Identification and analysis of a glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase-encoding gene and its cognate transcriptional regulator from Azoarcus sp. CIB

9 páginas, 3 figuras, 1 tabla -- PAGS nros. 474-482In this work, the gcdH gene from the denitrifying β-proteobacterium Azoarcus sp. CIB was shown to encode a glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase, which is essential for the anaerobic catabolism of many aromatic compounds and some alicyclic and dicarboxylic acids. The primary structure of the GcdH protein is highly conserved in many organisms. The divergently transcribed gcdR gene, encoding a LysR-type transcriptional regulator, accounts for the glutaconate/glutarate-specific activation of the Pg promoter driving expression of gcdH. The Azoarcus sp. CIBdgcdH mutant strain harbouring a disrupted gcdH gene was used as host to identify heterologous gcdH genes, such as that from Pseudomonas putida KT2440. Moreover, the expression of gcdH from P. putida can be efficiently controlled by the GcdR activator in Azoarcus sp. CIB, demonstrating the existence of cross-talk between GcdR regulators and gcdH promoters from members of different phylogenetic subgroups of proteobacteriaThis work was supported by Grants BIO2003-01482, BIO2006-05957, VEM2003-20075-CO2-02 and GEN2006-27750-C5-3-E/SYS from the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, and by Grant P-AMB-259–0505 from the Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid. B. Blázquez was supported by a predoctoral fellowship associated to Projects BIO2003-01482 and CSIC2006 2 0I 069Peer reviewe

Activity and composition of methanotrophic bacterial communities in planted rice soil studied by flux measurements, analyses of pmoA gene and stable isotope probing of phospholipid fatty acids.

Methanotrophs in the rhizosphere of rice field ecosystems attenuate the emissions of CH(4) into the atmosphere and thus play an important role for the global cycle of this greenhouse gas. Therefore, we measured the activity and composition of the methanotrophic community in the rhizosphere of rice microcosms. Methane oxidation was determined by measuring the CH(4) flux in the presence and absence of difluoromethane as a specific inhibitor for methane oxidation. Methane oxidation started on day 24 and reached the maximum on day 32 after transplantation. The total methanotrophic community was analysed by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and cloning/sequencing of the pmoA gene, which encodes a subunit of particulate methane monooxygenase. The metabolically active methanotrophic community was analysed by stable isotope probing of microbial phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA-SIP) using (13)C-labelled CH(4) directly added to the rhizospheric region. Rhizospheric soil and root samples were collected after exposure to (13)CH(4) for 8 and 18 days. Both T-RFLP/cloning and PLFA-SIP approaches showed that type I and type II methanotrophic populations changed over time with respect to activity and population size in the rhizospheric soil and on the rice roots. However, type I methanotrophs were more active than type II methanotrophs at both time points indicating they were of particular importance in the rhizosphere. PLFA-SIP showed that the active methanotrophic populations exhibit a pronounced spatial and temporal variation in rice microcosms