title: A novel acyl-CoA beta-transaminase characterized from a metagenome.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bacteria are key components in all ecosystems. However, our knowledge of bacterial metabolism is based solely on the study of cultivated organisms which represent just a tiny fraction of microbial diversity. To access new enzymatic reactions and new or alternative pathways, we investigated bacterial metabolism through analyses of uncultivated bacterial consortia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We applied the gene context approach to assembled sequences of the metagenome of the anaerobic digester of a municipal wastewater treatment plant, and identified a new gene which may participate in an alternative pathway of lysine fermentation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We characterized a novel, unique aminotransferase that acts exclusively on Coenzyme A (CoA) esters, and proposed a variant route for lysine fermentation. Results suggest that most of the lysine fermenting organisms use this new pathway in the digester. Its presence in organisms representative of two distinct bacterial divisions indicate that it may also be present in other organisms.
authors.affiliation: Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives, Institut de Génomique, Genoscope, Evry, France. aperret@genoscope.cns.fr
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Perret
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lechaplais
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tricot
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Perchat
authors.forename: Carine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vergne
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pellé
authors.forename: Karine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bastard
authors.forename: Annett
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kreimeyer
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vallenet
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zaparucha
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Weissenbach
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salanoubat
mesh_terms: D000693:Anaerobiosis; D003065:Coenzyme A / Q000378:metabolism; D005285:Fermentation; D008239:Lysine / Q000378:metabolism; D054892:Metagenome; D015394:Molecular Structure; D015398:Signal Transduction; D000637:Transaminases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000637:Transaminases; D008239:Lysine; D003065:Coenzyme A