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Journal of Bacteriology, January 2000, p. 67-75, Vol. 182, No. 1
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology,
Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226
Received 12 July 1999/Accepted 7 October 1999
Shewanella putrefaciens MR-1 possesses a complex
electron transport system which facilitates its ability to use a
diverse array of compounds as terminal electron acceptors for anaerobic respiration. A previous report described a mutant strain (CMTn-1) deficient in CymA, a tetraheme cytochrome c. However, the
interpretation of the electron transport role of CymA was complicated
by the fact that CMTn-1 was also markedly deficient in menaquinones. This report demonstrates that the depressed menaquinone levels were the
result of the rifampin resistance phenotype of the parent of CMTn-1 and
not the interruption of the cymA gene. This is the first
report of rifampin resistance leading to decreased menaquinone levels,
indicating that rifampin-resistant strains should be used with caution
when analyzing electron transport processes. A site-directed gene
replacement approach was used to isolate a cymA knockout strain (MR1-CYMA) directly from MR-1. While MR1-CYMA retained menaquinone levels comparable to those of MR-1, it lost the ability to
reduce iron(III), manganese(IV), and nitrate and to grow by using fumarate as an electron acceptor. All of these functions were
restored to wild-type efficacy, and the presence of the
cymA transcript and CymA protein was also restored, by
complementation of MR1-CYMA with the cymA gene. The
requirement for CymA in anaerobic electron transport to
iron(III), fumarate, nitrate, and manganese(IV) is therefore not
dependent on the levels of menaquinone in these cells. This
represents the first successful use of a suicide vector for directed
gene replacement in MR-1.
0021-9193/0/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Role of the Tetraheme Cytochrome CymA in Anaerobic Electron
Transport in Cells of Shewanella putrefaciens MR-1 with
Normal Levels of Menaquinone
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Dept. of
Pharmacology and Toxicology, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank Road, Milwaukee, WI 53226. Phone: (414) 456-8593. Fax:
(414) 456-6545. E-mail: cmyers{at}mcw.edu.
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