PNNL

Abstract

EtrA in Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, a model organism for study of adaptation to varied redox niches, shares 73.6% and 50.8% amino acid sequence identity with the oxygen-sensing regulators Fnr in E. coli and Anr in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, respectively; however, its regulatory role of anaerobic metabolism in Shewanella spp. is not well understood. The expression of the nap genes, nrfA, cymA and hcp was significantly reduced in etrA deletion mutant EtrA7-1; however, limited anaerobic growth and nitrate reduction occurred, suggesting that multiple regulators control nitrate reduction in this strain. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and fumarate reductase gene expression was down regulated at least 2-fold and the EtrA7-1 mutant grew poorly with fumarate and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), suggesting both respiratory pathways are under EtrA control. Transcript analysis further suggested a role of EtrA in prophage activation and down regulation of genes implicated in aerobic metabolism. In contrast to previous studies that attributed a minor regulatory role to EtrA in Shewanella spp., this study demonstrates that EtrA acts as a global transcriptional regulator and confers physiological advantages to strain MR-1 under certain growth conditions. In conjunction with other regulators, EtrA fine-tunes the expression of genes involved in anaerobic metabolism in S. oneidensis strain MR-1.