Cloning of the gene coding for the outer membrane receptor protein for ferric pseudobactin, a siderophore from a plant growth-promoting Pseudomonas strain

Plant growth-promoting Pseudomonas B10 produces its yellow-green, fluorescent siderophore (microbial iron transport agent) pseudobactin under iron-limiting conditions. A structural gene encoding the 85,000-Da putative outer membrane receptor protein for ferric pseudobactin was identified in a gene bank from Pseudomonas B10 prepared with the broad host-range conjugative cosmid cloning vector pLAFR1. Transposon Tn5 mutagenesis of recombinant plasmid pJLM300 localized the functional gene to a region of approximately 2.4 kilobases consistent with the apparent molecular weight of the receptor protein. Mobilization of pJLM300 into Pseudomonas A124 and A225, whose growth was inhibited by Pseudomonas B10 or pseudobactin, rendered these strains no longer susceptible to iron starvation by pseudobactin because they were now able to transport ferric pseudobactin. Pseudobactin biosynthetic genes flanked this receptor gene on both sides and were on separate operons. Transposon Tn5 insertion mutants of Pseudomonas B10 lacking this receptor protein were generated by a marker exchange technique and were defective in ferric pseudobactin transport. Such mutants could be complemented in trans by pJLM300. The production of pseudobactin, the receptor protein, and four other outer membrane proteins in Pseudomonas B10 was coordinately regulated by the level of intracellular iron.