Skip to main content
Log in

Oxygen tension regulated expression of the hemA gene of Rhodobacter capsulatus

  • Original Papers
  • Published:
Archives of Microbiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The promoter of the Rhodobacter capsulatus hemA gene, coding for the enzyme δ-aminolevulinic acid synthase (ALAS), was identified by trans-complementation of a δ-aminolevulinic acid (ALA)-dependent mutant and found to be located within a 170 bp region proximal to the hemA gene. The activity of the hemA promoter was demonstrated by lacZ fusion and in vitro transcription-translation. An open reading frame (ORFX) was found downstream of hemA. The activity of the hemA promoter, but not that of the ORFX promoter, increased when oxygen tension was lowered in the culture. Deletions upstream of the hemA promoter region did not affect ALAS activity and formation of pigment-protein complexes in R. capsulatus.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Armstrong GA, Alberti M, Leach F, Hearst JE (1989) Nucleotide sequence, organization, and nature of the protein products of the carotenoid biosynthesis gene cluster of Rhodobacter capsulatus. Mol Gen Genet 216: 254–268

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Avissar YJ, Ormerod JG, Beale SI (1989) Distribution of δ-aminolevulinte acid biosynthetic pathways among phototrophic bacterial groups. Arch Microbiol 151: 513–519

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bauer CE, Young DA, Marrs BL (1988) Analysis of the Rhodobacter capsulatus puf operon. Location of the oxygen-regulated promoter region and the identification of an additional puf-encoded gene. J Biol Chem. 263: 4820–4827

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Biel AJ, Marrs BL (1983) Transcriptional regulation of several genes for bacteriochlorophyll biosynthesis in Rhodopseudomonas capsulata in response to oxygen. J Bacteriol 156: 686–694

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Burnham BF (1970) δ-Aminolevulinic acid synthase. Methods Enzymol 17: 195–204

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark WG, Davidson E, Marrs BL (1984) Variation of levels of mRNA coding for antenna and reaction center polypeptides in Rhodopseudomonas capsulata in response to changes in oxygen concentration. J Bacteriol 157: 945–948

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Clayton RK (1966) Spectroscopy of bacteriochlorophyll. Photochem Photobiol 5: 807–821

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Clément-Métral JB (1986) Regulation of Ala-synthetase by O2 and thioredoxin system. In: Holmgren A, Brändén C-I, Jörnvall H, Sjöberg B-M (eds) Thioredoxin and glutaredoxin systems, structure and function. Raven Press, New York, pp 275–284

    Google Scholar 

  • Ditta G, Schmidhauser T, Yakobson E, Lu P, Liang X-W, Finlay DR, Guiney D, Helinski DR (1985) Plasmids related to the broad host range vector, pRK290, useful for gene cloning and for monitoring gene expression. Plasmid 13: 149–153

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Drews G (1983) Mikrobiologisches Praktikum. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, p 62

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Drews G (1988) Effect of oxygen partial pressure on formation of the bacterial photosynthetic apparatus. In: Acker H (ed) Oxygen sensing in tissues. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 3–11

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Garcia AF, Venturoli G, Gad'on N, Fernández-Velasco JG, Melandri BA, Drews G (1987) The adaptation of the electron transfer chain of Rhodopseudomonas capsulata to different light intensities. Biochim Biophys Acta 890: 335–345

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Granick S, Beale SI (1978) Hemes, chlorophylls, and related compounds: biosynthesis and metabolic regulation. Adv Enzymol 46: 33–203

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hornberger U, Liebetanz R, Tichy H-V, Drews G (1990) Cloning and sequencing of the hemA gene of Rhodobacter capsulatus and isolation of a δ-aminolevulinic acid-dependent mutant strain. Mol Gen Genet 221: 371–378

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kaufmann N, Hüdig H, Drews G (1984) Transposon Tn5 mutagenesis of genes for the photosynthetic apparatus in Rhodopseudomonas capsulata. Mol Gen Genet 198: 153–158

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Laemmli UK (1970) Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature (London) 227: 680–685

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lascelles J (1978) Regulation of pyrrole synthesis. In: Clayton RK, Sistrom WR (eds) The Photosynthetic Bacteria. Plenum Press, New York, pp 795–808

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowry OH, Rosebrough NJ, Farr AL, Randall RJ (1951) Protein measurement with the Folin phenol reagent. J Biol Chem 193: 265–275

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Maniatis T, Fritsch EF, Sambrook J (1982) Molecular cloning: a laboratory manual. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Marrs BL (1981) Mobilization of the genes for photosynthesis from Rhodopseudomonas capsulata by a promiscuous plasmid. J Bacteriol 146, 1003–1012

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Miller JH (1972) Experiments in Molecular Genetics. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor NY, pp 353–355

    Google Scholar 

  • Müller M, Blobel G (1984) in vitro translocation of bacterial proteins across the plasma membrane of Escherichia coli. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 81: 7421–7425

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Narro ML, Adams CW, Cohen SN (1990) Isolation and characterization of Rhodobacter capsulatus mutants defective in oxygen regulation of the puf operon. J Bacteriol 172: 4549–4554

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nieth K-F, Drews G (1975) Formation of reaction centers and lightharvesting bacteriochlorophyll-protein complexes in Rhodopseudomonas capsulata. Arch Microbiol 104: 77–82

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider K, Beck CF (1987) New expression vectors for identifying and testing signal structures for initiation and termination of transcription. Methods Enzymol 153: 452–461

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schumacher A, Drews G (1978) The formation of bacteriochlorophyll-protein complexes of the photosynthetic apparatus of Rhodopseudomonas capsulata during early stages of development. Biochim Biophys Acta 501: 183–194

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Simon R, Priefer U, Pühler A (1983) A broad host range mobilization system for in vivo genetic engineering: transposon mutagenesis in gram negative bacteria. Biotechnology 1: 37–45

    Google Scholar 

  • Stiehle H, Cortez N, Drews G (1990) A negatively charged N-terminus in the α polypeptide inhibited formation of the lightharvesting complex I in Rhodobacter capsulatus. J Bacteriol 172: 7131–7137

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tai TN, Moore MD, Kaplan S (1988) Cloning and characterization of the 5-aminolevulinate synthase gene(s) from Rhodobacter sphaeroides. Gene 70: 139–151

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Troschel D, Müller M (1990) Development of a cell-free system to study the membrane assembly of photosynthetic proteins of Rhodobacter capsulatus. J Cell Biol 111: 87–94

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Viale AA, Wider EA, delC Battle AM (1987) Porphyrin biosynthesis in Rhodopseudomonas palustris-XII. δ-aminolevulinate synthetase switch-off/on regulation. Int J Biochem 19: 379–383

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Warnick GR, Burnham BF (1971) Regulation of Porphyrin biosynthesis. J Biol Chem 246: 6880–6885

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yang Z, Bauer CE (1990) Rhodobacter capsulatus genes involved in early steps of the bacteriochlorophyll biosynthetic pathway. J Bacteriol 172: 5001–5010

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Young DA, Bauer CE, Williams JC, Marrs BL (1989) Genetic evidence for superoperonal organization of genes for photosynthetic pigments and pigment-binding proteins in Rhodobacter capsulatus. Mol Gen Genet 218: 1–12

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu YS, Hearst JE (1986) Regulation of expression of genes for light-harvesting antenna proteins LH-I and LH-II; reaction center polypeptides RC-L, RC-M, and RC-H; and enzymes of bacteriochlorophyll and carotenoid biosynthesis in Rhodobacter capsulatus by light and oxygen. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 83: 7613–7617

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hornberger, U., Wieseler, B. & Drews, G. Oxygen tension regulated expression of the hemA gene of Rhodobacter capsulatus . Arch. Microbiol. 156, 129–134 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00290985

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00290985

Key words

Navigation