Physiological studies of Chlorobiaceae suggest that bacillithiol derivatives are the most widespread thiols in bacteria

Hiras, Jennifer, Sharma, Sunil V., Raman, Vidhyavathi, Tinson, Ryan A. J., Arbach, Miriam, Rodrigues, Dominic F., Norambuena, Javiera, Hamilton, Chris J. and Hanson, Thomas E. (2018) Physiological studies of Chlorobiaceae suggest that bacillithiol derivatives are the most widespread thiols in bacteria. mBIO, 9 (6). ISSN 2150-7511

Preview

PDF (Published manuscript) - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (2MB) | Preview

Abstract

Low-molecular-weight (LMW) thiols mediate redox homeostasis and the detoxification of chemical stressors. Despite their essential functions, the distribution of LMW thiols across cellular life has not yet been defined. LMW thiols are also thought to play a central role in sulfur oxidation pathways in phototrophic bacteria, including the Chlorobiaceae. Here we show that Chlorobaculum tepidum synthesizes a novel LMW thiol with a mass of 412 ± 1 Da corresponding to a molecular formula of C14H24N2O10S, which suggests that the new LMW thiol is closely related to bacillithiol (BSH), the major LMW thiol of low-G+C Gram-positive bacteria. The Cba. tepidum LMW thiol structure was N-methyl-bacillithiol (N-Me-BSH), methylated on the cysteine nitrogen, the fourth instance of this modification in metabolism. Orthologs of bacillithiol biosynthetic genes in the Cba. tepidum genome and the CT1040 gene product, N-Me-BSH synthase, were required for N-Me-BSH synthesis. N-Me-BSH was found in all Chlorobiaceae examined as well as Polaribacter sp. strain MED152, a member of the Bacteroidetes. A comparative genomic analysis indicated that BSH/N-Me-BSH is synthesized not only by members of the Chlorobiaceae, Bacteroidetes, Deinococcus-Thermus, and Firmicutes but also by Acidobacteria, Chlamydiae, Gemmatimonadetes, and Proteobacteria. Thus, BSH and derivatives appear to be the most broadly distributed LMW thiols in biology.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	cellular redox status,chlorobaculum tepidum,chlorobiaceae,low molecular weight thiol,sulfur
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Pharmacy
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry (former - to 2021)
Related URLs:	http://mbio.asm.org/lookup/doi/10.1128/m...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	06 Dec 2018 10:30
Last Modified:	22 Oct 2022 04:20
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/69184
DOI:	10.1128/mBio.01603-18

Downloads

Actions (login required)

View Item