Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The major soluble cytochromes of the obligately aerobic sulfur bacterium, Thiobacillus neapolitanus

  • Original Papers
  • Published:
Archives of Microbiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Four cytochromes were isolated from soluble extracts of the aerobic sulfur bacterium, Thiobacillus neapolitanus. The two most abundant proteins were purified to homogeneity and thoroughly characterized. Cytochrome c-554 (547) is a monomeric, small molecular weight protein which is unusual in having two well-resolved alpha peaks in UV-visible absorption spectra. The redox potential is 208 mV. Native cytochrome c-549 is oligometric, but has a subunit size of about 26.000. The yield of this protein could be improved dramatically by washing membranes with 30% ammonium sulfate, but the material solubilized by this method had a larger native molecular weight than that in the initial 0.1 M Tris-Cl extract and behaved differently on chromatography. The properties of cytochrome c-549 including subunit size and UV-visible absorption spectra are similar to mitochondrial cytochrome c 1 and chloroplast cytochrome f, which suggests that it may be a modified form of the predominant membrane cytochrome. Based on cytochrome content, it is suggested that T. neapolitanus is not closely related to other thiobacilli.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aleem MIH (1965) Thiosulfate oxidation and electron transport in Thiobacillus novellus. J Bacteriol 90:95–101

    Google Scholar 

  • Aleem MIH (1975) Biochemical reaction mechanisms in sulfur oxidation by chemosynthetic bacteria. Plant and Soil 43:587–607

    Google Scholar 

  • Ambler RP (1977) Cytochrome c and copper protein evolution in prokaryotes. In: Leigh GJ (ed) The evolution of metalloenzymes, metalloproteins and related materials. Symposium Press, London, pp 110–118

    Google Scholar 

  • Ambler RP, Bartsch RG, Daniel M, Kamen MD, McLellan L, Meyer TE, Van Beeumen J (1981) Amino acid sequences of bacterial cytochromes c′ and c-556. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 78:6854–6857

    Google Scholar 

  • Aminuddin M, Nicholas DJD (1979) Electron transfer during sulfide and sulfite oxidation in Thiobacillus denitrificans. J Gen Microbiol 82:115–123

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrews P (1964) Estimation of the molecular weights of proteins by sephadex gel-filtration. Biochem J 91:222–233

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartsch RG (1978) Cytochromes. In: Clayton RK, Sistrom WR (eds) The photosynthetic bacteria. Plenum Press, New York, pp 249–279

    Google Scholar 

  • Cobley JG, Haddock BA (1975) The respiratory chain of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans: The reduction of cytochromes by Fe2+ and the preliminary characterization of rusticyanin a novel “blue” copper protein. FEBS Letts 60:29–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Cox JC, Boxer DH (1978) The purification and some properties of Rusticyanin, a blue copper protein involved in iron(II) oxidation from Thiobacillus ferro-oxidans. Biochem J 174:497–502

    Google Scholar 

  • Errede BJ (1976) Comparative kinetic studies of cytochrome c reactions with mitochondrial redox systems. Ph. D. Thesis, University of California at San Diego

  • Errede BJ, Kamen MD (1978) Comparative kinetic studies of cytochrome c in reactions with mitochondrial cytochrome c. oxidase and reductase. Biochemistry 17:1015–1027

    Google Scholar 

  • Hori K (1961) Electron transporting components participating in nitrate and oxygen respirations from a halotolerant Micrococcus. I. Purification and properties of cytochromes b4 (I) and b4 (II). J Biochem 50:440–449

    Google Scholar 

  • Lu WP, Kelly DP (1984) Purification and characterization of two essential cytochromes of the thiosulphate-oxidizing multienzyme system from Thiobacillus A2 (Thiobacillus versutus). Biochim Biophys Acta 765:106–117

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer TE, Bartsch RG, Cusanovich MA, Mathewson JH (1968) The cytochromes of Chlorobium thiosulfatophilum. Biochim Biophys Acta 153:854–861

    Google Scholar 

  • Moriarty DJW, Nicholas DJD (1970) Electron transfer during sulfide oxidation by Thiobacillus concretivorus. Biochim Biophys Acta 216:130–138

    Google Scholar 

  • Parker CD (1947) Species of sulfur bacteria associated with the corrosion of concrete. Nature 159:439–440

    Google Scholar 

  • Parker CD, Prisk J (1953) The oxidation of inorganic compounds of sulfur by various sulfur bacteria. J Gen Microbiol 8:344–364

    Google Scholar 

  • Peeters T, Aleem MIH (1970) Oxidation of sulfur compounds and electron transport in Thiobacillus denitrificans. Arch Mikrobiol 71:319–330

    Google Scholar 

  • Roy AB, Trudinger PA (1970) The biochemistry of inorganic compounds of sulfur. University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Sadler MH, Johnson EJ (1972) A comparison of the NADH oxidase electron transport systems of two obligately chemolithotrophic bacteria. Biochim Biophys Acta 283:167–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Sawhney V, Nicholas DJD (1978) Sulfide-linked nitrite reductase from Thiobacillus denitrificans with cytochrome oxidase activity: Purification and properties. J Gen Microbiol 106:119–128

    Google Scholar 

  • Saxena J, Aleem MIH (1973) Oxidation of sulfur compounds and coupled phosphorylation in the chemoautotroph, Thiobacillus neapolitanus. Can J Biochem 51:560–568

    Google Scholar 

  • Siegel LM (1975) Biochemistry of the sulfur cycle. Metab Pathways 7:217–286

    Google Scholar 

  • Suzuki I (1974) Mechanisms of inorganic oxidation and energy coupling. Ann Rev Microbiol 28:85–101

    Google Scholar 

  • Takakuwa S (1975) Purification and some properties of cytochrome c-552 from a sulfur-oxidizing bacterium, Thiobacillus thiooxidans. J Biochem 78:181–185

    Google Scholar 

  • Tanaka Y, Fukumori Y, Yamanaka T (1982) The complete amino acid sequence of Nitrobacter agilis cytochrome c-550. Biochim Biophys Acta 707:14–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Trudinger PA (1958) Cytochromes and thiosulphate oxidation in an aerobic Thiobacillus. Biochim Biophys Acta 30:211–212

    Google Scholar 

  • Trudinger PA (1961) Thiosulphate oxidation and cytochromes in Thiobacillus X. 1. Fractionation of bacterial extracts and properties of cytochromes. Biochem J 78:673–680

    Google Scholar 

  • Trudinger PA (1964) Products of anaerobic metabolism of tetrathionate by Thiobacillus X. Aust J Biol Sci 17:446–458

    Google Scholar 

  • Trudinger PA (1967) The metabolism of inorganic sulfur compounds by thiobacilli. Rev Pure Appl Chem 17:1–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Beeumen J, Tempst P, Stevens P, Bral D, Van Damme J, DeLey J (1980) Cytochromes c of two different sequence classes in Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Protides of Biological Fluids 28:69–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Vishniac WV, Santer M (1957) The thiobacilli. Bacterial Rev 21:195–213

    Google Scholar 

  • Vishniac WV (1974) Organisms metabolizing sulfur and sulfur compounds. Genus 1 Thiobacillus. In: Buchanan RE, Gibbons NE (eds) Bergeys manual of determinative bacteriology, 8th edn. Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, pp 456–461

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamanaka T, Fujii K (1980) Cytochrome a-type terminal oxidase derived from Thiobacillus novellus. Molecular and enzymatic properties. Biochim Biophys Acta 591:53–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamanaka T, Kimura K (1974) Eukaryotic cytochrome c-like properties of cytochrome c-550 (Thiobacillus novellus). FEBS Letts 48:253–255

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamanaka T, Horio T, Okunuki K (1960) Purification and some properties of a b-type cytochrome from Sclerotinia libertiana. Biochim Biophys Acta 40:349–351

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamanaka T, Takenami S, Akiyama N, Okunuki K (1971) Purification and properties of cytochrome c-550 and cytochrome c-551 derived from the facultative chemoautotroph, Thiobacillus novellus. J Biochem 70:349–358

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamanaka T, Shinra M, Kimura K (1977) A comparison between Nitrosomonas europaea and Thiobacillus novellus on the basis of their oxidation systems of inorganic compounds. Biosystems 9:155–164

    Google Scholar 

  • Yu CA, Mei QC, Yu L (1984) Isolation and characterization of cytochrome c 1 from photosynthetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides R-26. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 118:964–969

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. P. A. Trudinger

    Present address: Baas Becking Geobiological Laboratory, P.O. Box 378, 2601, Canberra City, A.C.T., Australia

  2. T. E. Meyer

    Present address: Biochemistry Department, University of Arizona, 85721, Tucson, AZ, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemistry Department, University of California, 92093, San Diego, CA, USA

    P. A. Trudinger, T. E. Meyer, R. G. Bartsch & M. D. Kamen

Authors
  1. P. A. Trudinger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. T. E. Meyer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. R. G. Bartsch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. M. D. Kamen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Dedicated to Prof. Dr. G. Drews on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Trudinger, P.A., Meyer, T.E., Bartsch, R.G. et al. The major soluble cytochromes of the obligately aerobic sulfur bacterium, Thiobacillus neapolitanus . Arch. Microbiol. 141, 273–278 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00428836

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00428836

Key words

Search

Navigation