scholarly journals Metabolism of Thioamides by Ralstonia pickettii TA

2006 ◽  
Vol 72 (12) ◽  
pp. 7468-7476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony G. Dodge ◽  
Jack E. Richman ◽  
Gilbert Johnson ◽  
Lawrence P. Wackett

ABSTRACT Information on bacterial thioamide metabolism has focused on transformation of the antituberculosis drug ethionamide and related compounds by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. To study this metabolism more generally, a bacterium that grew using thioacetamide as the sole nitrogen source was isolated via enrichment culture. The bacterium was identified as Ralstonia pickettii and designated strain TA. Cells grown on thioacetamide also transformed other thioamide compounds. Transformation of the thioamides tested was dependent on oxygen. During thioamide degradation, sulfur was detected in the medium at the oxidation level of sulfite, further suggesting an oxygenase mechanism. R. pickettii TA did not grow on thiobenzamide as a nitrogen source, but resting cells converted thiobenzamide to benzamide, with thiobenzamide S-oxide and benzonitrile detected as intermediates. Thioacetamide S-oxide was detected as an intermediate during thioacetamide degradation, but the only accumulating metabolite of thioacetamide was identified as 3,5-dimethyl-1,2,4-thiadiazole, a compound shown to derive from spontaneous reaction of thioacetamide and oxygenated thioacetamide species. This dead-end metabolite accounted for only ca. 12% of the metabolized thioacetamide. Neither acetonitrile nor acetamide was detected during thioacetamide degradation, but R. pickettii grew on both compounds as nitrogen and carbon sources. It is proposed that R. pickettii TA degrades thioamides via a mechanism involving consecutive oxygenations of the thioamide sulfur atom.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuxiang Zhao ◽  
Jiajie Hu ◽  
Weiling Yang ◽  
Jiaqi Wang ◽  
Zhongjun Jia ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The discovery of complete ammonia oxidizer (comammox) was groundbreaking. Comammox can use ammonia as the sole nitrogen source and turn it to nitrate. Moreover, genomic data indicated that comammox contained genes which can metabolize urea and nitrite. However, the feasibility of enriching comammox with urea and nitrite in long term has not been proved. This study enriched comammox’s culture by using nitrite in reactor SA and urea in reactor SB. Results The nitrification rate of reactor SB (1.29 mg N·g -1 biofilm · d -1 ) was higher than that in reactor SA (0.6 mg N · g -1 biofilm · d -1 ) at the 390 th day. Comammox outnumbered ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) in both reactor SA (9.04 × 10 9 copies / g biofilm) and reactor SB (5.34×10 10 copies/ g biofilm). In reactor SA, comammox’s amoA accounted for 92% of the total amoA, which was higher than that in reactor SB (85%). However, the percentage of comammox (4%) in total bacteria was much lower than reactor SB (14%). The results of metagenomic sequencing showed that all the pathways of nitrogen cycle including nitrification, nitrogen fixation, denitrification, assimilation nitrate reduction, and dissimilation nitrate reduction can be detected in both reactor SA and reactor SB except the anammox pathway. The genes related to nitrite oxidation and nitrate reduction in reactor SA (TPM = 5099; TPM = 3329) was higher than that of in reactor SB (TPM = 4071; TPM = 2984), presumably due to the demand of turning nitrite to nitrate and turning nitrate to ammonia. While genes related to ammonia oxidation and urea metabolism in reactor SB (TPM = 3915; TPM = 3638) was higher than that in reactor SA (TPM = 2708; TPM = 3002). Conclusion Nitrite and urea can regulate the enrichment culture of comammox by converting its metabolic pathway. Using nitrite as sole nitrogen source can improve the proportion comammox’s amoA in total amoA while using urea as the sole nitrogen source may increase comammox’s proportion in total bacteria. These results can accelerate the enrichment of comammox and facilitate the promotion of comammox’s engineering operation.


Author(s):  
Lambros J. Tassoulas ◽  
Ashley Robinson ◽  
Betsy Martinez-Vaz ◽  
Kelly G. Aukema ◽  
Lawrence P. Wackett

The widely prescribed pharmaceutical metformin and its main metabolite guanylurea are currently two of the most common contaminants in surface and wastewater. Guanylurea often accumulates and is poorly, if at all, biodegraded in wastewater treatment plants. This study describes Pseudomonas mendocina strain GU isolated from a municipal wastewater treatment plant using guanylurea as its sole nitrogen source. The genome was sequenced with 36-fold coverage and mined to identify guanylurea degradation genes. The gene encoding the enzyme initiating guanylurea metabolism was expressed, the enzyme purified and characterized. Guanylurea hydrolase, a newly described enzyme, was shown to transform guanylurea to one equivalent of ammonia and guanidine. Guanidine also supports growth as a sole nitrogen source. Cell yields from growth on limiting concentrations of guanylurea revealed that metabolism releases all four nitrogen atoms. Genes encoding complete metabolic transformation were identified bioinformatically, defining the pathway as follows: guanylurea to guanidine to carboxyguanidine to allophanate to ammonia and carbon dioxide. The first enzyme, guanylurea hydrolase, is a member of the isochorismatase-like hydrolase protein family that includes biuret hydrolase and triuret hydrolase. Although homologs, the three enzymes show distinct substrate specificities. Pairwise sequence comparisons and the use of sequence similarity networks allowed fine structure discrimination between the three homologous enzymes and provided insights into the evolutionary origins of guanylurea hydrolase. IMPORTANCE Metformin is a pharmaceutical most prescribed for type 2 diabetes and is now being examined for potential benefits to COVID-19 patients. People taking the drug pass it largely unchanged and it subsequently enters wastewater treatment plants. Metformin has been known to be metabolized to guanylurea. The levels of guanylurea often exceed that of metformin, leading to the former being considered a “dead end” metabolite. Metformin and guanylurea are water pollutants of emerging concern as they persist to reach non-target aquatic life and humans, the latter if it remains in treated water. The present study has identified a Pseudomonas mendocina strain that completely degrades guanylurea. The genome was sequenced and the genes involved in guanylurea metabolism were identified in three widely separated genomic regions. This knowledge advances the idea that guanylurea is not a dead end product and will allow for bioinformatic identification of the relevant genes in wastewater treatment plant microbiomes and other environments subjected to metagenomic sequencing.


1953 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. C. Blackwood

One hundred and fourteen bacterial cultures representing most of the species in the Bacillus genus were tested for the production of extracellular barley gum cytase. Assays were made on shake-flask cultures grown on a medium containing glucose and yeast extract. Although all the organisms had some enzymatic activity, certain strains of Bacillus subtilis gave the best yields of cytase. On a medium with asparagine as the sole nitrogen source even higher yields were obtained. The crude cytase preparations were stable and after freeze-drying most of the original activity remained.


1975 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 301 ◽  
Author(s):  
MJ Hynes

Mutants of Apergillus nidulanswith lesions in a gene, areA (formerly called amdT), have been isolated by a variety of different selection methods. The areA mutants show a range of pleiotropic growth responses to a number of compounds as sole nitrogen sources, but are normal in utilization of carbon sources. The levels of two amidase enzymes as well as urease have been investigated in the mutants and have been shown to be affected by this gene. Most of the areA mutants have much lower amidase-specific activities when grown in ammonium-containing medium, compared with mycelium incubated in medium la9king a nitrogen source. Some of the areA. mutants do not show derepression of urease upon relief of ammonium repression. The dominance relationships of areA alleles have been investigated in� heterozygous diploids, and these studies lend support to the proposal that areA codes for a positively acting regulatory product. One of the new areA alleles is partially dominant to areA + and areA102. This may be a result of negative complementation or indicate that areA has an additional negative reiuIatory function. Investigation.of various amdR; areA double mutants has led to the conclusion that amdR and areA participate in independent regulatory circuits in the control of acetamide utilizatiol1. Studies on an amdRc; areA.double mutant indicate that areA is involved in derepression of acetamidase upon relief of ammo.nium repression.


2010 ◽  
Vol 76 (12) ◽  
pp. 4102-4104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yin Chen ◽  
Kathryn L. McAleer ◽  
J. Colin Murrell

ABSTRACT Monomethylamine can be used by nonmethylotrophs as a sole nitrogen source but not as a carbon source; however, little is known about the genes and enzymes involved. The γ-glutamylmethylamide/N-methylglutamate pathway for monomethylamine utilization by methylotrophs has recently been resolved. We have identified genes encoding key enzymes of this pathway in nonmethylotrophs (e.g., Agrobacterium tumefaciens) and demonstrated that this pathway is also involved in the utilization of monomethylamine as a nitrogen source by nonmethylotrophs.


1975 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meryl Polkinghorne ◽  
M. J. Hynes

SUMMARYWild-type strains ofAspergillus nidulansgrow poorly onL-histidine as a sole nitrogen source. The synthesis of the enzyme histidase (EC. 4.3.1.3) appears to be a limiting factor in the growth of the wild type, as strains carrying the mutantareA102 allele have elevated histidase levels and grow strongly on histidine as a sole nitrogen source.L-Histidine is an extremely weak sole carbon source for all strains.Ammonium repression has an important role in the regulation of histidase synthesis and the relief of ammonium repression is dependent on the availability of a good carbon source. The level of histidase synthesis does not respond to the addition of exogenous substrate.Mutants carrying lesions in thesarA orsarB loci (suppressor ofareA102) have been isolated. The growth properties of these mutants on histidine as a sole nitrogen source correlate with the levels of histidase synthesized. Mutation at thesarA andsarB loci also reduces the utilization of a number of other nitrogen sources. The data suggest that these two genes may code for regulatory products involved in nitrogen catabolism. No histidase structural gene mutants were identified and possible explanations of this are discussed.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiyi Ou ◽  
Jing Zhang ◽  
Yong Wang ◽  
Ning Zhang

A mixture of wheat bran with maize bran as a carbon source and addition of (NH4)SO4 as nitrogen source was found to significantly increase production of feruloyl esterase (FAE) enzyme compared with wheat bran as a sole carbon and nitrogen source. The optimal conditions in conical flasks were carbon source (30 g) to water 1 : 1, maize bran to wheat bran 1 : 2, (NH4)SO4 1.2 g and MgSO4 70 mg. Under these conditions, FAE activity was 7.68 mU/g. The FAE activity on the mixed carbon sources showed, high activity against the plant cell walls contained in the cultures.


1994 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Dzikowska ◽  
J P Le Caer ◽  
P Jonczyk ◽  
P Wëgleński

Arginase (EC 3.5.3.1) of Aspergillus nidulans, the enzyme which enables the fungus to use arginine as the sole nitrogen source was purified to homogeneity. Molecular mass of the purified arginase subunit is 40 kDa and is similar to that reported for the Neurospora crassa (38.3 kDa) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (39 kDa) enzymes. The native molecular mass of arginase is 125 kDa. The subunit/native molecular mass ratio suggests a trimeric form of the protein. The arginase protein was cleaved and partially sequenced. Two out of the six polypeptides sequenced show a high degree of homology to conserved domains in arginases from other species.


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