title: A novel bacterial Water Hypersensitivity-like protein shows in vivo protection against cold and freeze damage.
abstract: Metagenomic library screening, by functional or sequence analysis, has become an established method for the identification of novel genes and gene products, including genetic elements implicated in microbial stress response and adaptation. We have identified, using a sequence-based approach, a fosmid clone from an Antarctic desert soil metagenome library containing a novel gene which codes for a protein homologous to a Water Hypersensitivity domain (WHy). The WHy domain is typically found as a component of specific LEA (Late Embryogenesis Abundant) proteins, particularly the LEA-14 (LEA-8) variants, which occur widely in plants, nematodes, bacteria and archaea and which are typically induced by exposure to stress conditions. The novel WHy-like protein (165 amino acid, 18.6 kDa) exhibits a largely invariant NPN motif at the N-terminus and has high sequence identity to genes identified in Pseudomonas genomes. Expression of this protein in Escherichia coli significantly protected the recombinant host against cold and freeze stress.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics, Department of Biotechnology, University of the Western Cape, Bellville 7535, Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, Department of Genetics, University of Pretoria, Hatfield 0028, Pretoria, South Africa eloy.ferreras@up.ac.za.
authors.forename: Eloy
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ferreras
authors.affiliation: Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics, Department of Biotechnology, University of the Western Cape, Bellville 7535, Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: Marla
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trindade
authors.affiliation: Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics, Department of Biotechnology, University of the Western Cape, Bellville 7535, Cape Town, South Africa Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, Department of Genetics, University of Pretoria, Hatfield 0028, Pretoria, South Africa.
authors.forename: Don
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cowan
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000864:Antarctic Regions; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D019295:Computational Biology; D003890:Desiccation; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D005615:Freezing; D015723:Gene Library; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D054892:Metagenome; D010802:Phylogeny; D011549:Pseudomonas / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012987:Soil; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D012987:Soil; D014867:Water
keywords: Antarctic soil; Water Hypersensitivity protein; desiccation tolerance; freeze-thaw; functional metagenomics; late embryogenesis abundant protein