Nucleotide sequence and expression of the ncr nickel and cobalt resistance in Hafnia alvei 5-5

Authors

  • Jeong Eun Park Department of Biology, Research Institute for Basic Science, Kyunghee University, Seoul, Korea
  • Hans-Günter Schlegel Institute for Microbiology, Georg-August University, Göttingen, Germany
  • Ho Gun Rhie Department of Biology, Research Institute for Basic Science, Kyunghee University, Seoul, Korea
  • Ho Sa Lee Department of Biology, Research Institute for Basic Science, Kyunghee University, Seoul, Korea

Keywords:

plasmid pEJH501, operon NcrABCYX, σ32 σ32-type promoter sequence, nickel-resistant bacteria

Abstract

The structural genes for the nickel and cobalt resistance of the conjugative plasmid pEJH 501 of Hafnia alvei 5-5, contained on a SalI-EcoRI fragment of 4.8 kb, were cloned and sequenced. The DNA sequence included five genes in the following order: ncrA, ncrB, ncrC, ncrY, and ncrX. The predicted amino acid sequences of ncrA were homologous to the amino acid sequences of nreB of Achromobacter xylosoxidans 31A. Expression of ncr with the T7 RNA polymerase-promoter system allowed Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) to overexpress NcrA, NcrB, and NcrC but not NcrY, and NcrX. The apparent molecular masses of NcrA, NcrB, and NcrC were 30, 33, and 17 kDa, respectively. Primer-extension analysis showed that ncr mRNA started at nucleotide position 23 upstream from ncrA. The promoter region of the ncr operon possessed a strong, putative –35 element of σ32-type promoter sequence, and transcriptional 'lacZ fusion studies indicated that the –35 element influenced σ32-specific transcription. [Int Microbiol 2004; 7(1):27–34]

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Published

2010-03-03

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Section

Research Articles