OmcF, a putative c-Type monoheme outer membrane cytochrome required for the expression of other outer membrane cytochromes in Geobacter sulfurreducens.

TitleOmcF, a putative c-Type monoheme outer membrane cytochrome required for the expression of other outer membrane cytochromes in Geobacter sulfurreducens.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2005
AuthorsKim B-C, Leang C, Ding Y-HR, Glaven RH, Coppi MV, Lovley DR
JournalJ Bacteriol
Volume187
Issue13
Pagination4505-13
Date Published2005 Jul
ISSN0021-9193
KeywordsAmino Acid Sequence, Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins, Cytochromes c, Ferric Compounds, Gene Deletion, Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial, Geobacter, Molecular Sequence Data, Oxidation-Reduction, Sequence Alignment
Abstract

Outer membrane cytochromes are often proposed as likely agents for electron transfer to extracellular electron acceptors, such as Fe(III). The omcF gene in the dissimilatory Fe(III)-reducing microorganism Geobacter sulfurreducens is predicted to code for a small outer membrane monoheme c-type cytochrome. An OmcF-deficient strain was constructed, and its ability to reduce and grow on Fe(III) citrate was found to be impaired. Following a prolonged lag phase (150 h), the OmcF-deficient strain developed the ability to grow in Fe(III) citrate medium with doubling times and yields that were ca. 145% and 70% of those of the wild type, respectively. Comparison of the c-type cytochrome contents of outer membrane-enriched fractions prepared from wild-type and OmcF-deficient cultures confirmed the outer membrane association of OmcF and revealed multiple changes in the cytochrome content of the OmcF-deficient strain. These changes included loss of expression of two previously characterized outer membrane cytochromes, OmcB and OmcC, and overexpression of a third previously characterized outer membrane cytochrome, OmcS, during growth on Fe(III) citrate. The omcB and omcC transcripts could not be detected in the OmcF-deficient mutant by either reverse transcriptase PCR or Northern blot analyses. Expression of the omcF gene in trans restored both the capacity of the OmcF-deficient mutant to reduce Fe(III) and wild-type levels of omcB and omcC mRNA and protein. Thus, elimination of OmcF may impair Fe(III) reduction by influencing expression of OmcB, which has previously been demonstrated to play a critical role in Fe(III) reduction.

DOI10.1128/JB.187.13.4505-4513.2005
Alternate JournalJ. Bacteriol.
PubMed ID15968061