Bacillus pumilus reveals a remarkably high resistance to hydrogen peroxide provoked oxidative stress.
Bacillus pumilus is characterized by a higher oxidative stress resistance than other comparable industrially relevant Bacilli such as B. subtilis or B. licheniformis. In this study the response of B. pumilus to oxidative stress was investigated during a treatment with high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide at the proteome, transcriptome and metabolome level. Genes/proteins belonging to regulons, which are known to have important functions in the oxidative stress response of other organisms, were found to be upregulated, such as the Fur, Spx, SOS or CtsR regulon. Strikingly, parts of the fundamental PerR regulon responding to peroxide stress in B. subtilis are not encoded in the B. pumilus genome. Thus, B. pumilus misses the catalase KatA, the DNA-protection protein MrgA or the alkyl hydroperoxide reductase AhpCF. Data of this study suggests that the catalase KatX2 takes over the function of the missing KatA in the oxidative stress response of B. pumilus. The genome-wide expression analysis revealed an induction of bacillithiol (Cys-GlcN-malate, BSH) relevant genes. An analysis of the intracellular metabolites detected high intracellular levels of this protective metabolite, which indicates the importance of bacillithiol in the peroxide stress resistance of B. pumilus.
Institute for Microbiology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Stefan
S
Handtke
Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Institute of Pharmacy, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Rebecca
R
Schroeter
Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Institute of Pharmacy, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Britta
B
Jürgen
Institute of Biochemistry, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Karen
K
Methling
Institute for Microbiology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Rabea
R
Schlüter
Institute for Microbiology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Dirk
D
Albrecht
Centre for Molecular and Biomolecular Informatics (CMBI), Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; and Division Processing and Safety, NIZO Food Research B.V., Ede, The Netherlands.
Sacha A F T
SA
van Hijum
Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Aachen University of Applied Sciences, Jülich, Germany.
Johannes
J
Bongaerts
AB Enzymes GmbH, Darmstadt, Germany.
Karl-Heinz
KH
Maurer
Institute of Biochemistry, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Michael
M
Lalk
Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Institute of Pharmacy, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany ; Institute of Marine Biotechnology, Greifswald, Germany.
Thomas
T
Schweder
Institute for Microbiology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany ; Institute of Marine Biotechnology, Greifswald, Germany.
Michael
M
Hecker
Institute for Microbiology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany ; Institute of Marine Biotechnology, Greifswald, Germany.
Birgit
B
Voigt
D001407:Bacillus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial / Q000187:drug effects*; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D018085:Regulon / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide