title: Genomic analysis of Pseudomonas putida: genes in a genome island are crucial for nicotine degradation.
abstract: Nicotine is an important chemical compound in nature that has been regarded as an environmental toxicant causing various preventable diseases. Several bacterial species are adapted to decompose this heterocyclic compound, including Pseudomonas and Arthrobacter. Pseudomonas putida S16 is a bacterium that degrades nicotine through the pyrrolidine pathway, similar to that present in animals. The corresponding late steps of the nicotine degradation pathway in P. putida S16 was first proposed and demonstrated to be from 2,5-dihydroxy-pyridine through the intermediates N-formylmaleamic acid, maleamic acid, maleic acid, and fumaric acid. Genomics of strain S16 revealed that genes located in the largest genome island play a major role in nicotine degradation and may originate from other strains, as suggested by the constructed phylogenetic tree and the results of comparative genomic analysis. The deletion of gene hpo showed that this gene is essential for nicotine degradation. This study defines the mechanism of nicotine degradation.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism & School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, PR China.
authors.forename: Hongzhi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Yuxiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Lijuan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Yiling
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Geng
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017931:DNA Primers; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D005810:Multigene Family; D009538:Nicotine / Q000378:metabolism*; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016958:Pseudomonas putida / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D009538:Nicotine