PNNL

Abstract

It is well established in E. coli and Vibrio cholerae that strains harboring mutations in the ferric uptake regulator gene (fur) are unable to utilize tricarboxylic acid (TCA) compounds, due to the down-regulation of key TCA cycle enzymes, such as AcnA and SdhABCD. This down-regulation is mediated by a Fur-regulated small regulatory RNA named RyhB. In this study, we showed that a fur deletion mutant of the ?-proteobacterium S. oneidensis could utilize TCA compounds. In addition, expression of the TCA cycle genes acnA and sdhA was not down-regulated in the mutant. To explore this observation further, we identified a ryhB gene in Shewanella species and demonstrated its expression experimentally. Further experiments suggested that RyhB was up-regulated in fur mutant, but that AcnA and SdhA were not controlled by RyhB. This work delineates an important difference of the Fur-RyhB regulatory cycle between S. oneidensis and other ?-proteobacteria.