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J. Bacteriol. doi:10.1128/JB.01252-07
Copyright (c) 2007, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Cysteine Metabolism-Related Genes and Bacterial Resistance to Potassium Tellurite

Facultad de Química y Biología, Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Santiago de Chile; Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc., Emeryville, CA, USA; Department of Chemistry, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX, USA

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: cvasquez{at}usach.cl.

	Abstract

Tellurite exerts a deleterious effect on a number of small molecules containing sulfur-moieties that have a recognized role in cellular oxidative stress. Because cysteine is involved in the biosynthesis of glutathione and other sulfur-containing compounds we investigated the expression of Geobacillus stearothermophilus V cysteine related genes cobA, cysK and iscS and Escherichia coli cysteine regulon genes under conditions that included addition of K₂TeO₃ to the culture medium. Results showed that cell tolerance to tellurite correlates with the expression level of the cysteine metabolic genes and that these genes are up-regulated when tellurite is present in the growth medium.