Comparative Genomics And Functional Analysis Of Rhamnose Catabolic Pathways And Regulons In Bacteria
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-23-2013
Publication Source
Frontiers in Microbiology
Volume Number
4
Publisher
Frontiers Research Foundation
ISSN
1664-302X
Abstract
L-rhamnose (Rha) is a deoxy-hexose sugar commonly found in nature. L-Rha catabolic pathways were previously characterized in various bacteria including Escherichia coli. Nevertheless, homology searches failed to recognize all the genes for the complete L Rha utilization pathways in diverse microbial species involved in biomass decomposition. Moreover, the regulatory mechanisms of L-Rha catabolism have remained unclear in most species. A comparative genomics approach was used to reconstruct the L-Rha catabolic pathways and transcriptional regulons in the phyla Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Thermotogae. The reconstructed pathways include multiple novel enzymes and transporters involved in the utilization of L-Rha and L-Rha-containing polymers. Large-scale regulon inference using bioinformatics revealed remarkable variations in transcriptional regulators for L-Rha utilization genes among bacteria. A novel bifunctional enzyme, L-rhamnulose-phosphate aldolase (RhaE) fused to L-lactaldehyde dehydrogenase (RhaW), which is not homologous to previously characterized L-Rha catabolic enzymes, was identified in diverse bacteria including Chloroflexi, Bacilli, and Alphaproteobacteria. By using in vitro biochemical assays we validated both enzymatic activities of the purified recombinant RhaEW proteins from Chloroflexus aurantiacus and Bacillus subtilis. Another novel enzyme of the L-Rha catabolism, L-lactaldehyde reductase (RhaZ), was identified in Gammaproteobacteria and experimentally validated by in vitro enzymatic assays using the recombinant protein from Salmonella typhimurium. C. aurantiacus induced transcription of the predicted L-Rha utilization genes when L-Rha was present in the growth medium and consumed L-Rha from the medium. This study provided comprehensive insights to L-Rha catabolism and its regulation in diverse Bacteria.
Keywords
L-rhamnose Catabolism, Metabolic Reconstruction, Regulon, Comparative Genomics, Chloroflexus, Transcriptional Regulatory Network, Leguminosarum Bv Trifolii, Spring Microbial Mats, Escherichia-coli, Salmonella-typhimurium, Thermotoga-maritima, Rhizobium-leguminosarum, Bacillus-subtilis, L-fucose, L-rhamnulose-1-phosphate Aldolase
Recommended Citation
Rodionova IA, Li X, Thiel V, Stolyar S, Stanton K, Fredrickson JK, Bryant DA, Osterman AL, Best AA and Rodionov DA (2013) Comparative genomics and functional analysis of rhamnose catabolic pathways and regulons in bacteria. Front. Microbiol. 4:407. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2013.00407
Comments
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Copyright © 2013 Rodionova, Li, Thiel, Stolyar, Stanton, Fredrickson, Bryant, Osterman, Best and Rodionov. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.