title: Deoxyribonucleoside kinases in two aquatic bacteria with high specificity for thymidine and deoxyadenosine.
abstract: Deoxyribonucleoside kinases (dNKs) are essential in the mammalian cell but their 'importance' in bacteria, especially aquatic ones, is less clear. We studied two aquatic bacteria, Gram-negative Flavobacterium psychrophilum JIP02/86 and Polaribacter sp. MED152, for their ability to salvage deoxyribonucleosides (dNs). Both had a Gram-positive-type thymidine kinase (TK1), which could phosphorylate thymidine, and one non-TK1 dNK, which could efficiently phosphorylate deoxyadenosine and slightly also deoxycytosine. Surprisingly, the four tested dNKs could not phosphorylate deoxyguanosine, and apparently, these two bacteria are missing this activity. When tens of available aquatic bacteria genomes were examined for the presence of dNKs, a majority had at least a TK1-like gene, but several lacked any dNKs. Apparently, among aquatic bacteria, the role of the dN salvage varies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden. tinta@mbss.org
authors.forename: Tinkara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tinta
authors.forename: Louise Slot
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Christiansen
authors.forename: Anke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Konrad
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Liberles
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Turk
authors.forename: Birgitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Munch-Petersen
authors.forename: Jure
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Piškur
authors.forename: Anders R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Clausen
mesh_terms: D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods; D003839:Deoxyadenosines / Q000378:metabolism*; D041965:Flavobacteriaceae / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D005417:Flavobacterium / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D007700:Kinetics; D017853:Phosphotransferases (Alcohol Group Acceptor) / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D010802:Phylogeny; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D013936:Thymidine / Q000378:metabolism*; D013937:Thymidine Kinase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014871:Water Microbiology
chemical_list: D003839:Deoxyadenosines; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D017853:Phosphotransferases (Alcohol Group Acceptor); C020018:deoxyribonucleoside kinases; D013937:Thymidine Kinase; D013936:Thymidine