Identification of a parasitic symbiosis between respiratory metabolisms in the biogeochemical chlorine cycle

A key step in the chlorine cycle is the reduction of perchlorate (ClO4-) and chlorate (ClO3-) to chloride by microbial respiratory pathways. Perchlorate-reducing bacteria and chlorate-reducing bacteria differ in that the latter cannot use perchlorate, the most oxidized chlorine compound. However, a recent study identified a bacterium with the chlorate reduction pathway dominating a community provided only perchlorate. Here we confirm a metabolic interaction between perchlorate- and chlorate-reducing bacteria and define its mechanism. Perchlorate-reducing bacteria supported the growth of chlorate-reducing bacteria to up to 90% of total cells in communities and co-cultures. Chlorate-reducing bacteria required the gene for chlorate reductase to grow in co-culture with perchlorate-reducing bacteria, demonstrating that chlorate is responsible for the interaction, not the subsequent intermediates chlorite and oxygen. Modeling of the interaction suggested that cells specialized for chlorate reduction have a competitive advantage for consuming chlorate produced from perchlorate, especially at high concentrations of perchlorate, because perchlorate and chlorate compete for a single enzyme in perchlorate-reducing cells. We conclude that perchlorate-reducing bacteria inadvertently support large populations of chlorate-reducing bacteria in a parasitic relationship through the release of the intermediate chlorate. An implication of these findings is that undetected chlorate-reducing bacteria have likely negatively impacted efforts to bioremediate perchlorate pollution for decades.

Phenotypic and Genotypic Description of Sedimenticola selenatireducens Strain CUZ, a Marine (Per)Chlorate-Respiring Gammaproteobacterium, and Its Close Relative the Chlorate-Respiring Sedimenticola Strain NSS

ABSTRACTTwo (per)chlorate-reducing bacteria, strains CUZ and NSS, were isolated from marine sediments in Berkeley and San Diego, CA, respectively. Strain CUZ respired both perchlorate and chlorate [collectively designated (per)chlorate], while strain NSS respired only chlorate. Phylogenetic analysis classified both strains as close relatives of the gammaproteobacteriumSedimenticola selenatireducens. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) preparations showed the presence of rod-shaped, motile cells containing one polar flagellum. Optimum growth for strain CUZ was observed at 25 to 30°C, pH 7, and 4% NaCl, while strain NSS grew optimally at 37 to 42°C, pH 7.5 to 8, and 1.5 to 2.5% NaCl. Both strains oxidized hydrogen, sulfide, various organic acids, and aromatics, such as benzoate and phenylacetate, as electron donors coupled to oxygen, nitrate, and (per)chlorate or chlorate as electron acceptors. The draft genome of strain CUZ carried the requisite (per)chlorate reduction island (PRI) for (per)chlorate respiration, while that of strain NSS carried the composite chlorate reduction transposon responsible for chlorate metabolism. The PRI of strain CUZ encoded a perchlorate reductase (Pcr), which reduced both perchlorate and chlorate, while the genome of strain NSS included a gene for a distinct chlorate reductase (Clr) that reduced only chlorate. When both (per)chlorate and nitrate were present, (per)chlorate was preferentially utilized if the inoculum was pregrown on (per)chlorate. Historically, (per)chlorate-reducing bacteria (PRB) and chlorate-reducing bacteria (CRB) have been isolated primarily from freshwater, mesophilic environments. This study describes the isolation and characterization of two highly related marine halophiles, one a PRB and the other a CRB, and thus broadens the known phylogenetic and physiological diversity of these unusual metabolisms.

Expression of Chlorite Dismutase and Chlorate Reductase in the Presence of Oxygen and/or Chlorate as the Terminal Electron Acceptor in Ideonella dechloratans

ABSTRACTThe ability of microorganisms to perform dissimilatory (per)chlorate reduction is, for most species, known to be oxygen sensitive. Consequently, bioremediation processes for the removal of oxochlorates will be disturbed if oxygen is present. We measured the expression of chlorite dismutase and chlorate reductase in the presence of different terminal electron acceptors in the chlorate reducerIdeonella dechloratans. Enzyme activity assays and mRNA analyses by real-time quantitative reverse transcription (qRT)-PCR were performed on cell extracts from cells grown aerobically with and without chlorate and on cells grown anaerobically in the presence of chlorate. Our results showed that both chlorite dismutase and chlorate reductase are expressed during aerobic growth. However, transfer to anaerobic conditions with chlorate resulted in significantly enhanced enzyme activities and mRNA levels for both enzymes. Absence of oxygen was necessary for the induction to occur, since chlorate addition under aerobic conditions produced neither increased enzyme activities nor higher relative levels of mRNA. For chlorite dismutase, the observed increase in activity was on the same order of magnitude as the increase in the relative mRNA level, indicating gene regulation at the transcriptional level. However, chlorate reductase showed about 200 times higher enzyme activity in anaerobically induced cells, whereas the increase in mRNA was only about 10-fold, suggesting additional mechanisms influence the enzyme activity.

Nitrate and (per)chlorate reduction pathways in (per)chlorate-reducing bacteria

The reduction of (per)chlorate and nitrate in (per)chlorate-reducing bacteria shows similarities and differences. (Per)chlorate reductase and nitrate reductase both belong to the type II DMSO family of enzymes and have a common bis(molybdopterin guanine dinucleotide)molybdenum cofactor. There are two types of dissimilatory nitrate reductases. With respect to their localization, (per)chlorate reductase is more similar to the dissimilatory periplasmic nitrate reductase. However, the periplasmic, unlike the membrane-bound, respiratory nitrate reductase, is not able to use chlorate. Structurally, (per)chlorate reductase is more similar to respiratory nitrate reductase, since these reductases have analogous subunits encoded by analogous genes. Both periplasmic (per)chlorate reductase and membrane-bound nitrate reductase activities are induced under anoxic conditions in the presence of (per)chlorate and nitrate respectively. During microbial (per)chlorate reduction, molecular oxygen is generated. This is not the case for nitrate reduction, although an atypical reaction in nitrite reduction linked to oxygen formation has been described recently. Microbial oxygen production during reduction of oxyanions may enhance biodegradation of pollutants under anoxic conditions.

Periplasmic c Cytochromes and Chlorate Reduction in Ideonella dechloratans

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to clarify the pathway of electron transfer between the inner membrane components and the periplasmic chlorate reductase. Several soluble c-type cytochromes were found in the periplasm. The optical difference spectrum of dithionite-reduced periplasmic extract shows that at least one of these components is capable of acting as an electron donor to the enzyme chlorate reductase. The cytochromes were partially separated, and the fractions were analyzed by UV/visible spectroscopy to determine the ability of donating electrons to chlorate reductase. Our results show that one of the c cytochromes (6 kDa) is able to donate electrons, both to chlorate reductase and to the membrane-bound cytochrome c oxidase, whereas the roles of the remaining c cytochromes still remain to be elucidated. Peptide extracts of the c cytochromes were obtained by tryptic in-gel digestion for matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry analysis. Peptide sequences obtained indicate that the 6-kDa cytochrome c protein is similar to c cytochromes from the chlorate-reducing bacterium Dechloromonas aromatica.

Isolation and Characterization of Alicycliphilus denitrificans Strain BC, Which Grows on Benzene with Chlorate as the Electron Acceptor

ABSTRACT A bacterium, strain BC, was isolated from a benzene-degrading chlorate-reducing enrichment culture. Strain BC degrades benzene in conjunction with chlorate reduction. Cells of strain BC are short rods that are 0.6 μm wide and 1 to 2 μm long, are motile, and stain gram negative. Strain BC grows on benzene and some other aromatic compounds with oxygen or in the absence of oxygen with chlorate as the electron acceptor. Strain BC is a denitrifying bacterium, but it is not able to grow on benzene with nitrate. The closest cultured relative is Alicycliphilus denitrificans type strain K601, a cyclohexanol-degrading nitrate-reducing betaproteobacterium. Chlorate reductase (0.4 U/mg protein) and chlorite dismutase (5.7 U/mg protein) activities in cell extracts of strain BC were determined. Gene sequences encoding a known chlorite dismutase (cld) were not detected in strain BC by using the PCR primers described in previous studies. As physiological and biochemical data indicated that there was oxygenation of benzene during growth with chlorate, a strategy was developed to detect genes encoding monooxygenase and dioxygenase enzymes potentially involved in benzene degradation in strain BC. Using primer sets designed to amplify members of distinct evolutionary branches in the catabolic families involved in benzene biodegradation, two oxygenase genes putatively encoding the enzymes performing the initial successive monooxygenations (BC-BMOa) and the cleavage of catechol (BC-C23O) were detected. Our findings suggest that oxygen formed by dismutation of chlorite can be used to attack organic molecules by means of oxygenases, as exemplified with benzene. Thus, aerobic pathways can be employed under conditions in which no external oxygen is supplied.