title: Ferrous iron oxidation by sulfur-oxidizing Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and analysis of the process at the levels of transcription and protein synthesis.
abstract: In contrast to iron-oxidizing Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, A. ferrooxidans from a stationary phase elemental sulfur-oxidizing culture exhibited a lag phase in pyrite oxidation, which is similar to its behaviour during ferrous iron oxidation. The ability of elemental sulfur-oxidizing A. ferrooxidans to immediately oxidize ferrous iron or pyrite without a lag phase was only observed in bacteria obtained from growing cultures with elemental sulfur. However, these cultures that shifted to ferrous iron oxidation showed a low rate of ferrous iron oxidation while no growth was observed. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis was used for a quantitative proteomic analysis of the adaptation process when bacteria were switched from elemental sulfur to ferrous iron. A comparison of total cell lysates revealed 39 proteins whose increase or decrease in abundance was related to this phenotypic switching. However, only a few proteins were closely related to iron and sulfur metabolism. Reverse-transcription quantitative PCR was used to further characterize the bacterial adaptation process. The expression profiles of selected genes primarily involved in the ferrous iron oxidation indicated that phenotypic switching is a complex process that includes the activation of genes encoding a membrane protein, maturation proteins, electron transport proteins and their regulators.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, 61137, Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jiri
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kucera
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bouchal
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lochman
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Potesil
authors.forename: Oldrich
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Janiczek
authors.forename: Zbynek
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zdrahal
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mandl
mesh_terms: D042763:Acidithiobacillus / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D015180:Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional; D005296:Ferrous Compounds / Q000378:metabolism*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways / Q000235:genetics*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D020543:Proteome / Q000032:analysis; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013440:Sulfides / Q000378:metabolism; D013455:Sulfur / Q000378:metabolism; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D005296:Ferrous Compounds; D020543:Proteome; D013440:Sulfides; C011342:pyrite; D013455:Sulfur; D007501:Iron