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3-Nitrotoluene dioxygenase from Diaphorobacter sp. strains: cloning, sequencing and evolutionary studies

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Abstract

The first step in the degradation of 3-nitrotoluene by Diaphorobacter sp. strain DS2 is the dihydroxylation of the benzene ring with the concomitant removal of nitro group. This is catalyzed by a dioxygenase enzyme system. We report here the cloning and sequencing of the complete dioxygenase gene with its putative regulatory sequence from the genomic DNA of Diaphorobacter sp. strains DS1, DS2 and DS3. Analysis of the 5 kb DNA stretch that was cloned, revealed five complete open reading frames (ORFs) encoding for a reductase, a ferredoxin and two dioxygenase subunits with predicted molecular weights (MW) of 35, 12, 50 and 23 kDa respectively. A regulatory protein was also divergently transcribed from the reductase subunit and has a predicated MW of 34 kDa. Presence of parts of two functional ORFs in between the reductase and the ferredoxin subunits reveals an evolutionary route from a naphthalene dioxygenase like system of Ralstonia sp. strain U2. Further a 100 % identity of its ferredoxin subunit reveals its evolution via dinitrotoluene dioxygenase like system present in Burkholderia cepacia strain R34. A modeled structure of oxygenase3NT from strain DS2 was generated using nitrobenzene dioxygenase as a template. The modeled structure only showed minor changes at its active site. Comparison of growth patterns of strains DS1, DS2 and DS3 revealed that Diaphorobacter sp. strain DS1 has been evolved to degrade 4-nitrotoluene better by an oxidative route amongst all three strains.

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Acknowledgements

Deepak Singh and Archana Kumari were helped by Ms. Ruchi Lohia (a SURGE summer internship student, 2011) in the initial modeling work. We thank the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) India and Department of Chemistry, IIT Kanpur for financial help.

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  1. Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, 208016, India

    Deepak Singh, Archana Kumari & Gurunath Ramanathan

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  1. Deepak Singh
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  3. Gurunath Ramanathan
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Correspondence to Gurunath Ramanathan.

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Singh, D., Kumari, A. & Ramanathan, G. 3-Nitrotoluene dioxygenase from Diaphorobacter sp. strains: cloning, sequencing and evolutionary studies. Biodegradation 25, 479–492 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10532-013-9675-9

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