cloned from the chromosome of strain P51. The
sequence of the fragment suggested that it might be a remnant of an IS.
The two sequences, together with IS1326 and
nmoT, formed a distinct cluster on a phylogenetic tree of
the IS21 family. The diversity of the sources of
these IS or IS-like elements suggests the prevalence of ISs of this type.
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Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
The Chlorocatechol-Catabolic Transposon Tn5707 of
Alcaligenes eutrophus NH9, Carrying a Gene Cluster Highly
Homologous to That in the 1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene-Degrading
Bacterium Pseudomonas sp. Strain P51, Confers the
Ability To Grow on 3-Chlorobenzoate
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: National
Institute of Agro-Environmental Sciences, 3-1-1 Kan-nondai,
Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8604, Japan. Phone: 81-298-38-8256. Fax:
81-298-38-8199. E-mail: naotow{at}niaes.affrc.go.jp.
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