Comparative Analysis of Three Trypanosomatid Catalases of Different Origin

Most trypanosomatid flagellates do not have catalase. In the evolution of this group, the gene encoding catalase has been independently acquired at least three times from three different bacterial groups. Here, we demonstrate that the catalase of Vickermania was obtained by horizontal gene transfer from Gammaproteobacteria, extending the list of known bacterial sources of this gene. Comparative biochemical analyses revealed that the enzymes of V. ingenoplastis, Leptomonas pyrrhocoris, and Blastocrithidia sp., representing the three independent catalase-bearing trypanosomatid lineages, have similar properties, except for the unique cyanide resistance in the catalase of the latter species.

Natural Stilbene Polyphenols as Yarrowia lipolytica Cell Cytoprotectors at Heat Stress

Using the extremophilic yeast of Yarrowia lipolytica, a new model has been proposed to study the protective properties of stilbene polyphenols, namely resveratrol and pinosylvin, under heat shock. It was shown that a short-term thermal exposure of yeast cells (55 C, 25 min) led to a 40% decrease in the colony-forming ability of the population, a fivefold decrease in the respiration rate, and a growth of cyanide resistance and catalase activity, which indicated the adaptive yeast response to heat stress. Under these conditions, natural biologically active stilbenes, resveratrol and pinosylvin, at a concentration of 10 μM each increased yeast survival by 28% and 13%, respectively. In heat shock, resveratrol additionally raised catalase activity, while pinosylvin increased the cell respiration rate and decreased cyanide resistance and catalase activity. The results obtained indicate that resveratrol acts as a mild pro-oxidant inducing antioxidant protection during the adaptive response of the yeast to heat shock. Unlike resveratrol, pinosylvin increases cell survival stabilizing mitochondrial function and preserving the ATP-generating component of respiration. Yarrowia lipolytica yeast, polyphenols, stilbenoids, resveratrol, pinosylvin, cellular respiratory activity, heat shock, superoxide dismutase, catalase

A Cyanide-Induced 3-Cyanoalanine Nitrilase in the Cyanide-Assimilating Bacterium Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes Strain CECT 5344

ABSTRACT Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes CECT 5344 is a bacterium able to assimilate cyanide as a sole nitrogen source. Under this growth condition, a 3-cyanoalanine nitrilase enzymatic activity was induced. This activity was encoded by nit4, one of the four nitrilase genes detected in the genome of this bacterium, and its expression in Escherichia coli enabled the recombinant strain to fully assimilate 3-cyanoalanine. P. pseudoalcaligenes CECT 5344 showed a weak growth level with 3-cyanoalanine as the N source, unless KCN was also added. Moreover, a nit4 knockout mutant of P. pseudoalcaligenes CECT 5344 became severely impaired in its ability to grow with 3-cyanoalanine and cyanide as nitrogen sources. The native enzyme expressed in E. coli was purified up to electrophoretic homogeneity and biochemically characterized. Nit4 seems to be specific for 3-cyanoalanine, and the amount of ammonium derived from the enzymatic activity doubled in the presence of exogenously added asparaginase activity, which demonstrated that the Nit4 enzyme had both 3-cyanoalanine nitrilase and hydratase activities. The nit4 gene is located downstream of the cyanide resistance transcriptional unit containing cio1 genes, whose expression levels are under the positive control of cyanide. Real-time PCR experiments revealed that nit4 expression was also positively regulated by cyanide in both minimal and LB media. These results suggest that this gene cluster including cio1 and nit4 could be involved both in cyanide resistance and in its assimilation by P. pseudoalcaligenes CECT 5344. IMPORTANCE Cyanide is a highly toxic molecule present in some industrial wastes due to its application in several manufacturing processes, such as gold mining and the electroplating industry. The biodegradation of cyanide from contaminated wastes could be an attractive alternative to physicochemical treatment. P. pseudoalcaligenes CECT 5344 is a bacterial strain able to assimilate cyanide under alkaline conditions, thus avoiding its volatilization as HCN. This paper describes and characterizes an enzyme (Nit4) induced by cyanide that is probably involved in cyanide assimilation. The biochemical characterization of Nit4 provides a segment for building a cyanide assimilation pathway in P. pseudoalcaligenes. This information could be useful for understanding, and hopefully improving, the mechanisms involved in bacterial cyanide biodegradation and its application in the treatment of cyanide-containing wastes.

Metabolic adaptation of Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes CECT5344 to cyanide: role of malate–quinone oxidoreductases, aconitase and fumarase isoenzymes

In general, the biodegradation of a toxic compound by a micro-organism requires the concurrence of, at least, two features in the biological system: first, the capability of the micro-organism to metabolize the toxic compound, and secondly, the capacity to resist its toxic effect. Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes CECT5344 is a bacterium used in the biodegradation of cyanide because it is capable to use it as a nitrogen source. The present review is mainly focused on the putative role of iron-containing enzymes of the tricarboxylic acid cycle in cyanide resistance by P. pseudoalcaligenes CECT5344.

Essential Role of Cytochrome bd-Related Oxidase in Cyanide Resistance of Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes CECT5344

ABSTRACT Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes CECT5344 grows in minimal medium containing cyanide as the sole nitrogen source. Under these conditions, an O2-dependent respiration highly resistant to cyanide was detected in cell extracts. The structural genes for the cyanide-resistant terminal oxidase, cioA and cioB, are clustered and encode the integral membrane proteins that correspond to subunits I and II of classical cytochrome bd, although the presence of heme d in the membrane could not be detected by difference spectra. The cio operon from P. pseudoalcaligenes presents a singular organization, starting upstream of cioAB by the coding sequence of a putative ferredoxin-dependent sulfite or nitrite reductase and spanning downstream two additional open reading frames that encode uncharacterized gene products. PCR amplifications of RNA (reverse transcription-PCR) indicated the cyanide-dependent up-regulation and cotranscription along the operon. The targeted disruption of cioA eliminates both the expression of the cyanide-stimulated respiratory activity and the growth with cyanide as the nitrogen source, which suggests a critical role of this cytochrome bd-related oxidase in the metabolism of cyanide by P. pseudoalcaligenes CECT5344.

Oxygen Reactivity of Both Respiratory Oxidases in Campylobacter jejuni: the cydAB Genes Encode a Cyanide-Resistant, Low-Affinity Oxidase That Is Not of the Cytochrome bd Type

ABSTRACT The microaerophilic bacterium Campylobacter jejuni is a significant food-borne pathogen and is predicted to possess two terminal respiratory oxidases with unknown properties. Inspection of the genome reveals an operon (cydAB) apparently encoding a cytochrome bd-like oxidase homologous to oxidases in Escherichia coli and Azotobacter vinelandii. However, C. jejuni cells lacked all spectral signals characteristic of the high-spin hemes b and d of these oxidases. Mutation of the cydAB operon of C. jejuni did not have a significant effect on growth, but the mutation reduced formate respiration and the viability of cells cultured in 5% oxygen. Since cyanide resistance of respiration was diminished in the mutant, we propose that C. jejuni CydAB be renamed CioAB (cyanide-insensitive oxidase), as in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We measured the oxygen affinity of each oxidase, using a highly sensitive assay that exploits globin deoxygenation during respiration-catalyzed oxygen uptake. The CioAB-type oxidase exhibited a relatively low affinity for oxygen (Km = 0.8 μM) and a V max of >20 nmol/mg/s. Expression of cioAB was elevated fivefold in cells grown at higher rates of oxygen provision. The alternative, ccoNOQP-encoded cyanide-sensitive oxidase, expected to encode a cytochrome cb′-type enzyme, plays a major role in the microaerobic respiration of C. jejuni, since it appeared to be essential for viability and exhibited a much higher oxygen affinity, with a Km value of 40 nM and a V max of 6 to 9 nmol/mg/s. Low-temperature photodissociation spectrophotometry revealed that neither oxidase has ligand-binding activity typical of the heme-copper oxidase family. These data are consistent with cytochrome oxidation during photolysis at low temperatures.

Alternative respiratory system and formamide hydro-lyase activity as the key components of the cyanide-resistance mechanism inFusarium oxysporum

A strain of Fusarium oxysporum, isolated from an industrial effluent containing a high cyanide concentration, detoxifies cyanide via formamide hydro-lyase (FHL). The importance of the coexistence of the alternative (cyanide insensitive) respiratory system and the synthesis of FHL was assessed. This enzyme, induced by cyanide, converts this compound to formamide and is partially responsible for the tolerance of F. oxysporum to high cyanide concentration. The FHL induction for cyanide detoxification depends on the alternative respiratory system when the terminal oxidase of the electron transport chain is blocked by cyanide used during the induction process. The respiratory metabolism of a F. oxysporum strain was studied. Whole cells exhibited a cyanide-sensitive respiration but developed a partially cyanide-resistant respiration under certain physiological conditions, namely, in the stationary phase of growth, in the presence of chloramphenicol in the growth medium, or upon aeration in the absence of nutrients (starvation conditions). Cycloheximide prevented the appearance of cyanide-insensitive respiration when the cells were aerated under starvation conditions. This fact suggested some form of induction involving de novo protein synthesis.Key words: cyanide tolerance, cyanide-resistant respiration, formamide hydro-lyase, Fusarium oxysporum.

A field study on the respiration rates in the leaves of temperate plants

The field respiration rates of leaves, in terms of total dark respiration, cytochrome (cyanide sensitive) pathway respiration, and alternative (salicylhydroxamic acid sensitive) pathway respiration, were measured in 10 temperate species. Five spring understory herbs and five ruderal species were used. All species displayed resistance to cyanide and sensitivity to salicylhydroxamic acid, indicating a capacity and some engagement of the alternative pathway. In comparison with reports on the field respiration rates of leaves in arctic and boreal species, the temperate plants had significantly less O2 uptake along both respiratory pathways. Rates of alternative pathway respiration in this study were comparable with those reported in the leaves of crop plants. In a comparison of respiration rates between the ruderal and understory species, the ruderal species had significantly greater activity along the alternative pathway. The ruderals also had a significantly greater capacity for the alternative pathway. It is proposed that the presence of the alternative pathway somehow allows physiological flexibility in the ruderals, and this in turn aids in their survival in fluctuating environments. Key words: alternative pathway, cyanide resistance, respiration, ruderal, understory.