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Journal of Bacteriology, February 2006, p. 1199-1204, Vol. 188, No. 3
0021-9193/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JB.188.3.1199-1204.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Center for Microbial Ecology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824,1 Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland 20814,2 National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20894,3 Environmental Science Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831,4 Department of Plant Pathology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 488245
Received 9 July 2005/ Accepted 15 November 2005
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Generally, the cytotoxic and mutagenic effects induced by IR are thought to be the result of DNA damage caused during the course of irradiation, which includes single-strand breaks (SSB), double-strand breaks (DSB), base modification, abasic sites, and sugar modification (11, 27). The amounts of DNA damage caused by given doses of IR for different bacteria are very similar, although the range of IR resistance levels is large. The dissimilatory metal ion-reducing Shewanella oneidensis strain MR-1 is extremely sensitive to IR: e.g., 90% of MR-1 cells are killed by less than one DSB in the genome (4). S. oneidensis is also one of the most UV- and desiccation-sensitive organisms reported (4, 22). The IR resistance of MR-1 is about 20 times less than that of Escherichia coli and about 200 times less than that of Deinococcus radiodurans (4). It is unclear why S. oneidensis MR-1 is exceptionally sensitive to radiation.
Since more than 80% of IR energy deposited in cells results in the ejection of electrons from water, a large amount of ROS is produced in cells exposed to IR (8, 25). Although both H2O2 and O2· are relatively stable, HO· are extremely toxic to cells due to their very high reactivity (25). In cells, it appears that proteins are the first major class of molecules damaged by IR-induced ROS (6, 21). ROS can also be generated during cell metabolism when electrons leak from the substrate side of the respiratory chain (14, 26). The autoxidation of flavoenzymes yields a mixture of O2· and H2O2 (20). Several [4Fe-4S] cluster-containing proteins have been reported to be exceptionally sensitive to these ROS. For example, the dehydratase aconitase (AcnB) contains a [4Fe-4S] cluster that is readily oxidized by O2· in vivo, resulting in enzyme deactivation and the release of bound ferrous iron [Fe(II)] (14). Subsequent oxidation of Fe(II) by H2O2 (Fenton reaction) generates HO·, which attacks all biomolecules (6, 16, 27). Recently, an association between intracellular Mn/Fe concentration ratios and bacterial IR resistance was reported, where very high and very low Mn/Fe ratios correlated with very high and very low levels of resistance, respectively (4). The high Mn content of radiation-resistant bacteria might protect cells from ROS (4, 10). For example, intracellular Mn engaged in Mn(II,III) redox cycling is potentially a powerful scavenger of H2O2 and O2· (1). In contrast, high intracellular Fe may cause a proliferation of ROS during recovery and promote the production of highly toxic HO· by Fenton-type chemistry (14, 28). Thus, Fe-rich, Mn-poor bacteria such as Shewanella spp. might be predisposed to oxidative stress produced both during and after irradiation (4, 10, 14).
Comparative genomic analyses support the view that S. oneidensis encodes a complex set of DNA repair and protection functions, which have functional homologs in radiation-resistant prokaryotic species (4, 10). A systematic genome-wide examination of the genes and pathways involved in recovery would be useful for a further understanding of how radiation affects S. oneidensis MR-1. Here we report the analysis of genomic expression within S. oneidensis MR-1 cells recovering from 40 Gy IR using a whole-genome DNA microarray. We find that the hallmark components of S. oneidensis recovery from IR encompass responses observed in other organisms, including induction of the error-prone DNA repair (SOS) response, genes for homologous recombination, and uncharacterized genes. Unlike the response of D. radiodurans to IR (18), irradiated S. oneidensis did not suppress tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA) activity and strongly induced genes involved in fighting against ROS and synthesizing prophages.
Survival of Shewanella species after exposure to IR.
The IR resistance profile of S. oneidensis MR-1 (ATCC 700550) was previously reported (4). To determine whether or not other Shewanella species are also IR sensitive, Shewanella amazonensis (ATCC 700329) and Shewanella putrefaciens CN-32 (ATCC BAA-453) were tested for their resistance to acute IR (Fig. 1). E. coli K-12 was used as a reference. When grown in TGY (tryptone, glucose, yeast extract) medium, the IR doses yielding 10% (D10) CFU survival for the strains were as follows: S. oneidensis,
70 Gy; S. putrefaciens,
100 Gy; S. amazonensis,
200 Gy; and E. coli K-12,
700 Gy (Fig. 1). Thus, strain MR-1 is representative of the extreme IR sensitivity of Shewanella spp. Our previous transcriptional profiling studies on MR-1 recovering from UV (254 nm) radiation used cells grown in Davis medium (Difco) to an optical density at 600 nm (OD600) of 0.2, with 15 mM lactate as the sole carbon source (23). Therefore, we determined the IR resistance profile of MR-1 when it was grown in Davis medium to an OD600 of 0.2. MR-1 showed similar sensitivity to IR when grown in TGY medium; the D20 (20% survival) value of MR-1 in Davis medium was 40 Gy.
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FIG. 1. Survival of Shewanella species exposed to acute gamma radiation (60Co). Solid triangles, S. oneidensis MR-1 (ATCC 700550); solid squares, S. putrefaciens CN-32 (ATCC BAA-453); open diamonds, S. amazonensis (ATCC 700329); open squares, E. coli K-12 (MG1655). Strains were grown to an OD600 of 0.9 and irradiated on ice as previously described (4).
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The gene expression ratios of the irradiated samples to the respective nonirradiated control were normalized using the pooled-common-error model provided by the statistical analysis software ArrayStat v. 2.0 (Imaging Research Inc., Ontario, Canada). The outliers, represented by the data points that were not consistently reproducible and had a disproportionately large effect on the statistical result, were removed. The standard t test was performed so that a two-tailed probability of a mean deviating from 1.0 could be calculated and used to determine the significance for each data point. Genes that showed a statistically significant difference in expression (P < 0.05) and were >2-fold in magnitude as up-regulated and <1.5-fold as down-regulated were analyzed further. Identification of groups of genes exhibiting similar expression patterns was performed using the pairwise average-linkage hierarchical clustering algorithm provided by the Cluster software (http://rana.stanford.edu/). The complete microarray data set for the recovery time course is listed in supplemental Tables 2 and 3 (posted on our website at http://cme.msu.edu/tiedjelab/gamma). The raw data set is also available at our website.
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TABLE 2. Induction of DNA repair genes in MR-1 following IR irradiation
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TABLE 3. Induction of genes in defending against oxidative stress in MR-1 following IR irradiation
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TABLE 1. Induction of prophage-related genes following IR and UVC irradiation
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FIG. 2. Global gene expression trend in response to IR during a 1-h recovery period in S. oneidensis MR-1. Solid squares represent up-regulated genes, and open squares represent down-regulated genes. A positive number on the y axis represents the number of up-regulated genes, and a negative number represents the number of down-regulated genes.
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FIG. 3. Functional distribution of the differentially expressed genes in COG's functional categories. The total number of up-regulated genes is 170, and the total number of down-regulated genes is 87. C, energy production and conversion; E, amino acid transport and metabolism; F, nucleotide transport and metabolism; G, carbohydrate transport and metabolism; H, coenzyme metabolism; I, lipid metabolism; J, translation, ribosomal structure, and biogenesis; K, transcription; L, DNA replication, recombination, and repair; M, cell envelope biogenesis, outer membrane; N, cell motility and secretion; O, posttranslational modification, protein turnover, and chaperones; P, inorganic ion transport and metabolism; Q, secondary metabolite biosynthesis, transport, and catabolism; R, general function prediction only; S, function unknown; T, signal transduction mechanisms; V, defense mechanisms.
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Induction of prophage-related genes. There are three prophages in the MR-1 genome (12). A 51,857-bp lambda-like phage genome (75 lambdaSO genes) is integrated in the S. oneidensis MR-1 genome and is also present in nonintegrated form. Additionally, two phylogenetically distinct phages (MuSo1 and MuSo2) related to Escherichia coli Mu have been identified, carrying 42 genes and 53 genes, respectively (12). Totals of 65, 18, and 17 open reading frames of prophage LambdaSo, MuSo1, and MuSo2 were up-regulated in a synchronous, function-specific manner, respectively (Table 1; and see supplemental Table 2, on our website), which indicates that, similar to UV, IR activates MR-1 prophages. Our previous study demonstrated that following both UVB and UVC irradiation, a large amount of phage particles was released into the medium (23). More phage genes were induced throughout the course of the 1-h recovery period following IR (Table 1) than by UVC or UVB and were induced in a functionally synchronized manner, which is consistent with their functional activation. Thus, it is reasonable to infer that similar to UVR, IR can induce the lytic cycle of prophage in MR-1, which may contribute to this organism's high IR sensitivity.
Induction of DNA damage repair genes. About 2.8% of the MR-1 genome is implicated in DNA replication, recombination, and repair, which is comparable to those of E. coli (2.7%) (2) and D. radiodurans (3.1%) (19, 29). Our previous studies indicated that photoreactivation, nucleotide excision repair, and the SOS response including mutagenic repair are functional in MR-1 (22). Both RecBCD and RecF recombinational repair pathways are present in MR-1. In addition, MR-1 carries a complete methyl-directed mismatch repair pathway (mutS, mutL, and mutH) and genes (mutM, mutY, and mutT) that are important in preventing mutation due to the oxidized base 8-oxoguanine (12). In contrast, DNA repair systems identified in D. radiodurans appear less complex and diverse than those reported for E. coli or S. oneidensis (4).
We observed a strong SOS response during the recovery period, including the induction of lexA, recA, recN, dinP, dinG, polB, and the umuDC operon (Table 2). The induction of most genes lasted for 60 min (Table 2). Furthermore, we observed the induction of several genes that are involved in DNA replication, such as dnaB, polA, topB, and SO0690, which encodes a site-specific DNA methylase, and genes involved in DNA repair, such as recG and fis (Table 2). Fis is a site-specific DNA binding protein that can bend DNA and facilitates site-specific recombinations (7, 15). In spite of the relatively minor DNA damage inflicted in MR-1 by 40 Gy (4), the SOS response and recombinational repair pathways appear to be highly induced following IR.
Induction of oxidative stress-related genes. MR-1 carries genes encoding catalases, an Fe-containing superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione S-transferase, organic hydroperoxide resistance protein, and a Dps protein, which protects DNAfrom oxidative damage (13). In addition, the MR-1 genome encodes ferritin, an iron [Fe(III)] storage protein which also serves as an antioxidant by removing unbound intracellular "free" iron(10). Regarding regulatory genes, it is noteworthy that S. oneidensis contains genes that encode 52 proteins related to the LysR family (e.g., SO1328), which includes OxyR, compared to 2 proteins in D. radiodurans (10, 19). OxyR is a global transcriptional regulator involved in activating genes that fight oxidative stress.
Several genes that are directly involved in scavenging ROS were strongly up-regulated in MR-1 at 5 min of the 1-h recovery period following IR, which included katB (14.9-fold), ahpC (11.3-fold), ahpF (4.1-fold), dps (3.1-fold), and ccpA (3.9-fold). katG-1 also showed a great induction at 5 min (6.4-fold), although the variation among the replicates was high (P= 0.058) (Table 3). A slight induction for trxC (2.4-fold), which encodes thioredoxin, was observed at 60 min (Table 3). Thioredoxin is a ubiquitous protein known to protect cells against oxidative stress in bacteria (3) as well as in humans (5). In addition, several genes that are involved in degradation, such as clpB, hslV, and hslU, were up-regulated at 60 min (Table 3). Collectively, these results support the finding that irradiated S. oneidensis MR-1 mounts a major response to oxidative stress.
Comparison of IR-induced responses between S. oneidensis and D. radiodurans.
Since D. radiodurans represents extreme bacterial resistance to IR and is the only other bacterium currently being subjected to transcriptome analyses of its response to IR, we compared transcriptional profiles of MR-1 and D. radiodurans to infer which factors might determine radiation resistance and sensitivity in bacteria. A prominent feature of the transcriptome response of D. radiodurans recovering from IR is the differential regulation of its TCA cycle, where the isocitrate-to-fumarate steps of the TCA cycle were repressed and the glyoxylate bypass genes (aceA and aceB) were strongly induced immediately after irradiation (18). Isocitrate lyase (AceA) converts isocitrate into succinate and glyoxylate, allowing carbon that entered the TCA cycle to bypass the formation of
-ketoglutarate and succinyl coenzyme A. It has been proposed that such regulation might strongly suppress oxidative stress in D. radiodurans during recovery, perhaps as a mechanism to prevent additional loss of genome integrity (10, 18). This contrasts with the response we observed for S. oneidensis recovering from IR, which showed no significant change in TCA cycle expression, including its glyoxylate bypass. Furthermore, an early induction of catalase was observed in S. oneidensis (Table 3), whereas there was no change in expression of kat in D. radiodurans (18). It appeared that different strategies were used in D. radiodurans and S. oneidensis to fight against oxidative stress following IR, perhaps as a result of higher levels of oxidative stress generated in S. oneidensis during irradiation and recovery.
Our approach to determining the expression dynamics of MR-1 recovering from IR involved growth to the logarithmic phase and irradiation (40 Gy) on ice, followed by recovery in the same medium at 30°C. Whether differences in growth medium (LB versus Davis), radiation dose (15 kGy versus 40 Gy), and recovery medium (fresh medium versus the same medium) contribute to the difference in transcriptome between D. radiodurans and S. oneidensis needs further evaluation.
Conclusion. Approximately 80% of S. oneidensis cells are killed following exposure to 40 Gy, which causes less than 1 DSB per genome (5.1 Mbp) and about 40 SSB per genome (4, 17). In light of the strong induction of DNA repair and protection systems elicited in irradiated S. oneidensis, the relatively minor DNA damage does not explain the high levels of cell killing. As a respiratory generalist, MR-1 is rich in iron-containing proteins but low in Mn. Accumulation of intracellular Mn(II) in D. radiodurans has been implicated in recovery from IR by scavenging O2· and preventing decomposition of H2O2 to HO· (4, 10). In contrast, a sudden increase of free iron due to protein damage would cause a proliferation of the ROS in MR-1 during and following IR, which may predispose S. oneidensis cells to a burst of oxidative stress at the onset of recovery. This, coupled with the induction of lytic phages suggested by the expression data, likely explains the high sensitivity of MR-1 to IR.
Microarray data accession number. The microarray data have been deposited in the Gene Expression Omnibus database under accession no. GSE3876.
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