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Volume 149, Issue 4

A CysB-regulated and σ-dependent regulator, SfnR, is essential for dimethyl sulfone metabolism of strain DS1 Free

Abstract

strain DS1 utilizes dimethyl sulfide (DMS) as a sulfur source, and desulfurizes it via dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), dimethyl sulfone (DMSO) and methanesulfonate (MSA). Its Tn mutant, Dfi74J, no longer utilized DMS, DMSO and DMSO, but could oxidize DMS to DMSO, suggesting that the conversion of DMSO to MSA was interrupted in the mutant. Sequencing of the Tn flanking region of Dfi74J demonstrated that a gene, (designated for dimethyl uloe utilization), encoding a transcriptional regulator containing an ATP-dependent σ-association domain and a DNA-binding domain, was disrupted. is part of an operon with two other genes, and , located immediately upstream of and in the same orientation. The genes encode NADH-dependent FMN reductase (SfnE) and FMNH-dependent monooxygenase (SfnC). Complementation of Dfi74J with an -expressing plasmid led to restoration of its growth on DMS, DMSO and DMSO. An -defective mutant of strain DS1, which lacks the factor, grew on MSA, but not on DMS, DMSO and DMSO, indicating that SfnR controls expression of gene(s) involved in DMSO metabolism by interaction with -RNA polymerase. Northern hybridization and a reporter gene assay with an – transcriptional fusion elucidated that expression of the operon was induced under sulfate limitation and was dependent on a LysR-type transcriptional regulator, CysB. This is believed to be the first report that a -dependent transcriptional regulator induced under sulfate limitation is involved in sulfur assimilation.

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Keyword(s): DMS, dimethyl sulfide , DMSO, dimethyl sulfoxide , DMSO2, dimethyl sulfone , MSA, methanesulfonate , SF-M9, sulfur-free M9 , SFMM, sulfur-free mineral medium , SSI, sulfate-starvation-induced and SSR, sulfate starvation response
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2003-04-01
2025-05-20
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A CysB-regulated and σ54-dependent regulator, SfnR, is essential for dimethyl sulfone metabolism of Pseudomonas putida strain DS1
Microbiology 149, 991 (2003); https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.26031-0
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.26031-0
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