Transcriptional regulation of catabolic pathways for aromatic compounds in Corynebacterium glutamicum

Corynebacterium glutamicum is a gram-positive soil microorganism able to utilize a large variety of aromatic compounds as the sole carbon source. The corresponding catabolic routes are associated with multiple ring-fission dioxygenases and among other channeling reactions, include the gentisate pathway, the protocatechuate and catechol branches of the beta-ketoadipate pathway and two potential hydroxyquinol pathways. Genes encoding the enzymatic machinery for the bioconversion of aromatic compounds are organized in several clusters in the C. glutamicum genome. Expression of the gene clusters is under specific transcriptional control, apparently including eight DNA-binding proteins belonging to the AraC, IclR, LuxR, PadR, and TetR families of transcriptional regulators. Expression of the gentisate pathway involved in the utilization of 3-hydroxybenzoate and gentisate is positively regulated by an IclR-type activator. The metabolic channeling of ferulate, vanillin and vanillate into the protocatechuate branch of the beta-ketoadipate pathway is controlled by a PadR-like repressor. Regulatory proteins of the IclR and LuxR families participate in transcriptional regulation of the branches of the beta-ketoadipate pathway that are involved in the utilization of benzoate, 4-hydroxybenzoate and protocatechuate. The channeling of phenol into this pathway may be under positive transcriptional control by an AraC-type activator. One of the potential hydroxyquinol pathways of C. glutamicum is apparently repressed by a TetR-type regulator. This global analysis revealed that transcriptional regulation of aromatic compound utilization is mainly controlled by single regulatory proteins sensing the presence of aromatic compounds, thus representing single input motifs within the transcriptional regulatory network of C. glutamicum.

Degradation of environmental pollutants by Trametes trogii

The ability of the ligninolytic fungus Trametes trogii to degrade in vitro different xenobiotics (PCBs, PAHs and dyes) was evaluated. Either 200 ppm of a PCB mixture (Aroclor 1150) or 160 ppm of an industrial PAH mixture (10 V/V of PAHs, principal components hexaethylbenzene, naphthalene, 1-methyl naphthalene, acenaphthylene, anthracene, fluorene and phenanthrene), were added to trophophasic and idiophasic cultures growing in a nitrogen limited mineral medium (glucose/asparagine) and in a complex medium (malt extract/glucose). Gas-liquid chromatography proved that within 7 to 12 d more than 90 of the organopollutants added were removed. The decrease in absorbance at 620 nm demonstrated that cultures of this fungus were able to transform 80 of the dye Anthraquinone-blue (added at a concentration of 50 ppm) in 1.5 h. Enzyme estimations indicated high activity of laccase (up to 0.55 U/mL), as well as lower production of manganese-peroxidase. Laccase activity, detected in all the conditions assayed, could be implicated in the degradation of these organopollutants. Considering the results obtained, T. trogii seems promising for detoxification.

Análisis de genes catabólicos de hidrocarburos aromáticos en cepas aisladas de suelos de la Patagonia / Analysis of aromatic hydrocarbon catabolic genes in strains isolated from soil in Patagonia

Seven strains belonging to genus Pseudomonas were isolated from an enrichment with hydrocarbon mixtures. Tests for enzyme activities showed that five strains used predominantly the catabolic meta-pathway for aromatic hydrocarbon degradation. Furthermore, the xylE gene which encodes a catechol 2,3-dioxygenase was amplified by PCR, and in two strains the nahAc gene, a key enzyme for naphthalene catabolism, was also found. The xylE gene might be a good marker to identify aromatic hydrocarbon degrading bacteria in soils from Patagonia.