Tetrathionate-forming thiosulfate dehydrogenase from the acidophilic, chemolithoautotrophic bacterium Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans.

Thiosulfate dehydrogenase is known to play a significant role in thiosulfate oxidation in the acidophilic, obligately chemolithoautotroph, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans. Enzyme activity measured using ferricyanide as the electron acceptor was detected in cell extracts of A. ferrooxidans ATCC 23270 grown on tetrathionate or sulfur, but no activity was detected in ferrous iron-grown cells. The enzyme was enriched 63-fold from cell extracts of tetrathionate-grown cells. Maximum enzyme activity (13.8 U mg(-1)) was observed at pH 2.5 and 70°C. The end product of the enzyme reaction was tetrathionate. The enzyme reduced neither ubiquinone nor horse heart cytochrome c, which serves as an electron acceptor. A major protein with a molecular mass of ∼25 kDa was detected in the partially purified preparation. Heme was not detected in the preparation, according to the results of spectroscopic analysis and heme staining. The open reading frame of AFE_0042 was identified by BLAST by using the N-terminal amino acid sequence of the protein. The gene was found within a region that was previously noted for sulfur metabolism-related gene clustering. The recombinant protein produced in Escherichia coli had a molecular mass of ∼25 kDa and showed thiosulfate dehydrogenase activity, with maximum enzyme activity (6.5 U mg(-1)) observed at pH 2.5 and 50°C.

Characterization of an OmpA-like outer membrane protein of the acidophilic iron-oxidizing bacterium, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans.

An OmpA family protein (FopA) previously reported as one of the major outer membrane proteins of an acidophilic iron-oxidizing bacterium Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans was characterized with emphasis on the modification by heat and the interaction with peptidoglycan. A 30-kDa band corresponding to the FopA protein was detected in outer membrane proteins extracted at 75°C or heated to 100°C for 10 min prior to sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). However, the band was not detected in outer membrane proteins extracted at ≤40°C and without boiling prior to electrophoresis. By Western blot analysis using the polyclonal antibody against the recombinant FopA, FopA was detected as bands with apparent molecular masses of 30 and 90 kDa, suggesting that FopA existed as an oligomeric form in the outer membrane of A. ferrooxidans. Although the fopA gene with a sequence encoding the signal peptide was successfully expressed in the outer membrane of Escherichia coli, the recombinant FopA existed as a monomer in the outer membrane of E. coli. FopA was detected in peptidoglycan-associated proteins from A. ferrooxidans. The recombinant FopA also showed the peptidoglycan-binding activity.

Purification and characterization of sulfide:quinone oxidoreductase from an acidophilic iron-oxidizing bacterium, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans.

Sulfide:quinone oxidoreductase (SQR) was purified from membrane of acidophilic chemolithotrophic bacterium Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans NASF-1 cells grown on sulfur medium. It was composed of a single polypeptide with an apparent molecular mass of 47 kDa. The apparent K(m) values for sulfide and ubiquinone were 42 and 14 muM respectively. The apparent optimum pH for the SQR activity was about 7.0. A gene encoding a putative SQR of A. ferrooxidans NASF-1 was cloned and sequenced. The gene was expressed in Escherichia coli as a thioredoxin-fusion protein in inclusion bodies in an inactive form. A polyclonal antibody prepared against the recombinant protein reacted immunologically with the purified SQR. Western blotting analysis using the antibody revealed an increased level of SQR synthesis in sulfur-grown A. ferrooxidans NASF-1 cells, implying the involvement of SQR in elemental sulfur oxidation in sulfur-grown A. ferrooxidans NASF-1 cells.

Analysis of iron- and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria in a treatment plant of acid rock drainage from a Japanese pyrite mine by use of ribulose-1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase large-subunit gene.

Iron- and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria in a treatment plant of acid rock drainage (ARD) from a pyrite mine in Yanahara, Okayama prefecture, Japan, were analyzed using the gene (cbbL) encoding the large subunit of ribulose-1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RubisCO). Analyses of partial sequences of cbbL genes from Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans and Acidithiobacillus caldus strains revealed the diversity in their cbbL gene sequences. In contrast to the presence of two copies of form I cbbL genes (cbbL1 and cbbL2) in A. ferrooxidans genome, A. thiooxidans and A. caldus had a single copy of form I cbbL gene in their genomes. A phylogenetic analysis based on deduced amino acid sequences from cbbL genes detected in the ARD treatment plant and their close relatives revealed that 89% of the total clones were affiliated with A. ferrooxidans. Clones loosely affiliated with the cbbL from A. thiooxidans NB1-3 or Thiobacillus denitrificans was also detected in the treatment plant. cbbL gene sequences of iron- or sulfur-oxidizing bacteria isolated from the ARD and the ARD treatment plant were not detected in the cbbL libraries from the treatment plant, suggesting the low frequencies of isolates in the samples.

Involvement of sulfide:quinone oxidoreductase in sulfur oxidation of an acidophilic iron-oxidizing bacterium, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans NASF-1.

The effects of cyanide, azide, and 2-n-Heptyl-4-hydroxy-quinoline-N-oxide (HQNO) on the oxidation of ferrous ion or elemental sulfur with Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans NASF-1 cells grown in iron- or sulfur-medium were examined. The iron oxidation of both iron- and sulfur-grown cells was strongly inhibited by cyanide and azide, but not by HQNO. Sulfur oxidation was relatively resistant to cyanide and azide, and inhibited by HQNO. Higher sulfide oxidation, ubiquinol dehydrogenase activity, and sulfide:quinone oxidoreductase (SQR) activity were observed in sulfur-grown cells more than in iron-grown cells. Sulfide oxidation in the presence of ubiquinone with the membrane fraction was inhibited by HQNO, but not by cyanide, azide, antimycin A, and myxothiazol. The transcription of three genes, encoding an aa(3)-type cytochrome c oxidase (coxB), a bd-type ubiquinol oxidase (cydA), and an sqr, were measured by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. The transcriptional levels of coxB and cydA genes were similar in sulfur- and iron-grown cells, but that of sqr was 3-fold higher in sulfur-grown cells than in iron-grown cells. A model is proposed for the oxidation of reduced inorganic sulfur compounds in A. ferrooxidans NASF-1 cells.