Chemolithoautotrophic oxidation of thiosulfate and phylogenetic distribution of sulfur oxidation gene (soxB) in rhizobacteria isolated from crop plants

• Published in: Research in microbiology Vol. 159; no. 9-10; pp. 579 - 589
• Main Authors: Anandham, Rangasamy, Indiragandhi, Pandiyan, Madhaiyan, Munusamy, Ryu, Kyoung Yul, Jee, Hyeong Jin, Sa, Tong Min
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Issy-les-Moulineaux Elsevier Masson SAS 01.11.2008; Elsevier Masson
• Subjects: Actinobacteria; Alcaligenes; Bacteria - classification; Bacteria - genetics; Bacteria - isolation & purification; Bacteria - metabolism; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; Bacterial Proteins - metabolism; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Burkholderia; Chemoautotrophic Growth; Crops, Agricultural - microbiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Microbacterium; Microbiology; Miscellaneous; Molecular Sequence Data; Oxidation-Reduction; Pandoraea; Pandoraea pnomenusa; Paracoccus sulfur oxidation pathway; Phylogeny; Plant Roots - microbiology; Proteobacteria; Rhizosphere; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics; S4 intermediate pathway; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Soil Microbiology; soxB; Sulfur - metabolism; Thiosulfate-oxidizing bacteria; Thiosulfates - metabolism; Rhizosphere; S4 intermediate pathway; soxB; Thiosulfate-oxidizing bacteria; Paracoccus sulfur oxidation pathway; Gene; Microbiology; Paracoccus; Bacteria; Oxidation; Phylogeny
• ISSN: 0923-2508; 1769-7123
• DOI: 10.1016/j.resmic.2008.08.007

Twenty-one thiosulfate-oxidizing bacteria were isolated from rhizosphere soils and 16S rRNA analysis revealed that the isolates were affiliated with seven different phylogenetic groups within the Beta and Gamma subclasses of Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria. Among these, five genera, including Dyella, Burkholderia, Alcaligenes, Microbacterium and Leifsonia sp., represented new sulfur oxidizers in rhizosphere soils. The thiosulfate-oxidizing Dyella, Burkholderia, Alcaligenes, Microbacterium, Leifsonia and Pandoraea were able to grow chemolithotrophically with a medium containing thiosulfate and exhibited growth coupled with thiosulfate oxidation. They accumulated intermediate products such as sulfur, sulfite and trithionate in the spent medium during the time course of thiosulfate oxidation, and these products were finally oxidized into sulfate. Furthermore, they possessed thiosulfate-metabolizing enzymes such as rhodanese, thiosulfate oxidase, sulfite oxidase and trithionate hydrolase, suggesting that these bacteria use the ‘S4 intermediate’ (S4I) pathway for thiosulfate oxidation. Phylogenetic analysis of the soxB gene revealed that Pandoraea sp. and Pandoraea pnomenusa strains formed a separate lineage within Betaproteobacteria.