title: Demonstration and characterization of manganese superoxide dismutase of Providencia alcalifaciens.
abstract: Superoxide dismutases convert superoxide anions to molecular oxygen and hydrogen peroxide. These enzymes constitute one of the major defense mechanisms of cells against oxidative stress and play a role in the pathogenesis of certain invasive bacteria. In this study, we reported for the first time here that Providencia alcalifaciens, a member of the family Enterobacteriaceae, produces a superoxide dismutase (SOD) as a major protein in culture supernatants. This protein was purified by a series of column chromatographic separations. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of the protein was determined to be highly homologous to manganese superoxide dismutase of Escherichia coli or Salmonella reported. The gene (sodA) encoding for SOD of P. alcalifaciens was cloned and sequenced. The sodA-encoded protein has a molecular weight of about 23.5 kDa, and the DNA sequence of P. alcalifaciens sodA gene (627 bp) has about 83% identity to the E. coli SOD gene. We constructed a sodA deletion mutant and its complemented strain of P. alcalifaciens. In J774, a macrophage cell line, the sodA deletion mutant was more susceptible to killing by macrophages than the wildtype strain and its complemented strain. When we injected the mutant strain, its complemented strain and wildtype strain intraperitoneally into DDY strain mice, we found that the sodA deletion mutant proved significantly less virulent while the complemented strain recovered the virulence to the same level of wildtype strain of P. alcalifaciens. These results suggested that manganese superoxide dismutase plays an important role in intracellular survival of P. alcalifaciens.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bacterial Infections, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
authors.forename: Xiuhao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kodama
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iida
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Honda
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004756:Enterobacteriaceae Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000401:mortality; D017353:Gene Deletion; D006801:Humans; D008264:Macrophages; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011532:Providencia / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000472:pathogenicity; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase