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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, January 2002, p. 289-296, Vol. 68, No. 1
0099-2240/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.68.1.289-296.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Duplicate Copies of Genes Encoding Methanesulfonate Monooxygenase in Marinosulfonomonas methylotropha Strain TR3 and Detection of Methanesulfonate Utilizers in the Environment

Nardia J. Baxter,1 Julie Scanlan,1 Paolo De Marco,2 Ann P. Wood,3 and J. Colin Murrell1*

Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL,1 IBMC-Universidade do Porto R. Campo Alegre, 823 4150-180 Porto, Portugal,2 Division of Life Sciences, King’s College London, London SE1 9NN, United Kingdom3

Received 1 May 2001/ Accepted 2 October 2001

Marinosulfonomonas methylotropha strain TR3 is a marine methylotroph that uses methanesulfonic acid (MSA) as a sole carbon and energy source. The genes from M. methylotropha strain TR3 encoding methanesulfonate monooxygenase, the enzyme responsible for the initial oxidation of MSA to formaldehyde and sulfite, were cloned and sequenced. They were located on two gene clusters on the chromosome of this bacterium. A 5.0-kbp HindIII fragment contained msmA, msmB, and msmC, encoding the large and small subunits of the hydroxylase component and the ferredoxin component, respectively, of the methanesulfonate monooxygenase, while a 6.5-kbp HindIII fragment contained duplicate copies of msmA and msmB, as well as msmD, encoding the reductase component of methanesulfonate. Both sets of msmA and msmB genes were virtually identical, and the derived msmA and msmB sequences of M. methylotropha strain TR3, compared with the corresponding hydroxylase from the terrestrial MSA utilizer Methylosulfonomonas methylovora strain M2 were found to be 82 and 69% identical. The msmA gene was investigated as a functional gene probe for detection of MSA-utilizing bacteria. PCR primers spanning a region of msmA which encoded a unique Rieske [2Fe-2S] binding region were designed. These primers were used to amplify the corresponding msmA genes from newly isolated Hyphomicrobium, Methylobacterium, and Pedomicrobium species that utilized MSA, from MSA enrichment cultures, and from DNA samples extracted directly from the environment. The high degree of identity of these msmA gene fragments, compared to msmA sequences from extant MSA utilizers, indicated the effectiveness of these PCR primers in molecular microbial ecology.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom. Phone: 44-24-76-523553. Fax: 44-24-76-523568. E-mail: cmurrell{at}bio.warwick.ac.uk.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, January 2002, p. 289-296, Vol. 68, No. 1
0099-2240/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.68.1.289-296.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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