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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 2002, p. 4495-4501, Vol. 68, No. 9
0099-2240/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.68.9.4495-4501.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Evidence for Natural Horizontal Transfer of the pcpB Gene in the Evolution of Polychlorophenol-Degrading Sphingomonads

Marja A. Tiirola,1* Hong Wang,1 Lars Paulin,2 and Markku S. Kulomaa1

Department of Biological and Environmental Science, FIN-400014 University of Jyväskylä,1 Institute of Biotechnology, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland2

Received 13 March 2002/ Accepted 20 June 2002

The chlorophenol degradation pathway in Sphingobium chlorophenolicum is initiated by the pcpB gene product, pentachlorophenol-4-monooxygenase. The distribution of the gene was studied in a phylogenetically diverse group of polychlorophenol-degrading bacteria isolated from contaminated groundwater in Kärkölä, Finland. All the sphingomonads isolated were shown to share pcpB gene homologs with 98.9 to 100% sequence identity. The gene product was expressed when the strains were induced by 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorophenol. A comparative analysis of the 16S rDNA and pcpB gene trees suggested that a recent horizontal transfer of the pcpB gene was involved in the evolution of the catabolic pathway in the Kärkölä sphingomonads. The full-length Kärkölä pcpB gene allele had approximately 70% identity with the three pcpB genes previously sequenced from sphingomonads. It was very closely related to the environmental clones obtained from chlorophenol-enriched soil samples (M. Beaulieu, V. Becaert, L. Deschenes, and R. Villemur, Microbiol. Ecol. 40:345-355, 2000). The gene was not present in polychlorophenol-degrading nonsphingomonads isolated from the Kärkölä source.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FIN-400014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Phone: 358 14 2604158. Fax: 358 14 2602221. E-mail: mtiirola{at}jyu.fi.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 2002, p. 4495-4501, Vol. 68, No. 9
0099-2240/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.68.9.4495-4501.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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