title: Structural and regulatory genes required to make the gas dimethyl sulfide in bacteria.
abstract: Dimethyl sulfide (DMS) is a key compound in global sulfur and carbon cycles. DMS oxidation products cause cloud nucleation and may affect weather and climate. DMS is generated largely by bacterial catabolism of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), a secondary metabolite made by marine algae. We demonstrate that the bacterial gene dddD is required for this process and that its transcription is induced by the DMSP substrate. Cloned dddD from the marine bacterium Marinomonas and from two bacterial strains that associate with higher plants, the N(2)-fixing symbiont Rhizobium NGR234 and the root-colonizing Burkholderia cepacia AMMD, conferred to Escherichia coli the ability to make DMS from DMSP. The inferred enzymatic mechanism for DMS liberation involves an initial step in which DMSP is modified by addition of acyl coenzyme A, rather than the immediate release of DMS by a DMSP lyase, the previously suggested mechanism.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK.
authors.forename: Jonathan D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Todd
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: You Guo
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wexler
authors.forename: Philip L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Bond
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Andrew R J
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Curson
authors.forename: Gill
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Malin
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Steinke
authors.forename: Andrew W B
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Johnston
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D016956:Burkholderia cepacia / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D015256:Coenzyme A-Transferases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005809:Genes, Regulator; D053544:Marinomonas / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009876:Operon; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010641:Phenotype; D006109:Poaceae / Q000382:microbiology; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012231:Rhizobium / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D013440:Sulfides / Q000378:metabolism*; D013452:Sulfonium Compounds / Q000378:metabolism; D014169:Transformation, Bacterial
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D013440:Sulfides; D013452:Sulfonium Compounds; C068078:dimethylpropiothetin; D015256:Coenzyme A-Transferases; C004784:dimethyl sulfide