Open AccessCharacterization of the quaternary amine transporters of Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae 3841
Author(s) -
Fox Marc A.,
Karunakaran Ramakrishnan,
Leonard Mary E.,
Mouhsine Bouchra,
Williams Allan,
East Alison K.,
Downie J. Allan,
Poole Philip S.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.2008.01307.x
Subject(s) - betaine , glycine , biochemistry , choline , chemistry , biology , amino acid
Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae 3841 contains six putative quaternary ammonium transporters (Qat), of the ABC family. Qat6 was strongly induced by hyperosmosis although the solute transported was not identified. All six systems were induced by the quaternary amines choline and glycine betaine. It was confirmed by microarray analysis of the genome that pRL100079–83 ( qat6 ) is the most strongly upregulated transport system under osmotic stress, although other transporters and 104 genes are more than threefold upregulated. A range of quaternary ammonium compounds were tested but all failed to improve growth of strain 3841 under hyperosmotic stress. One Qat system ( gbcXWV ) was induced 20‐fold by glycine betaine and choline and a Tn 5::gbcW mutant was severely impaired for both transport and growth on these compounds, demonstrating that it is the principal system for their use as carbon and nitrogen sources. It transports glycine betaine and choline with a high affinity (apparent K m , 168 and 294 nM, respectively).