Two novel S-methyltransferases confer dimethylsulfide production in Actinomycetota

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Guo, Ruihong, Guo, Zihua, Zhou, Yi, Zhang, Yunhui, Cheng, Haojin, Devine, Rebecca, Sun, Chuang, Liu, Ronghua, Zheng, Yanfen, Gates, Andrew J., Todd, Jonathan D. and Zhang, Xiao-Hua (2025) Two novel S-methyltransferases confer dimethylsulfide production in Actinomycetota. Advanced Science. ISSN 2198-3844

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Abstract

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), methanethiol (MeSH), and dimethylsulfide (DMS) are abundant sulfur gases with crucial roles in global sulfur cycling, chemotaxis, and climate regulation. Microorganisms can S-methylate H2S and MeSH, which can be cytotoxic, to yield non-toxic DMS via MddA or MddH enzymes in largely terrestrial or marine environments, respectively. However, the potential of many important and abundant bacteria like Actinomycetota is underestimated due to unknown Mdd enzymes. Here, two novel S-adenosine-methionine-dependent H2S and MeSH S-methyltransferases, MddM1 and MddM2 are identified, in the DMS-producing actinomycete Mycolicibacterium poriferae (M. poriferae) ZYF656, isolated from the Mariana Trench. M. poriferae ZYF656 MddM1 and MddM2 likely detoxify H2S and MeSH and alleviate oxidative stress, since mddM1 and mddM2 transcription is induced by H2S, MeSH, and oxidative stress, and their expression in E. coli enhances H2S, MeSH, and oxidative stress tolerance. MddM1 and/or MddM2 are in >50% of actinomycetota, including the model Streptomyces species, S. venezuelae, but are also seen in some Chloroflexota, Acidobacteriota, and Proteobacteria. mddM1 is always more abundant than mddM2 in diverse environments and is prevalent in soils and marsh sediments. This study highlights the significance of H2S- and MeSH-dependent DMS production and, principally, of Actinomycetota in global DMS production and sulfur cycling.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Data Availability Statement: All data needed to evaluate the conclusions in the paper are present in the paper and/or the Supplementary information. Funding information: This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32370118, 42306115 and 42376101), the National Key Research and Develpment Program of China (2025YFF0516900 and 2025YFF0516903), Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (ZR2023QD017), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2022M722975), the Postdoctoral Innovation Program of Shandong Province (SDCX-ZG-202201016), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, UK (BB/X005968), Natural Environmental Research Council, UK (NE/P012671) and China Scholarship Council (No. 202106330012).
Uncontrolled Keywords: actinomycetota,s-methyltransferases,dimethylsulfide,methanethiol,sulfide,engineering(all),physics and astronomy(all),chemical engineering(all),biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology (miscellaneous),materials science(all),medicine (miscellaneous),sdg 13 - climate action,sdg 14 - life below water ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2200
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Molecular and Structural Biochemistry
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Molecular Microbiology
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Wolfson Centre for Advanced Environmental Microbiology
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Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 09 Dec 2025 15:30
Last Modified: 15 Dec 2025 16:30
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/101350
DOI: 10.1002/advs.202510141

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