Identification of rcnA (yohM), a nickel and cobalt resistance gene in Escherichia coli.
We report here on the isolation and primary characterization of the yohM gene of Escherichia coli. We show that yohM encodes a membrane-bound polypeptide conferring increased nickel and cobalt resistance in E. coli. yohM was specifically induced by nickel or cobalt but not by cadmium, zinc, or copper. Mutation of yohM increased the accumulation of nickel inside the cell, whereas cells harboring yohM in multicopy displayed reduced intracellular nickel content. Our data support the hypothesis that YohM is the first described efflux system for nickel and cobalt in E. coli. We propose rcnA (resistance to cobalt and nickel) as the new denomination of yohM.
Rodrigue
Agnès
A
Unité de Microbiologie et Génétique, Unité Mixte de Recherche 5122, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut National des Sciences, Applquée de Lyon I, Villeurbanne, France. agnes.rodrigue@insa-lyon.fr
Effantin
Géraldine
G
Mandrand-Berthelot
Marie-Andrée
MA
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001692:Biological Transport; D003035:Cobalt / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial / Q000502:physiology*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009532:Nickel / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C501738:RcnA protein, E coli; D003035:Cobalt; D009532:Nickel