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A comparative study of the evolution of cellobiose utilization in Escherichia coli and Shigella sonnei

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Abstract

The chb operon of Escherichia coli is involved in the utilization of chitooligosaccharides. While acquisition of two classes of mutations leading to altered regulation of the chb operon is necessary to confer the ability to utilize the glucose disaccharide cellobiose to wild-type strains of E. coli, in the closely related organism Shigella sonnei, Cel+ mutants arise relatively faster, requiring only a single mutational event. In Type I mutants, the insertion of IS600 at −21 leads to ChbR regulator-independent, constitutive expression of the operon. In Type II mutants, the insertion of IS2/600 within the distal binding site of the negative regulator NagC leads to ChbR-dependent cellobiose-inducible expression of the operon. These studies underscore the significance of strain background, specifically the diversity of transposable elements, in the evolution of novel metabolic functions. Constitutive expression of the chb operon also enables utilization of the aromatic β-glucosides arbutin and salicin, implying that the chb structural genes are inherently promiscuous.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by an institutional grant from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt. of India, to the Indian Institute of Science and infrastructural support from the Department of Science and Technology (DST) under the FIST Program and the Universities Grants Commission (UGC), Govt. of India. AMJ thanks the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Govt. of India, for a senior research fellowship.

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Author notes

  1. Robert Sonowal

    Present address: Department of Pathology, Emory University School of Medicine, 615 Michael St, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Reproduction, Development and Genetics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 560012, India

    Asha Mary Joseph, Robert Sonowal & Subramony Mahadevan

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  1. Asha Mary Joseph
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  2. Robert Sonowal
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  3. Subramony Mahadevan
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Correspondence to Subramony Mahadevan.

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Communicated by Erko Stackebrandt.

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Joseph, A.M., Sonowal, R. & Mahadevan, S. A comparative study of the evolution of cellobiose utilization in Escherichia coli and Shigella sonnei . Arch Microbiol 199, 247–257 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-016-1299-0

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