
f Cytochromes in anaerobic growth of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans
- Authors: Paul R. Norris1,† , Ludovic Laigle1,‡ , Susan Slade1,§
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1 School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK † †Present address: Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9FE, UK. ‡ ‡Present address: The Native Antigen Company, Langford Locks, Kidlington, Oxford, OX5 1LH, UK. § §Present address: Waters Corporation, Stamford Avenue, Altrincham Road, Wilmslow, SK9 4AX, UK.
- *Correspondence: Paul R. Norris [email protected]
- First Published Online: 06 February 2018, Microbiology 164: 383-394, doi: 10.1099/mic.0.000616
- Subject: Physiology and Metabolism
- Received:
- Accepted:
- Cover date:




Cytochromes in anaerobic growth of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, Page 1 of 1
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The mineral sulfide-oxidising Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans has been extensively studied over many years but some fundamental aspects of its metabolism remain uncertain, particularly with regard to its anaerobic oxidation of sulfur. This label-free, liquid chromatography-electron spray ionisation-mass spectrometry-based proteomic analysis estimated relative protein abundance during aerobic and anaerobic growth of At. ferrooxidans. One of its two bc 1 complexes, that encoded by the petII operon, was strongly implicated in anaerobic ferric iron-coupled sulfur oxidation, probably in conjunction with two cytochromes. These two cytochromes are homologs of the Cyc2 and Cyc1 proteins that are involved in ferrous iron oxidation. The previously undetected cytochromes apparently associated with anaerobic growth in At. ferrooxidans appear to be absent in many other ferrous iron-oxidising acidophiles that can also reduce ferric iron, which suggests a diversity in the ferric-iron-coupled sulfur oxidation pathways. For aerobic growth of At. ferrooxidans, this analysis was consistent with the generally accepted mechanism for its oxidation of ferrous iron. Unexpectedly, proteins encoded by the petI operon were not abundant and generally not detected in the proteomic analyses of cells grown aerobically on sulfur, although there was some expression of genes of the petI and petII operons in these cells.
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GenBank accession number for the Acidithiobacillus sp. str. Milos 16S rRNA gene sequence is MG062278. GenBank accession number for the Acidithiobacillus sp. str. Milos rusticyanin gene cluster is MG203875. GenBank accession number for the ‘Acidihalobacter’ sp. str. M7 rusticyanin-like gene cluster is MG257491.
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Three supplementary figures and three supplementary tables are available with the online version of this article.
- Keyword(s): Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, novel cytochromes, anaerobic growth
© 2018 The Authors
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