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Journal of Bacteriology, August 2004, p . 5384-5391, Vol . 186,
No . 16
Indole-3-Acetic Acid Biosynthesis Is Deficient in Gluconacetobacter
diazotrophicus Strains with Mutations in Cytochrome c Biogenesis
Genes
Sunhee Lee,1,
M . Flores-Encarnación,2 M . Contreras-Zentella,2 L .
Garcia-Flores,2 J . E . Escamilla,2 and Christina Kennedy1*
Division of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Department of Plant Sciences,
The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721,1 Instituto de
Fisiologia Celular, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico D.F., Mexico2
Received 4 May 2004/ Accepted 17 May 2004
Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus is an endophyte of sugarcane
frequently found in plants grown in agricultural areas where nitrogen
fertilizer input is low . Recent results from this laboratory, using
mutant strains of G . diazotrophicus unable to fix nitrogen,
suggested that there are two beneficial effects of G . diazotrophicus
on sugarcane growth: one dependent and one not dependent on
nitrogen fixation . A plant growth-promoting substance, such as
indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), known to be produced by G . diazotrophicus,
could be a nitrogen fixation-independent factor . One strain,
MAd10, isolated by screening a library of Tn5 mutants, released
only
6%
of the amount of IAA excreted by the parent strain in liquid culture .
The mutation causing the IAA– phenotype was not linked to
Tn5 . A pLAFR3 cosmid clone that complemented the IAA
deficiency was isolated . Sequence analysis of a complementing
subclone indicated the presence of genes involved in cytochrome c
biogenesis (ccm, for cytochrome c maturation) . The G .
diazotrophicus ccm operon was sequenced; the individual ccm
gene products were 37 to 52% identical to ccm gene products of
Escherichia coli and equivalent cyc genes of
Bradyrhizobium japonicum . Although several ccm mutant
phenotypes have been described in the literature, there are no
reports of ccm gene products being involved in IAA production .
Spectral analysis, heme-associated peroxidase activities, and
respiratory activities of the cell membranes revealed that the ccm
genes of G . diazotrophicus are involved in cytochrome c
biogenesis .
Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus is a nitrogen-fixing endophyte
commonly isolated from Saccharum L . (sugarcane) and occasionally
from Ipomoea batatas (sweet potato), Pennissetum purpureum,
Ananas comosus [L.] Merr . (pineapple), and Coffea arabica
(coffee) (13, 20,
34, 38) . 15N-isotope dilution
experiments suggest that up to 80% of sugarcane nitrogen (N) can be
derived from atmospheric nitrogen gas, presumably through bacterial
nitrogen fixation (see reference 38 for a review) .
Additionally, Sevilla et al . showed that G . diazotrophicus has
two potential beneficial effects on sugarcane: one probably dependent
on nitrogen fixation and the other possibly through microbial
production of a plant growth-promoting substance (40) .
Since G . diazotrophicus is known to produce indole-3-acetic
acid (IAA), with particularly high amounts produced by strain PAl5
(used in the plant inoculation experiments of Sevilla et al . [40]),
we speculated that IAA production may explain the plant growth
promotion of sugarcane by G . diazotrophicus .
Biosynthesis of IAA is not limited to higher plants . Organisms
such as bacteria, fungi, and algae are able to make physiologically
active IAA that may have pronounced effects on plant growth and
development . Many bacteria isolated from the rhizosphere have the
capacity to synthesize IAA in vitro in the presence or absence of
physiological precursors, mainly tryptophan (Trp) (12,
33) . Microbial isolates from the rhizosphere of different
crops appear to have a greater potential to synthesize and release
IAA as secondary metabolites because of the relatively rich
supply of substrates (6, 12) . In addition,
numerous pathogens are active producers of IAA and cause abnormal
cell enlargement in infected plants (4,
33) .
Production of IAA by microbial isolates varies greatly among
different species and strains and depends on the availability of
substrate(s) . Different biosynthetic pathways for IAA production
exist, sometimes in parallel in the same organism (33) . For
many years it was assumed that Trp was the only precursor of
IAA . However, work with tryptophan-auxotrophic mutants and isotope
labeling have established that IAA biosynthesis can occur via a
tryptophan-independent route (30, 35),
although in the presence of Trp microbes release greater quantities
of IAA and related compounds .
The pathways for conversion of Trp to IAA can involve deamination,
decarboxylation, and/or hydrolysis reactions . In higher plants and
most microorganisms, the indole-3-pyruvic acid (IpyA) pathway is the
main one for IAA synthesis, whereas other pathways operate in certain
species (the indole-3-acetamide pathway, the tryptamine pathway, and
the indole-3-acetonitrile pathway) . The formation of IpyA from Trp is
catalyzed by multispecific aminotransferases, followed by spontaneous
or enzymatic decarboxylation to indole-3-acetaldehyde (IAAld), which
is then oxidized by an IAAld oxidase to IAA . As a side reaction, IpyA
may be reduced to indole-3-lactic acid (ILA) by lactate
dehydrogenase, which requires NADH . Indole-3-ethanol (TOL) is the
product of a side reaction from IAAld (25, 33) .
In this study, the G . diazotrophicus genome was randomly mutagenized
with Tn5 to obtain a G . diazotrophicus IAA–
mutant with reduced ability to produce IAA compared to the wild type .
This approach revealed a surprising discovery, that cytochrome c
biogenesis genes are required for a large proportion, 90%, of
the IAA produced in G . diazotrophicus . We describe here for
the first time the cloning of genes involved in cytochrome c
biogenesis from G . diazotrophicus and demonstrate the involvement
of these genes in both respiratory electron transport and IAA
production .
Bacterial strains, vectors, and growth conditions. The
bacterial strains and plasmids used are presented in Table
1 . G . diazotrophicus wild-type PAl5 (ATCC 49037) and
ccm mutants were maintained in either DYGS or LGIP medium (40).
Escherichia coli strains were grown at 37°C in Luria-Bertani
broth . Antibiotics for G . diazotrophicus were added at the
following concentrations (in micrograms per milliliter):
tetracycline, 100; kanamycin, 200; streptomycin, 700 . For the
isolation of membranes, cells were grown aerobically at 30°C in 3
liters of LGIP medium supplemented with 1.0 mM (NH4)2SO4 .
| TABLE 1 . Bacterial strains and plasmids used in this study
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Mutagenesis. Transposon mutants were generated by conjugation
of strain PAl5 with E . coli S17-1 carrying the suicide plasmid
pSUP1021, which contains a Tn5 transposon that confers
kanamycin resistance . Conjugations were performed on DYGS (pH 6)
plates and incubated for 36 h at 30°C . After conjugation the cells
were resuspended in LGI medium, diluted, and plated onto DYGS medium
with kanamycin . Transconjugants were picked and stored as libraries
in 96-well microtiter plates . The site-directed insertion mutants
were generated using the
fragment (streptomycin) as described previously (41) .
Tn5 screening. Tn5-containing transconjugants
were grown in minimal LGI medium supplemented with tryptophan (100
µg/ml) as an IAA precursor in 96-well microtiter plates, and after 4
days of incubation the amount of IAA produced by each transconjugant
was determined using Salkowasky reagent (18) . IAA
mutant candidates were further characterized by thin-layer
chromatography (TLC) and high-performance liquid chromatography
(HPLC) analysis .
HPLC analysis. Extraction and HPLC of G . diazotrophicus
cultures for IAA were performed according to the methods of
Costacurta et al . (11) with slight modifications .
Bacterial cultures (20 ml) were made cell free by centrifugation at
3,000 x g and filtration, and
supernatants were extracted three times with ethyl acetate after
adjusting the pH to 2.8 . Five- to 15-µl aliquots of the
filtered extracts were injected into an Alltech, type Econosphere
C185U column (250 by 4.6 mm) equipped with a differential UV detector
absorbing at 280 nm . The isocratic solvent used for reverse-phase
chromatography was acetonitrile-glacial acetic acid (1%) in water
(10:90) . The flow rate was adjusted to 1 ml/min . Peak retention times
were compared with those of chemically synthesized IAA standards and
quantified by comparison of peak areas .
Analytical methods. Preparation of membrane proteins, sodium
dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE),
staining for heme, spectral analysis of cytochromes, and
determination of dehydrogenase activities and respiratory activities
were performed as described by Flores-Encarnacion et al . (16)
with a few modifications . Briefly, cells in 3 liters of liquid
culture were obtained after 36 h of growth with shaking at 250 rpm .
Cells were pelleted by centrifugation and then washed twice with TCM
buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl [pH 7.4] containing 5 mM CaCl2 and
5 mM MgCl2) . Membranes were isolated, and protein
concentrations were measured by a modification of the Lowry method .
For spectral analysis, membranes (8 mg) were resuspended in 50%
(vol/vol) glycerol and analyzed in an SLM-Aminco DW 2000
spectrophotometer . Samples were reduced with a few grains of sodium
dithionite in the presence or absence of KCN, and difference spectra
at 77K were recorded . The c-type cytochrome spectra were
measured after membranes were precipitated with 0.01 N HCl in acetone
as described by Goodhew et al . (22) . Heme
peroxidase staining was performed to detect c-type cytochrome
bands . Membranes (3 mg) were washed with trichloroacetic acid (10%
[vol/vol]) and separated by SDS-PAGE . SDS treatment removed
noncovalently bound hemes, so that only c-type cytochrome was
revealed after heme peroxidase staining . Protein blotting and
detection were performed with the Amersham (Piscataway, N.J.)
enhanced chemiluminescence Western blotting detection reagents .
Oxidase activities were determined as described by Flores-Encarnacion
et al . (16) with various substrates at the following
final concentrations: 3 mM NADH, 10 mM glucose, 10 mM ethanol, 10 mM
acetaldehyde, 10 mM ascorbate plus 2 mM N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine
(TMPD) or 10 mM ascorbate plus 1.5 mM 2,3,5,6-tetrachloro-1,4-benzenediol
(THQ) . The oxidase activities were measured polarographically
with a Clark oxygen electrode in 2 ml of 50 mM potassium phosphate
buffer (pH 7.4 or 6.0) at 30°C . Dehydrogenase activities were
measured spectrophotometrically with TMPD as the alternative electron
acceptor, as described by Flores-Encarnacion et al . (16) .
DNA manipulations, sequencing, and analysis. The DNA region
flanking the Tn5 integration was sequenced using the primer
5'-CGTTCAGGACGCTAC-3', complementary to bases 17 to 34 within the Tn5
inverted repeat . Sequencing was performed with an ABI automated
sequencer (model 373A) by using a PRISM Ready Reaction Dye Deoxy
terminator cycle sequencing kit (Perkin-Elmer, Boston, Mass.; DNA
sequencing facility, University of Arizona) . DNA sequences were
identified by using the BLAST server of the National Center for
Biotechnology Information accessed over the Internet .
Computer-assisted sequence analysis was performed using programs of
the University of Wisconsin package version 10.0 Genetics Computer
Group software .
Production of IAA by wild-type strain PAl5. In an attempt to
elucidate the IAA biosynthetic pathway(s) in G . diazotrophicus,
IAA and possible intermediates were analyzed by HPLC and TLC . The
HPLC elution profiles of acidic ethyl acetate extracts contained two
minor peaks and three major peaks: two early-eluting unknown
substances at 9 and 11 min, ILA, IAA, and indole-3-carboxylic acid
(ICA) (Fig . 1) . The sharp peak in the beginning of
the chromatogram is an internal standard . TLC of ethyl acetate
extracts from G . diazotrophicus cultures showed IAA, ILA, and
TOL, but no ICA could be detected by this method (data not shown) .
ILA and TOL are intermediates of the IpyA pathway . ICA is a
decarboxylated, relatively inactive form of IAA . Therefore, the
results indicated that G . diazotrophicus produces IAA through
the IpyA pathway . Quantification of the indole derivatives was
achieved by measuring the peak area of the HPLC chromatogram, and
yields of 5 to 7 µg of IAA/ml were found in the cell-free
supernatants of stationary cultures of G . diazotrophicus PAl5 .
|
FIG . 1 . Reversed-phase HPLC chromatogram of the culture fluid of G .
diazotrophicus wild-type PAl5 (a) and IAA– mutant strain
MAd22 (b) after 4 days of growth . The cultures were grown in minimal
medium (LGI) supplemented with 100 µg of Trp/ml . AU, absorption unit.
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Isolation and genetic analysis of a mutant deficient in IAA
biosynthesis. Various approaches to clone an indole-3-pyruvic acid
decarboxylase gene (ipdC gene), a key enzyme in the IpyA
pathway, were not successful . In order to isolate genes encoding
enzymes involved in IAA biosynthesis, a different genetic approach
was adopted using the transposon Tn5 . Following Tn5
mutagenesis, 2,500 exconjugants were analyzed for IAA production as
described in Materials and Methods . Three mutant candidates with
decreased IAA and one IAA-overproducing mutant candidate were further
characterized by HPLC and TLC (data not shown) . Among IAA–
mutant candidates, MAd10 was further characterized, because MAd10
excreted only
6%
of the amount of IAA produced by the parent strain in liquid culture
and it is neither a Trp auxotroph nor a Nif– strain (data
not shown) . The Tn5-linked region of MAd10 was cloned and
sequenced; it encoded gene products with a high similarity to several
antibiotic synthetase enzymes from Bacillus subtilis,
Streptomyces sp., and Pseudomonas sp . (27,
29, 39) . This result suggested
that the IAA– phenotype of MAd10 was not linked to the Tn5
insertion site . When the region containing the Tn5 and
flanking DNA from MAd10 was inserted into the chromosome of wild-type
strain PAl5, the resulting strain was IAA+ . This also
indicated that the Tn5 insertion in the antibiotic synthetase
region in MAd10 was not linked to the IAA– phenotype .
Complementation of the mutant MAd10. To determine where the
mutation causing the IAA– phenotype was located on the
chromosome, a pLAFR3 cosmid library of G . diazotrophicus was
introduced into MAd10 (46) . Two cosmids complementing
the IAA– phenotype of MAd10 were isolated after screening
2,000 tetracycline-resistant transconjugants using the colorimetric
method described earlier . These cosmids had overlapping restriction
sites, which indicated that they probably contained the same
gene or genes complementing decreased IAA production in MAd10 . The
region from one of the cosmids, pSL10, was subcloned to determine the
smallest fragment that complemented the IAA– phenotype . A 5.6-kb
HindIII/EcoRI fragment (pSL12) successfully complemented the IAA–
phenotype, restoring wild-type IAA levels (Table 2) .
| TABLE 2 . Indole compounds produced by Ccm– mutants of G .
diazotrophicus in a liquid medium
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Sequence analysis. To determine the nucleotide sequence, pSL12
was subcloned to smaller fragments and each was sequenced .
Examination of the sequence revealed five contiguous open reading
frames (ORFs) (Fig . 2), the deduced products of
which had high similarity to proteins involved in cytochrome c
biogenesis (ccm genes [cytochrome c maturation genes])
in E . coli (37 to 48% identity) or cyc genes in
Bradyrhizobium japonicum (38 to 52% identity) . The ccm
operon sequence is reported under GenBank accession number
AY456185 . Products of the ccmABCDEFGH genes in E . coli are
required for the formation of holocytochrome c, the products
being subunits of an ABC transporter (CcmABC), a heme chaperone
(CcmE), a putative cytochrome c heme lyase (CcmEF), a
postulated redox system (CcmGH), and a membrane protein that
stabilizes the complex (CcmD) (reviewed in references
26, 48, and 49) . In B . japonicum
these genes are named cyc and are arranged somewhat
differently than the ccm genes in E . coli and now in
G . diazotrophicus (data not shown) .
|
FIG . 2 . Physical and restriction maps of G . diazotrophicus ccm
operon and ccm mutants . (Top) The 5.6-kb G . diazotrophicus
genomic fragment harboring the ccm operon, with restriction sites
indicated . B, BamHI; Bg, BglII; E, EcoRI; H, HindIII; K, KpnI; M, MscI;
Sp, SphI; St, StuI . (Bottom) A series of ccm mutants in which
ccm genes were disrupted by deletion or insertion of a streptomycin
( )
cassette.
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Characterization of the ccm mutants. To confirm that one
or more of the ccm genes are responsible for the IAA–
phenotype, several mutant strains were generated by inserting
(Smr) cassette and/or by deleting a portion of the genes
to yield the strains MAd20, MAd21, and MAd22 (Fig . 2) .
Mutagenesis results indicated that a mutation in any of the ccmCEF
genes results in the IAA– phenotype .
IAA production by both ccm mutants and the wild type was investigated
by HPLC analysis . The ccm mutants produced a barely detectable
amount of IAA (4 to
6%
of the wild type) after 4 days of growth . The detectable IpyA pathway
intermediate, ILA, was also reduced significantly compared with wild
type (Fig . 1; Table 2) . The
mobilization of a plasmid (pSL12) containing the functional ccm
operon restored the ability to produce IAA in the three new mutants
(Table 2) . This indicated that a defect in cytochrome
c production is responsible for the IAA mutant phenotype .
The cytochrome c content of G . diazotrophicus cells was
characterized with membranes obtained from cells as described by
Flores-Encarnacion et al . (16) . Noncovalently
bound hemes were removed by washing membranes with 0.01 N HCl in
acetone to determine cytochrome c content without the spectral
interference of b-type cytochromes . The dithionite-reduced
minus persulfate-oxidized spectra (77K) of acidic acetone-treated
membranes from wild type and ccm mutants were determined (Fig.
3B) . The spectra of wild-type membranes revealed
the characteristic peaks at 417, 520, and 549.5 nm originating from
the c-type cytochromes, while these peaks were absent or
significantly reduced in the ccm mutants (Fig . 3B) .
Different spectra produced by cyanide treatment of the reduced
preparation revealed the presence of an a-type cytochrome in
both ccm mutants and the wild type, which was accompanied by a
large enhancement of the signals at 589 nm . Additionally, b-type
cytochromes were retained in ccm mutant membranes, as
suggested by shoulders at 430, 529, and 560 nm in reduced plus CN–
minus oxidized spectra (Fig . 3A) .
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FIG . 3 . Difference spectra at 77K for c-type cytochromes
associated with membranes of G . diazotrophicus PAl5 and its
ccm mutants (MAd10, MAd20, MAd21, and MAd22) . (A) Reduced plus KCN
minus oxidized spectra . Samples were reduced with dithionite in the
presence of 1.0 mM KCN and oxidized with air . (B) Dithionite-reduced
minus persulfate-oxidized spectra of acidic acetone-treated membranes .
An 800-µg aliquot of protein was used in each sample.
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To analyze the ccm mutant phenotypes in more detail, membrane
fractions of aerobically grown wild-type and mutant cells were
analyzed on SDS-PAGE for the presence of heme-associated peroxidase
activity (heme staining) . In the wild-type cells, four c-type
cytochromes with apparent molecular masses of 67, 56, 52, and 45 kDa
were detected (Fig . 4) . No membrane-bound c-type
cytochromes were detected in membranes prepared from the ccm
mutants .
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FIG . 4 . Membrane-bound c-type cytochromes of G . diazotrophicus
PAl5 and its ccm mutants detected by heme staining after
SDS-PAGE . Each lane contains membrane protein samples . Lane a, PAl5 (200
µg); lanes b to e, ccm mutants MAd10, MAd20, MAd21, and MAd22 (1
mg each); lane f, horse heart cytochrome c (10 µg).
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Since in many organisms cytochrome c proteins are involved in
respiration, oxidase, and dehydrogenase activities, these activities
of the wild-type and mutant strains were measured polarographically
with a Clark oxygen electrode and spectrophotometrically with TMPD as
an electron acceptor . In decreasing order, glucose, NADH,
acetaldehyde, ascorbate plus THQ, ethanol, ascorbate plus TMPD, and
lactate were the best substrates for the oxidase activities
associated with G . diazotrophicus membranes (Table 3) .
In the case of ccm mutants, no ethanol, acetaldehyde, and
lactate oxidase activities were detected; however, similar glucose
and NADH oxidase activities were retained . The dehydrogenase
activities of ccm mutants were significantly decreased when
acetaldehyde, ethanol, or lactate was used as substrate, but the
activities with glucose or NADH were similar to those of the wild
type (Table 4) .
| TABLE 3 . Oxidase activities associated with membranes of G .
diazotrophicus
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| TABLE 4 . Dehydrogenase activities associated with membranes of G .
diazotrophicus
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Improved plant growth via plant-associated bacterial nitrogen
fixation has been reported in many plant-microbe interactions
(reviewed in references 38 and 45) . One
example of this beneficial symbiotic relationship is that between
sugarcane and G . diazotrophicus . G . diazotrophicus may provide
biologically fixed nitrogen as well as a significant amount of
bacterial IAA . In this work, we isolated genes that are involved in
IAA production .
Based on the presence of intermediates, it was hypothesized that
G . diazotrophicus synthesizes IAA through the IpyA pathway (7,
17) . Our work also suggested that G . diazotrophicus
produces IAA through the IpyA pathway . Two IpyA intermediates, ILA
and TOL, were detected in the stationary-phase liquid culture (Fig .
1) . Other intermediates, IpyA and IAAld, were not
detected with the solvent and conditions used in this experiment,
possibly due to an inherent instability of IpyA and IAAld (14) .
However, the present study did not clarify whether ILA and TOL are
directly involved in the IAA metabolism of this bacterium . Metabolic
studies with isotopically labeled substrates are necessary to
confirm this result . The presence of ICA on the HPLC chromatogram
indicated that IAA catabolism is associated with oxidative decarboxylation
processes . This pathway has been reported in Rhizobium phaseoli
and Rhizobium trifolii (5, 14) .
Decarboxylated forms of IAA such as ICA are thought to be regulators
of endogenous IAA levels in microorganisms (8,
24) .
The mutation responsible for the reduced IAA production was
located in the cytochrome c biogenesis genes (ccm genes) .
Cytochrome c protein is an electron carrier with a relatively
wide distribution among prokaryotes . In contrast to other
cytochromes, cytochrome c enzymes carry a prosthetic heme
group covalently attached to the apoprotein through thioester bonds
between the vinyl groups of heme and the cysteine sulfurs of a CXXCH
peptide motif (1, 2,
47, 48) . Biogenesis of c-type
cytochromes in many gram-negative bacteria is a complex process,
requiring cytochrome c maturation proteins (ccm gene
products) and the disulfide bond-oxidizing and disulfide
bond-reducing proteins DsbA, DsbB, DsbD, and TrxA (15,
47) . The amino acid sequence analysis of the G .
diazotrophicus ccm operon revealed that the individual proteins
have conserved motifs, transmembrane helices, and active sites that
exist in other bacteria (data not shown) . There is an orf10 encoding
a protein of 60 amino acids between ccmC and ccmE that has
no similarity to any known protein . It is possible that this ORF
functions as a CcmD protein, although the sequence is so divergent
that it could not be recognized as a ccmD gene .
To test the involvement of G . diazotrophicus ccm genes in cytochrome
c maturation, several ccm mutant strains were constructed
and analyzed . None of the membrane-bound c-type cytochromes
was detected in these mutant strains; on the other hand, the ccm
mutants had no effect on the biogenesis of a-type or b-type
cytochromes (Fig . 3 and 4) . Likewise,
it has been reported that the maturation of the membrane-bound or
soluble cytochrome c, but not a- or b-type
cytochromes, is completely abolished in the ccm mutants of
other bacteria (31) .
Measurement of oxidase and dehydrogenase activities also confirmed
that ccm mutants of G . diazotrophicus resulted in loss of
functional cytochrome c . All ccm mutants are devoid of
ethanol, acetaldehyde and lactate dehydrogenases, and oxidase
activities, since these dehydrogenases contain subunits bearing
cytochrome c, with molecular masses ranging from 45 to 82 kDa
(3, 28) .
It has been reported that ccmC or ccmG mutants of Paracoccus
denitrificans have a much slower growth rate on rich media,
probably due to the lack of protection against oxidized thiol
compounds in periplasmic proteins (31) . Reduced disulfide
bonds provide protection against the oxidized compounds, facilitated
by CcmC and CcmG . The growth rates of wild-type G . diazotrophicus
and the ccm mutants in both minimal and rich media were the
same (data not shown), unlike that observed in P . denitrificans .
There has been renewed interest in cytochrome c as a result
of the discovery that programmed cell death in eukaryotes requires
the release of cytochrome c from mitochondria (23,
37) . Additionally, in some prokaryotes, a defect
in the biogenesis of cytochrome c leads to a dramatic increase
in synthesis and excretion of heme biosynthetic intermediates (10,
21) . Other reported phenotypes of cytochrome c
mutants are loss of copper resistance (51) and
pyoverdine production (19) in Pseudomonas fluorescens,
defects in nitrogen fixation in B . japonicum and R .
phaseoli (36, 43), and
reduced intracellular infection in Legionella pneumophila (50),
as well as defects in high-affinity iron acquisition in Rhizobium
leguminosarum and P . fluorescens (9,
52) . However, there are no reports describing the relationship
between IAA production and cytochrome c in the literature . The
involvement of cytochrome c in IAA synthesis reported here may
represent another function . Mutation in the ccmCEF region
resulted in a dramatic decrease of IAA production . It could be that a
cytochrome c is involved in the IAA biosynthetic pathway in
G . diazotrophicus . There are no known intermediates of IAA
accumulated in the ccm mutants, which suggests that the
decreased IAA production is not due to defects in the known IAA
biosynthetic pathways . The possibility of the presence of different
IAA biosynthetic pathways may explain the relationship between the
ccm genes and IAA production .
Another possible explanation is the involvement of a cytochrome
c protein in the regulation of IAA production . It has been shown
that the level of IAA is important in determining whether it
will have beneficial influences or pathogenic effects . High
concentrations of IAA can be detrimental to plant growth, since it
results in the inhibition of root growth and enlargement of plant
cells, causing plant tumors (33) . Therefore, it is
reasonable to propose that IAA production is tightly regulated . It
has been demonstrated that transcription of Pseudomonas putida
ipdC is regulated by tryptophan and a stationary-phase sigma
factor, RpoS (32) . As mentioned above, ccm mutants
synthesize very little IAA and no intermediates accumulate,
suggesting that cytochrome c may have a role in the regulation
of IAA biosynthesis .
In summary, the ccm gene products are required for cytochrome
c biogenesis as well as IAA biosynthesis in G . diazotrophicus .
Biochemical studies of the enzymes involved in the IAA biosynthetic
pathway are required to reveal whether cytochrome c is necessary
for the function of any individual enzyme . Sugarcane plant growth
experiments using an IAA– ccm mutant indicated that
while the colonization and growth of the ccm mutant inside
sugarcane plants was similar to that of wild-type G .
diazotrophicus, the mutant did not promote plant growth (S . Lee
et al., submitted for publication) . These results are consistent with
the idea that IAA production is a factor in this beneficial
plant-microbe association and support further investigation of this
hypothesis .
We thank the National Science Foundation (IBN-9728184) and the
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (PAPIIT-IN215801) for funding
this research .
* Corresponding author . Mailing address: Division of Plant
Pathology and Microbiology, Department of Plant Sciences, P.O . Box 210036,
Forbes 204, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 . Phone: (520) 621-9835 . Fax:
(520) 621-9290 . E-mail:
ckennedy@u.arizona.edu .
Present address: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of
Microbiology and Immunology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine,
Bronx, NY 10461 .
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