Characterization and mutagenesis of sulfur-regulated genes in a cyanobacterium: evidence for function in sulfate transport.
A sulfur-regulated gene (cysA) that encodes the membrane-associated ATP-binding protein of the sulfate transport system of the cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. strain PCC 7942 was recently isolated and sequenced. Adjacent to cysA and transcribed in the opposite direction is a gene encoding the sulfate-binding protein (sbpA). Two other genes, cysT and cysW, encode proteins that may form a channel for the transport of sulfate across the cytoplasmic membrane. A fourth gene, cysR, located between cysT, and cysW, encodes a polypeptide that has some homology to a family of prokaryotic regulatory proteins. Mutant strains in which cysA, cysT, or cysW was interrupted by a drug resistance marker were not viable when grown with sulfate as the sole sulfur source and exhibited essentially no sulfate uptake. In contrast, sbpA and cysR mutants grew on sulfate, although they did not exhibit the 20-fold increase in the Vmax (concentration of sulfate at half-maximal transport rate) for sulfate transport characteristic of wild-type cells grown under sulfur-limiting conditions. Three of the sulfur-regulated genes in Synechococcus sp. strain PCC 7942 are similar to genes encoded by the chloroplast genome of the primitive plant Marchantia polymorpha. These data suggest that a sulfate transport system similar to that of Synechococcus sp. strain PCC 7942 may exist in the chloroplast envelope of photosynthetic eukaryotes.
Laudenbach
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DE
Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Stanford, California 94305.
Grossman
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AR
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D027321:Anion Transport Proteins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001483:Base Sequence; D001692:Biological Transport; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000235:genetics*; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D016366:Open Reading Frames / Q000235:genetics; D033902:Periplasmic Binding Proteins; D012313:RNA / Q000032:analysis; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013431:Sulfates / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D027321:Anion Transport Proteins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D033902:Periplasmic Binding Proteins; D013431:Sulfates; C044773:sulfate-binding protein, bacteria; D012313:RNA; D004247:DNA; C022702:sulfate permease