Prevalence of a calcium‐based alkaline phosphatase associated with the marine cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus and other ocean bacteria

Phosphate plays a key role in regulating primary productivity in several regions of the world's oceans and here dissolved organic phosphate can be an important phosphate source. A key enzyme for utilizing dissolved organic phosphate is alkaline phosphatase and the phoA‐type of this enzyme has a zinc cofactor. As the dissolved zinc concentration is low in phosphate depleted environments, this has led to the hypothesis that some phytoplankton may be zinc‐P co‐limited. Recently, it was shown that many marine bacteria contain an alternative form of alkaline phosphatase called phoX, but it is unclear which marine lineages carry this enzyme. Here, we describe the occurrence in low phosphate environments of phoX that is associated with uncultured Prochlorococcus and SAR11 cells. Through heterologous expression, we demonstrate that phoX encodes an active phosphatase with a calcium cofactor. The enzyme also functions with magnesium and copper, whereas cobalt, manganese, nickel and zinc inhibit enzyme activity to various degrees. We also find that uncultured SAR11 cells and cyanophages contain a different alkaline phosphatase related to a variant present in several Prochlorococcus isolates. Overall, the results suggest that many bacterial lineages including Prochlorococcus and SAR11 may not be subject to zinc‐P co‐limitation.     

Regulation of the phosphate regulon of Escherichia coli: Characterization of the promoter of the pstS gene

Summary The pstS gene belongs to the phosphate regulon whose expression is induced by phosphate starvation and regulated positively by the PhoB protein. The phosphate (pho) box is a consensus sequence shared by the regulatory regions of the genes in the pho regulon. We constructed two series of deletion mutations in a plasmid in vitro, with upstream and downstream deletions in the promoter region of pstS, which contains two pho boxes in tandem, and studied their promoter activity by connecting them with a promoterless gene for chloramphenicol acetyltransferase. Deletions extending into the upstream pho box but retaining the downstream pho box greatly reduced promoter activity, but the remaining activity was still regulated by phosphate levels in the medium and by the PhoB protein, indicating that each pho box is functional. No activity was observed in deletion mutants which lacked the remaining pho box or the-10 region. Therefore, the pstS promoter was defined to include the two pho boxes and the-10 region. The PhoB protein binding region in the pstS regulatory region was studied with the deletion plasmids by a gelmobility retardation assay. The results suggest the protein binds to each pho box on the pstS promoter. A phoB deletion mutant was constructed, and we demonstrated that expression of pstS was strictly dependent on the function of the PhoB protein.     

An expression vector system providing plasmid stability and conditional suicide of plasmid-containing cells

Summary A cloning vector system was constructed on the basis of the pBR322 derivative pEG1 by introducing the whole parB locus of plasmid R1 cloned behind the promoter of the alkaline phosphatase gene (phoA) of Escherichia coli. The parB locus in combination with the phoA promoter ensures both (i) plasmid stabilization due to the post-segregational killing of plasmid-free cells during growth and (ii) killing of the cells induced by the potential environmental signal phosphate limitation. This vector, therefore, appears to be a model system for increasing the stability of recombinant plasmids and for decreasing the potential risks in the application of recombinant bacteria in industrial fermentations.Correspondence to: T. Schweder     

Secretion of the overproduced periplasmic PhoA protein into the medium and accumulation of its precursor in phoA-transformed Escherichia coli strains: involvement of outer membrane vesicles

Various Escherichia coli strains were transformed by multicopy plasmids pHI-1, pHI-7 and pPHOI carrying the entire regulatory and structural phoA sequences. All transformants with the intact pho regulatory system displayed PhoA oversynthesis and secretion into the medium. They also accumulated the alkaline phosphatase precursor localized in the outer membrane fraction. The dynamics of enzyme synthesis and secretion as well as cell cytomorphology during secretion were studied in strain E. coli K12 802 carrying pHI-7 plasmid. PhoA protein was shown to be selectively released into the medium in vesicles budding from outer membrane.The authors are with the institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms, USSR Academy of Sciences, 142292 Puschino, Moscow Region, USSR.     

Nucleotide sequence of the split tRNAUAALeu gene from Vicia faba chloroplasts: evidence for structural homologies of the chloroplast tRNALeu intron with the intron from the autosplicable Tetrahymena ribosomal RNA precursor

Summary The gene encoding the tRNA _UAA ^Leu from broad bean chloroplasts has been located on a 5.1 kbp long BamHI fragment by analysis of the DNA sequence of an XbaI subfragment. This gene is 536 bp long and is split in the anticodon region. The 451 bp long intron shows high sequence homology over about 100 bp from each end with the corresponding regions of the maize chloroplast tRNA _UAA ^Leu intron. These conserved sequences are probably involved in the splicing reaction, for they can be folded into a secondary structure which is very similar to the postulated structure of the intron from the autosplicable ribosomal RNA precursor of Tetrahymena. Very little sequence conservation is found in the 5-and 3-flanking regions of the broad bean and maize chloroplast tRNA _UAA ^Leu genes.     

The pleiohomeotic functions as a negative regulator of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Drosophila even-skipped</Emphasis> gene during embryogenesis

Polycomb group (PcG) proteins maintain the spatial expression patterns of genes that are involved in cell-fate specification along the anterior-posterior (A/P) axis. This repression requires cis-acting silencers, which are called PcG response elements (PREs). One of the PcG proteins, Pleiohomeotic (Pho), which has a zinc finger DNA binding protein, plays a critical role in recruiting other PcG proteins to bind to PREs. In this study, we characterized the effects of a pho mutation on embryonic segmentation. pho maternal mutant embryos showed various segmental defects including pair-rule gene mutant patterns. Our results indicated that engrailed and even-skipped genes were misexpressed in pho mutant embryos, which caused embryonic segment defects.     

Nucleotide sequence of the celA gene encoding a cellodextrinase of Ruminococcus flavefaciens FD-1

Summary The nucleotide sequence of a 3.6 kb DNA fragment containing a cellodextrinase gene (celA) fromRuminococcus flavefaciens FD-1 was determined. The gene was expressed from its own regulatory region inEscherichia coli and a putative consensus promoter sequence was identified upstream of a ribosome binding site and a TTG start codon. The complete amino acid sequence of the CeIA enzyme (352 residues) was deduced and showed no significant homology to cellulases from other oganisms. Two lysozymetype active sites were found in the amino-terminal third of the enzyme. InE. coli the cloned CeIA protein was translocated into the periplasm. The lack of a typical signal sequence, and the results of transposonphoA mutagenesis experiments indicated that CeIA is secreted by a mechanism other than a leader peptide.Abbreviations CMCase carboxymethylcellulase - celA gene coding for CeIA - CelA cellodextrinase - ORF open reading frame - phoA gene encoding alkaline phosphatase - pNPC p-nitrophenyl--d-cellobioside     

Cloning of phoM, a gene involved in regulation of the synthesis of phosphate limitation inducible proteins in Escherichia coli K12

Summary Like the synthesis of alkaline phosphatase, the synthesis of outer membrane PhoE protein is shown to be dependent on the phoM gene product in phoR mutants of E. coli K12. This phoM gene has been cloned into the multicopy vector pACYC184 using selection for alkaline phosphatase constitutive synthesis in a phoR background. The gene was localized on the hybrid plasmids by analysis of deletion plasmids constructed in vitro and of mutant plasmids generated by insertions.Interestingly, two of the selected hybrid plasmids contained the entire phoA-phoB-phoR region of the chromosome, as a multiple copy state of these genes results in the constitutive synthesis of alkaline phosphatase. The presence of multiple copies of the phoM gene hardly influences the level of expression of alkaline phosphatase and PhoE protein in a pho ⁺ strain, but significantly increases the levels of these proteins in aphoR mutant strain.     

Cloning and sequencing of the cellulose synthase catalytic subunit gene of Acetobacter xylinum

The gene for the catalytic subunit of cellulose synthase from Acetobacter xylinum has been cloned by using an oligonucleotide probe designed from the N-terminal amino acid sequence of the catalytic subunit (an 83 kDa polypeptide) of the cellulose synthase purified from trypsin-treated membranes of A. xylinum. The gene was located on a 9.5 kb HindIII fragment of A. xylinum DNA that was cloned in the plasmid pUC18. DNA sequencing of approximately 3 kb of the HindIII fragment led to the identification of an open reading frame of 2169 base pairs coding for a polypeptide of 80 kDa. Fifteen amino acids in the N-terminal region (positions 6 to 20) of the amino acid sequence, deduced from the DNA sequence, match with the N-terminal amino acid sequence obtained for the 83 kDa polypeptide, confirming that the DNA sequence cloned codes for the catalytic subunit of cellulose synthase which transfers glucose from UDP-glucose to the growing glucan chain. Trypsin treatment of membranes during purification of the 83 kDa polypeptide cleaved the first 5 amino acids at the N-terminal end of this polypeptide as observed from the deduced amino acid sequence, and also from sequencing of the 83 kDa polypeptide purified from membranes that were not treated with trypsin. Sequence analysis suggests that the cellulose synthase catalytic subunit is an integral membrane protein with 6 transmembrane segments. There is no signal sequence and it is postulated that the protein is anchored in the membrane at the N-terminal end by a single hydrophobic helix. Two potential N-glycosylation sites are predicted from the sequence analysis, and this is in agreement with the earlier observations that the 83 kDa polypeptide is a glycoprotein [13]. The cloned gene is conserved among a number of A. xylinum strains, as determined by Southern hybridization.     

Chloroplast DNA sequences integrated into an intron of a tomato nuclear gene

Summary DNA sequences capable of hybridizing with chloroplast DNA have previously been reported to exist in the nuclear genome of higher plants. Here we show that the third intron of the cultivated tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) nuclear gene Cab-7, which resides on chromosome 10 and which we recently cloned and sequenced, contains two DNA fragments derived from the coding region of the chloroplast gene psbG. The first fragment, 133 bp long, is located at a site 63 bp from the 3 end of the 833 bp intron. The exact sequence of the 11 nucleotides at the 3 end of the inserting chloroplast sequence is also found at the 5 border of the insertion. A small (107 bp) chloroplast DNA fragment is inserted near the middle of the intron, again with the 3 end of the inserting element (6 bp) duplicated at the 5 border of the insertion. The second insert is a subfragment of the first insert, and is most likely directly derived from it. The psbG insertion sequence was found to be present in the Cab-7 gene of all tomato species examined but not in species from related genera (e.g. Solanum, Petunia, Nicotiana), suggesting that the original transposition event (chloroplast to nucleus) occurred relatively recently-since the divergence of the genus Lycopersicon from other genera in the family Solanaceae, but before radiation of species in that genus.     

Molecular cloning of the cDNA encoding a stress-inducible protein phosphatase 1 (PP1) catalytic subunit from French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

A cDNA showing high sequence similarity (>70%) to plant protein phosphatase 1 catalytic subunit variants from other species has been isolated from a cDNA library derived from mRNAs expressed in elicitor-treated suspension-cultured cells. The clone appears to be a near full-length 1431 bp with a 172 bp 5-untranslated region and a 317 bp 3-untranslated region. The open reading frame, determined by sequence similarity, codes for a protein with predicted M _r of 35552. Alternatively an ATG situated to the 5 end of the putative start site would increase the protein size by 6 amino acids.The mRNA for Pvpp1 was shown to be rapidly induced by elicitor treatment of suspension-cultured cells of French bean. The cloned cDNA represents one of the few examples of a gene product that is probably involved in dephosphorylation events arising after the initial responses to biotic stress.Abbreviations PAL phenylalanine ammonia-lyase - PP1 protein phosphatase 1 - Pvpp1 Phaseolus vulgaris protein phosphatase 1     

Partial genomic organization of ribosomal protein S7 gene from malaria vector Anopheles stephensi

In this study, we describe the partial genomic organization of ribosomal protein S7 gene isolated from the mosquito Anopheles stephensi. Initially a 558 bp partial cDNA sequence was amplified as precursor mRNA sequence containing 223 bp long intron. 5＇ and 3＇ end sequences were recovered using end specific rapid amplification of cDNA ends （RACE） polymerase chain reaction. The full-length cDNA sequence was 914 nucleotide long with an open reading frame capable of encoding 192 amino acid long protein with calculated molecular mass of 22174 Da and a pI point of 9.94. Protein homology search revealed 〉75% identity to other insect＇s S7 ribosomal proteins. Analysis of sequence alignment revealed several highly conserved domains, one of which is related to nuclear localization signal （NLS） region of human rpS7. Interestingly, intron nucleotide sequence comparison with A. gambiae showed a lesser degree of conservation as compared to coding and untranslated regions. Like this, early studies on the genomic organization and cDNA/ Expressed sequence tag analysis （EST） could help in genome annotation ofA. stephensi, and would be likely to be sequenced in the future.     

Characterization ofZymomonas mobilis alkaline phosphatase activity inEscherichia coli

Zymomonas mobilis phoA gene encoding alkaline phosphatase was expressed inEscherichia coli CC118 carrying the recombinant plasmid pZAP1. The pH optimum for this enzyme was 9.0 and showed a peak activity at 42°C. This enzyme required Zn²⁺ for its catalytic activity; however, Mg²⁺ or Ca²⁺ significantly affected the activity. This enzyme was found to be ethanolabile, and ethanol inhibition was reversed by addition of Zn²⁺. Kinetics ofZ. mobilis alkaline phosphatase production inE. coli CC118 (pZAP1) showed that the enzyme activity was growth associated and localized in the cellular fraction, and the maximum activity was found in the stationary phase.     

Protein phosphatase 2A: identification in Oryza sativa of the gene encoding the regulatory A subunit

A 2225 bp cDNA, designated RPA1, was isolated from an Oryza sativa cDNA library. Analysis revealed a 1761 bp coding sequence with 15 non-identical repeat units. The ORF encoded the A regulatory subunit of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A-A) as ascertained by complementation of the yeast tpd3 mutant defective in this gene. The corresponding genomic DNA from a rice genome BAC library revealed that the gene contains eleven introns. The rice genome contains only a single copy of this gene as judged by Southern blot analysis. The PP2A protein is highly conserved in nature; the rice protein shows 88% amino acid identity with its counterparts in Arabidopsis or Nicotiana tabacum.