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Journal of Bacteriology, January 2000, p. 143-145, Vol. 182, No. 1
0021-9193/0/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Cysteine Biosynthesis Pathway in the Archaeon Methanosarcina barkeri Encoded by Acquired Bacterial Genes?

Makoto Kitabatake,1,dagger Man Wah So,1 Debra L. Tumbula,1 and Dieter Söll1,2,*

Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry,1 and Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology,2 Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8114

Received 4 August 1999/Accepted 11 October 1999

The pathway of cysteine biosynthesis in archaea is still unexplored. Complementation of a cysteine auxotrophic Escherichia coli strain NK3 led to the isolation of the Methanosarcina barkeri cysK gene [encoding O-acetylserine (thiol)-lyase-A], which displays great similarity to bacterial cysK genes. Adjacent to cysK is an open reading frame orthologous to bacterial cysE (serine transacetylase) genes. These two genes could account for cysteine biosynthesis in this archaeon. Analysis of recent genome data revealed the presence of bacteria-like cysM genes [encoding O-acetylserine (thiol)-lyase-B] in Pyrococcus spp., Sulfolobus solfataricus, and Thermoplasma acidophilum. However, no orthologs for these genes can be found in Methanococcus jannaschii, Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum, and Archaeoglobus fulgidus, implying the existence of unrecognizable genes for the same function or a different cysteine biosynthesis pathway.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, P.O. Box 208114, 266 Whitney Ave., New Haven, CT 06520-8114. Phone: (203) 432-6200. Fax: (203) 432-6202. E-mail: soll{at}trna.chem.yale.edu.

dagger Present address: RIKEN Institute, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako-shi, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan.

Journal of Bacteriology, January 2000, p. 143-145, Vol. 182, No. 1
0021-9193/0/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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