Characterization of csmB genes, encoding a 7.5-kDa protein of the chlorosome envelope, from the green sulfur bacteria Chlorobium vibrioforme 8327D and Chlorobium tepidum

1996 ◽  
Vol 166 (4) ◽  
pp. 234-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soohee Chung ◽  
D. A. Bryant
2006 ◽  
Vol 188 (17) ◽  
pp. 6217-6223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia A. Maresca ◽  
Donald A. Bryant

ABSTRACT The green sulfur bacterium Chlorobium tepidum produces chlorobactene as its primary carotenoid. Small amounts of chlorobactene are hydroxylated by the enzyme CrtC and then glucosylated and acylated to produce chlorobactene glucoside laurate. The genes encoding the enzymes responsible for these modifications of chlorobactene, CT1987, and CT0967, have been identified by comparative genomics, and these genes were insertionally inactivated in C. tepidum to verify their predicted function. The gene encoding chlorobactene glucosyltransferase (CT1987) has been named cruC, and the gene encoding chlorobactene lauroyltransferase (CT0967) has been named cruD. Homologs of these genes are found in the genomes of all sequenced green sulfur bacteria and filamentous anoxygenic phototrophs as well as in the genomes of several nonphotosynthetic bacteria that produce similarly modified carotenoids. The other bacteria in which these genes are found are not closely related to green sulfur bacteria or to one another. This suggests that the ability to synthesize modified carotenoids has been a frequently transferred trait.


2004 ◽  
Vol 186 (16) ◽  
pp. 5210-5220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niels-Ulrik Frigaard ◽  
Julia A. Maresca ◽  
Colleen E. Yunker ◽  
A. Daniel Jones ◽  
Donald A. Bryant

ABSTRACT The green sulfur bacterium Chlorobium tepidum is a strict anaerobe and an obligate photoautotroph. On the basis of sequence similarity with known enzymes or sequence motifs, nine open reading frames encoding putative enzymes of carotenoid biosynthesis were identified in the genome sequence of C. tepidum, and all nine genes were inactivated. Analysis of the carotenoid composition in the resulting mutants allowed the genes encoding the following six enzymes to be identified: phytoene synthase (crtB/CT1386), phytoene desaturase (crtP/CT0807), ζ-carotene desaturase (crtQ/CT1414), γ-carotene desaturase (crtU/CT0323), carotenoid 1′,2′-hydratase (crtC/CT0301), and carotenoid cis-trans isomerase (crtH/CT0649). Three mutants (CT0180, CT1357, and CT1416 mutants) did not exhibit a discernible phenotype. The carotenoid biosynthetic pathway in C. tepidum is similar to that in cyanobacteria and plants by converting phytoene into lycopene using two plant-like desaturases (CrtP and CrtQ) and a plant-like cis-trans isomerase (CrtH) and thus differs from the pathway known in all other bacteria. In contrast to the situation in cyanobacteria and plants, the construction of a crtB mutant completely lacking carotenoids demonstrates that carotenoids are not essential for photosynthetic growth of green sulfur bacteria. However, the bacteriochlorophyll a contents of mutants lacking colored carotenoids (crtB, crtP, and crtQ mutants) were decreased from that of the wild type, and these mutants exhibited a significant growth rate defect under all light intensities tested. Therefore, colored carotenoids may have both structural and photoprotection roles in green sulfur bacteria. The ability to manipulate the carotenoid composition so dramatically in C. tepidum offers excellent possibilities for studying the roles of carotenoids in the light-harvesting chlorosome antenna and iron-sulfur-type (photosystem I-like) reaction center. The phylogeny of carotenogenic enzymes in green sulfur bacteria and green filamentous bacteria is also discussed.


Microbiome ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shan-Hua Yang ◽  
Kshitij Tandon ◽  
Chih-Ying Lu ◽  
Naohisa Wada ◽  
Chao-Jen Shih ◽  
...  

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