Characterization of Cd(II)/Pb(II) transcriptional regulator Alcaligenes faecalis SF-S1-60

ABSTRACT

Aims@#Metal transcriptional regulators controlled the regulation of metal ion homeostasis in bacteria genera. Cd(II)/Pb(II) transcriptional regulator is one of the member of MerR family found in Alcaligenes faecalis SF-S1-60 (PbrT-AF). @*Methodology and results@#The PbrT-AF gene with 432 bp open reading frame was successfully isolated from genomic DNA of A. faecalis using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. This gene was phylogenetically grouped with A. alcaligenes species using PHYLIP version 3.69 by the neighbor-joining method with 1000 bootstrap replicates. Phylogeny analysis shows that these proteins have distinct amino acids compared to Cd(II)/Pb(II) regulators from different species. The structure of PbrT-AF shows similar conformation with other members of MerR family using MODELLERv9.17. We also demonstrated that the expression of Pbrt-AF in Escherichia coli BL21 were able to increase the bacteria tolerance towards Pb up to 1000 ppm. @*Conclusion, significance and impact of study@#This result suggests that PbrT-AF promotes cell adaptation and tolerance towards Pb toxicity.