@article{mbs:/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.28622-0, author = "Weinitschke, Sonja and Denger, Karin and Smits, Theo H. M. and Hollemeyer, Klaus and Cook, Alasdair M.", title = "The sulfonated osmolyte N-methyltaurine is dissimilated by Alcaligenes faecalis and by Paracoccus versutus with release of methylamine", journal= "Microbiology", year = "2006", volume = "152", number = "4", pages = "1179-1186", doi = "https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.28622-0", url = "https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.28622-0", publisher = "Microbiology Society", issn = "1465-2080", type = "Journal Article", keywords = "DCPIP, dichlorophenol indophenol", keywords = "MALDI-TOF-MS, matrix-assisted laser-desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry", abstract = "Selective enrichments yielded bacterial cultures able to utilize the osmolyte N-methyltaurine as sole source of carbon and energy or as sole source of fixed nitrogen for aerobic growth. Strain MT1, which degraded N-methyltaurine as a sole source of carbon concomitantly with growth, was identified as a strain of Alcaligenes faecalis. Stoichiometric amounts of methylamine, whose identity was confirmed by matrix-assisted, laser-desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, and of sulfate were released during growth. Inducible N-methyltaurine dehydrogenase, sulfoacetaldehyde acetyltransferase (Xsc) and a sulfite dehydrogenase could be detected. Taurine dehydrogenase was also present and it was hypothesized that taurine dehydrogenase has a substrate range that includes N-methyltaurine. Partial sequences of a tauY-like gene (encoding the putative large component of taurine dehydrogenase) and an xsc gene were obtained by PCR with degenerate primers. Strain N-MT utilized N-methyltaurine as a sole source of fixed nitrogen for growth and could also utilize the compound as sole source of carbon. This bacterium was identified as a strain of Paracoccus versutus. This organism also expressed inducible (N-methyl)taurine dehydrogenase, Xsc and a sulfite dehydrogenase. The presence of a gene cluster with high identity to a larger cluster from Paracoccus pantotrophus NKNCYSA, which is now known to dissimilate N-methyltaurine via Xsc, allowed most of the overall pathway, including transport and excretion, to be defined. N-Methyltaurine is thus another compound whose catabolism is channelled directly through sulfoacetaldehyde.", }