A genome-guided analysis of energy conservation in the thermophilic, cytochrome-free acetogenic bacterium Thermoanaerobacter kivui

BMC Genomics

Volker Müller¹  Rolf Daniel²  Marie Charlotte Weghoff¹  Anja Poehlein²  Verena Hess¹ 

[1] Department of Molecular Microbiology & Bioenergetics, Institute of Molecular Biosciences, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt/Main, Max-von-Laue-Str. 9, 60438 Frankfurt, Germany;Department of Genomic and Applied Microbiology, Göttingen Genomics Laboratory, Georg August University, Institute for Microbiology and Genetics, Grisebachstraße 8, 37077 Göttingen, Germany

关键词: Ech;    H⁺ transport;    Genome sequence;    Energy conservation;    kivui;    Thermoanaerobacter ;    Acetogen;   

Others  :  1127141
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2164-15-1139

 received in 2014-10-02, accepted in 2014-12-12,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Acetogenic bacteria are able to use CO₂ as terminal electron acceptor of an anaerobic respiration, thereby producing acetate with electrons coming from H₂. Due to this feature, acetogens came into focus as platforms to produce biocommodities from waste gases such as H₂ + CO₂ and/or CO. A prerequisite for metabolic engineering is a detailed understanding of the mechanisms of ATP synthesis and electron-transfer reactions to ensure redox homeostasis. Acetogenesis involves the reduction of CO₂ to acetate via soluble enzymes and is coupled to energy conservation by a chemiosmotic mechanism. The membrane-bound module, acting as an ion pump, was of special interest for decades and recently, an Rnf complex was shown to couple electron flow from reduced ferredoxin to NAD⁺ with the export of Na⁺ in Acetobacterium woodii. However, not all acetogens have rnf genes in their genome. In order to gain further insights into energy conservation of non-Rnf-containing, thermophilic acetogens, we sequenced the genome of Thermoanaerobacter kivui.

Results

The genome of Thermoanaerobacter kivui comprises 2.9 Mbp with a G + C content of 35% and 2,378 protein encoding orfs. Neither autotrophic growth nor acetate formation from H₂ + CO₂ was dependent on Na⁺ and acetate formation was inhibited by a protonophore, indicating that H⁺ is used as coupling ion for primary bioenergetics. This is consistent with the finding that the c subunit of the F₁F_O ATP synthase does not have the conserved Na⁺ binding motif. A search for potential H⁺-translocating, membrane-bound protein complexes revealed genes potentially encoding two different proton-reducing, energy-conserving hydrogenases (Ech).

Conclusions

The thermophilic acetogen T. kivui does not use Na⁺ but H⁺ for chemiosmotic ATP synthesis. It does not contain cytochromes and the electrochemical proton gradient is most likely established by an energy-conserving hydrogenase (Ech). Its thermophilic nature and the efficient conversion of H₂ + CO₂ make T. kivui an interesting acetogen to be used for the production of biocommodities in industrial micobiology. Furthermore, our experimental data as well as the increasing number of sequenced genomes of acetogenic bacteria supported the new classification of acetogens into two groups: Rnf- and Ech-containing acetogens.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Hess et al.; licensee BioMed Central.

【 图 表 】

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