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Journal of Bacteriology, July 2000, p. 3784-3793, Vol. 182, No. 13
0021-9193/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Genetic Investigation of the Catabolic Pathway for Degradation of Abietane Diterpenoids by Pseudomonas abietaniphila BKME-9

Vincent J. J. Martin and William W. Mohn^*

Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Pulp and Paper Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z3, Canada

Received 28 January 2000/Accepted 4 April 2000

We have cloned and sequenced the dit gene cluster encoding enzymes of the catabolic pathway for abietane diterpenoid degradation by Pseudomonas abietaniphila BKME-9. The dit gene cluster is located on a 16.7-kb DNA fragment containing 13 complete open reading frames (ORFs) and 1 partial ORF. The genes ditA1A2A3 encode the  and  subunits and the ferredoxin of the dioxygenase which hydroxylates 7-oxodehydroabietic acid to 7-oxo-11,12-dihydroxy-8,13-abietadien acid. The dioxygenase mutant strain BKME-941 (ditA1::Tn5) did not grow on nonaromatic abietanes, and transformed palustric and abietic acids to 7-oxodehydroabietic acid in cell suspension assays. Thus, nonaromatic abietanes are aromatized prior to further degradation. Catechol 2,3-dioxygenase activity of xylE transcriptional fusion strains showed induction of ditA1 and ditA3 by abietic, dehydroabietic, and 7-oxodehydroabietic acids, which support the growth of strain BKME-9, as well as by isopimaric and 12,14-dichlorodehydroabietic acids, which are diterpenoids that do not support the growth of strain BKME-9. In addition to the aromatic-ring-hydroxylating dioxygenase genes, the dit cluster includes ditC, encoding an extradiol ring cleavage dioxygenase, and ditR, encoding an IclR-type transcriptional regulator. Although ditR is not strictly required for the growth of strain BKME-9 on abietanes, a ditR::Km^r mutation in a ditA3::xylE reporter strain demonstrated that it encodes an inducer-dependent transcriptional activator of ditA3. An ORF with sequence similarity to genes encoding permeases (ditE) is linked with genes involved in abietane degradation.

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^* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, 300-6174 University Blvd., Vancouver, B.C., Canada, V6T 1Z3. Phone: (604) 822-4285. Fax: (604) 822-6041. E-mail: wmohn{at}interchange.ubc.ca.

Present address: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Calif.

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Journal of Bacteriology, July 2000, p. 3784-3793, Vol. 182, No. 13
0021-9193/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

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