PNNL

Abstract

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), a common chelating agent, is becoming a major organic pollutant in the form of metal-EDTA complexes in surface waters, partly due to its recalcitrance to biodegradation. Even an EDTA-degrading bacterium BNC1 does not degrade stable metal-EDTA complexes. An ABC-type transporter was identified for possible uptake of EDTA because the transporter genes and EDTA monooxygenase gene were expressed in a single operon in BNC1. The ABC-type transporter had a periplasmic binding protein (EppA) that should confer the substrate specificity for the transporter; therefore, EppA was produced in Escherichia coli,purified, and characterized. EppA was shown to bind free EDTA with a dissociation constant as low as 25 nM by using isothermal titration calorimetry. When unstable metal-EDTA complexes, e.g. MgEDTA2-, were added to the EppA solution, binding was also observed. However, experimental data and theoretical analysis only supported EppA binding of free EDTA. When stable metal-EDTA complexes, e.g. CuEDTA2-, are titrated into the EppA solution, no binding was observed. Since EDTA monooxygenase in the cytoplasm uses some of the stable metal-EDTA complexes as substrates, we suggest that the lack of EppA binding and EDTA uptake are responsible for the failure of BNC1 cells to degrade the stable complexes.