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Appl. Environ. Microbiol. doi:10.1128/AEM.01497-07
Copyright (c) 2007, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Regulation of a Novel Acidithiobacillus caldus Gene Cluster Involved in Reduced Inorganic Sulfur Compound Metabolism

Molecular Biology, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden; Center for Bioinformatics and Genome Biology, Life Science Foundation, MIFAB and Andrés Bello University, Santiago, Chile; Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Institute of Biochemistry, Mokslininku 12, Vilnius LT-08662, Lithuania; CNRS, IBSM, Laboratoire de Chimie Bactérienne, 31 Chemin J. Aiguier 13402 Marseille Cedex 20, France

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: mark.dopson{at}molbiol.umu.se.

	Abstract

Acidithiobacillus caldus has been proposed to play a role in the oxidation of reduced inorganic sulfur compounds (RISCs) produced in industrial biomining of sulfidic minerals. Here we describe the regulation of a new cluster containing the gene encoding tetrathionate hydrolase (tetH), a key enzyme in RISC metabolism of this bacterium. The cluster contains five co-transcribed genes: isac1, rsrR, rsrS, tetH, and doxD coding for a transposase, a two component response regulator (RrsR and RrsS), tetrathionate hydrolase, and DoxD, respectively. As shown by quantitative PCR, rsrR, tetH, and doxD are up-regulated to different degrees in the presence of tetrathionate. Western blot analysis also indicates up-regulation of TetH in the presence of tetrathionate, thiosulfate, and pyrite. The tetH cluster is predicted to have two promoters, both of which are functional in Escherichia coli and one of which was mapped by primer extension. A pyrrolo-quinoline quinone binding domain in TetH was predicted by bioinformatic analysis and the presence of an o-quinone moiety was experimentally verified, suggesting a mechanism for tetrathionate oxidation.

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