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J. Bacteriol. doi:10.1128/JB.01164-07
Copyright (c) 2007, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Evidence Indicating that A Bacterial ABC-Type Transporter Imports Free EDTA for Metabolism

School of Molecular Biosciences and Department of Chemistry, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4234; Biological Science Department, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: xun{at}mail.wsu.edu.

	Abstract

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), a common chelating agent, is becoming a major organic pollutant in the form of metal-EDTA complexes in surface waters, partly due to its recalcitrance to biodegradation. Even an EDTA-degrading bacterium BNC1 does not degrade stable metal-EDTA complexes. An ABC-type transporter was identified for possible uptake of EDTA because the transporter genes and EDTA monooxygenase gene were expressed in a single operon in BNC1. The ABC-type transporter had a periplasmic binding protein (EppA) that should confer the substrate specificity for the transporter; therefore, EppA was produced in Escherichia coli, purified, and characterized. EppA was shown to bind free EDTA with a dissociation constant as low as 25 nM by using isothermal titration calorimetry. When unstable metal-EDTA complexes, e.g. MgEDTA^2-, were added to the EppA solution, binding was also observed. However, experimental data and theoretical analysis only supported EppA binding of free EDTA. When stable metal-EDTA complexes, e.g. CuEDTA^2-, are titrated into the EppA solution, no binding was observed. Since EDTA monooxygenase in the cytoplasm uses some of the stable metal-EDTA complexes as substrates, we suggest that the lack of EppA binding and EDTA uptake are responsible for the failure of BNC1 cells to degrade the stable complexes.