Transposon induced mutation in Gluconobacter oxydans with special reference to its direct-glucose oxidation metabolism

Generation of a Gluconobacter oxydans knockout collection for improved extraction of rare earth elements

Bioleaching of rare earth elements (REEs), using microorganisms such as Gluconobacter oxydans, offers a sustainable alternative to environmentally harmful thermochemical extraction, but is currently not very efficient. Here, we generate a whole-genome knockout collection of single-gene transposon disruption mutants for G. oxydans B58, to identify genes affecting the efficacy of REE bioleaching. We find 304 genes whose disruption alters the production of acidic biolixiviant. Disruption of genes underlying synthesis of the cofactor pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) and the PQQ-dependent membrane-bound glucose dehydrogenase nearly eliminates bioleaching. Disruption of phosphate-specific transport system genes enhances bioleaching by up to 18%. Our results provide a comprehensive roadmap for engineering the genome of G. oxydans to further increase its bioleaching efficiency.

Modification and evolution of Gluconobacter oxydans for enhanced growth and biotransformation capabilities at low glucose concentration

Gluconobacter oxydans is widely used in several biotechnological applications, where sorbitol or mannitol is commonly used as carbon source at high concentration. In this study, a membrane-bound glucose dehydrogenase-deficient strain (GDHK) was constructed to eliminate growth problems on glucose caused by direct oxidation of glucose in the medium. To achieve improved growth properties for the GDHK strain on glucose, a laboratory adaptive evolution experiment was performed with glucose as the sole carbon source. Results indicated evident, albeit modest, improvements in cell growth after a 50-day (about 430 generations) experimental evolution on glucose. The maximum specific growth rate and biomass yield of the resulting GDHE50 strain were increased around 1.35- to 1.4-fold compared with those of the GDHK strain. Meanwhile, two types of biotransformation reactions using resting cells of G. oxydans were investigated. Significant elevations in biotransformation performance of the GHDE50 strain were observed in comparison with that of the wild-type strain. In addition, resting cells of the GDHE50 strain grown on a relatively low concentration of glucose (10 g/l) could catalyze the biotransformation of glycerol to dihydroxyacetone and ethylene glycol to glycolic acid as efficient as the wild-type G. oxydans cultured on higher concentration of sorbitol or other carbon sources. These results suggest very favorable prospects of using glucose to lower production cost in many important industrial biocatalysis and biotransformation processes.

Membrane-bound pyrroloquinoline quinone-dependent dehydrogenase in Gluconobacter oxydans M5, responsible for production of 6-(2-hydroxyethyl) amino-6-deoxy-L-sorbose

A membrane-bound protein purified from Gluconobacter oxydans M5 was confirmed to be a pyrroloquinoline quinone-dependent D-sorbitol dehydrogenase. Gene disruption and complementation experiments demonstrated that this enzyme is responsible for the oxidation of 1-(2-hydroxyethyl) amino-1-deoxy-D-sorbitol (1NSL) to 6-(2-hydroxyethyl) amino-6-deoxy-L-sorbose (6NSE), which is the precursor of an antidiabetic drug, miglitol.

Knockout and overexpression of pyrroloquinoline quinone biosynthetic genes in Gluconobacter oxydans 621H

In Gluconobacter oxydans, pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) serves as the cofactor for various membrane-bound dehydrogenases that oxidize sugars and alcohols in the periplasm. Proteins for the biosynthesis of PQQ are encoded by the pqqABCDE gene cluster. Our reverse transcription-PCR and promoter analysis data indicated that the pqqA promoter represents the only promoter within the pqqABCDE cluster of G. oxydans 621H. PQQ overproduction in G. oxydans was achieved by transformation with the plasmid-carried pqqA gene or the complete pqqABCDE cluster. A G. oxydans mutant unable to produce PQQ was obtained by site-directed disruption of the pqqA gene. In contrast to the wild-type strain, the pqqA mutant did not grow with d-mannitol, d-glucose, or glycerol as the sole energy source, showing that in G. oxydans 621H, PQQ is essential for growth with these substrates. Growth of the pqqA mutant, however, was found with d-gluconate as the energy source. The growth behavior of the pqqA mutant correlated with the presence or absence of the respective PQQ-dependent membrane-bound dehydrogenase activities, demonstrating the vital role of these enzymes in G. oxydans metabolism. A different PQQ-deficient mutant was generated by Tn5 transposon mutagenesis. This mutant showed a defect in a gene with high homology to the Escherichia coli tldD gene, which encodes a peptidase. Our results indicate that the tldD gene in G. oxydans 621H is involved in PQQ biosynthesis, possibly with a similar function to that of the pqqF genes found in other PQQ-synthesizing bacteria.

5-keto-D-gluconate production is catalyzed by a quinoprotein glycerol dehydrogenase, major polyol dehydrogenase, in gluconobacter species

Acetic acid bacteria, especially Gluconobacter species, have been known to catalyze the extensive oxidation of sugar alcohols (polyols) such as D-mannitol, glycerol, D-sorbitol, and so on. Gluconobacter species also oxidize sugars and sugar acids and uniquely accumulate two different keto-D-gluconates, 2-keto-D-gluconate and 5-keto-D-gluconate, in the culture medium by the oxidation of D-gluconate. However, there are still many controversies regarding their enzyme systems, especially on D-sorbitol and also D-gluconate oxidations. Recently, pyrroloquinoline quinone-dependent quinoprotein D-arabitol dehydrogenase and D-sorbitol dehydrogenase have been purified from G. suboxydans, both of which have similar and broad substrate specificity towards several different polyols. In this study, both quinoproteins were shown to be identical based on their immuno-cross-reactivity and also on gene disruption and were suggested to be the same as the previously isolated glycerol dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.99.22). Thus, glycerol dehydrogenase is the major polyol dehydrogenase involved in the oxidation of almost all sugar alcohols in Gluconobacter sp. In addition, the so-called quinoprotein glycerol dehydrogenase was also uniquely shown to oxidize D-gluconate, which was completely different from flavoprotein D-gluconate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.99.3), which is involved in the production of 2-keto-D-gluconate. The gene disruption experiment and the reconstitution system of the purified enzyme in this study clearly showed that the production of 5-keto-D-gluconate in G. suboxydans is solely dependent on the quinoprotein glycerol dehydrogenase.

Cloning of Escherichia coli lacZ and lacY genes and their expression in Gluconobacter oxydans and Acetobacter liquefaciens

An efficient transformation protocol for Gluconobacter oxydans and Acetobacter liquefaciens strains was developed by preparation of electrocompetent cells grown on yeast extract-ethanol medium. Plasmid pBBR122 was used as broad-host-range vector to clone the Escherichia coli lacZY genes in G. oxydans and A. liquefaciens. Although both lac genes were functionally expressed in both acetic acid bacteria, only a few transformants were able to grow on lactose. However, this ability strictly depended on the presence of a plasmid expressing both lac genes. Mutations in the plasmids and/or in the chromosome were excluded as the cause of growth ability on lactose.