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Journal of Bacteriology, June 1999, p. 3837-3841, Vol. 181, No. 12
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Biochemical and Molecular Characterization of the Bacillus subtilis Acetoin Catabolic Pathway

Min Huang, Fred Bernd Oppermann-Sanio, and Alexander Steinbüchel*

Institut für Mikrobiologie der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster, D-48149 Münster, Germany

Received 2 October 1998/Accepted 5 April 1999

A recent study indicated that Bacillus subtilis catabolizes acetoin by enzymes encoded by the acu gene cluster (F. J. Grundy, D. A. Waters, T. Y. Takova, and T. M. Henkin, Mol. Microbiol. 10:259-271, 1993) that are completely different from those in the multicomponent acetoin dehydrogenase enzyme system (AoDH ES) encoded by aco gene clusters found before in all other bacteria capable of utilizing acetoin as the sole carbon source for growth. By hybridization with a DNA probe covering acoA and acoB of the AoDH ES from Clostridium magnum, genomic fragments from B. subtilis harboring acoA, acoB, acoC, acoL, and acoR homologous genes were identified, and some of them were functionally expressed in E. coli. Furthermore, acoA was inactivated in B. subtilis by disruptive mutagenesis; these mutants were impaired to express PPi-dependent AoDH E1 activity to remove acetoin from the medium and to grow with acetoin as the carbon source. Therefore, acetoin is catabolized in B. subtilis by the same mechanism as all other bacteria investigated so far, leaving the function of the previously described acu genes obscure.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institut für Mikrobiologie der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Corrensstraße 3, Germany. Phone: 49-251-8339821. Fax: 49-251-8338388. E-mail: steinbu{at}uni-muenster.de.

Journal of Bacteriology, June 1999, p. 3837-3841, Vol. 181, No. 12
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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