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Proteomic and Transcriptomic Analyses of “Candidatus Pelagibacter ubique” Describe the First P[subscript II]-Independent Response to Nitrogen Limitation in a Free-Living Alphaproteobacterium

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Title Proteomic and Transcriptomic Analyses of “Candidatus Pelagibacter ubique” Describe the First P[subscript II]-Independent Response to Nitrogen Limitation in a Free-Living Alphaproteobacterium
Names Smith, Daniel P. (creator)
Thrash, J. Cameron (creator)
Nicora, Carrie D. (creator)
Lipton, Mary S. (creator)
Burnum-Johnson, Kristin E. (creator)
Carini, Paul (creator)
Smith, Richard D. (creator)
Giovannoni, Stephen J. (creator)
Date Issued 2013-11-26 (iso8601)
Note This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the author(s) and published by the American Society for Microbiology. The published article can be found at: http://mbio.asm.org/.
Abstract Nitrogen is one of the major nutrients limiting microbial productivity in the ocean, and as a result, most marine microorganisms
have evolved systems for responding to nitrogen stress. The highly abundant alphaproteobacterium “Candidatus
Pelagibacter ubique,” a cultured member of the order Pelagibacterales (SAR11), lacks the canonical GlnB, GlnD, GlnK, and
NtrB/NtrC genes for regulating nitrogen assimilation, raising questions about how these organisms respond to nitrogen limitation.
A survey of 266 Alphaproteobacteria genomes found these five regulatory genes nearly universally conserved, absent only in
intracellular parasites and members of the order Pelagibacterales, including “Ca. Pelagibacter ubique.” Global differences in
mRNA and protein expression between nitrogen-limited and nitrogen-replete cultures were measured to identify nitrogen stress
responses in “Ca. Pelagibacter ubique” strain HTCC1062. Transporters for ammonium (AmtB), taurine (TauA), amino acids
(YhdW), and opines (OccT) were all elevated in nitrogen-limited cells, indicating that they devote increased resources to the assimilation
of nitrogenous organic compounds. Enzymes for assimilating amine into glutamine (GlnA), glutamate (GltBD), and
glycine (AspC) were similarly upregulated. Differential regulation of the transcriptional regulator NtrX in the two-component
signaling system NtrY/NtrX was also observed, implicating it in control of the nitrogen starvation response. Comparisons of the
transcriptome and proteome supported previous observations of uncoupling between transcription and translation in nutrient-deprived
“Ca. Pelagibacter ubique” cells. Overall, these data reveal a streamlined, P[subscript II]-independent response to nitrogen stress in
“Ca. Pelagibacter ubique,” and likely other Pelagibacterales, and show that they respond to nitrogen stress by allocating more
resources to the assimilation of nitrogen-rich organic compounds.
Genre Article
Access Condition http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Identifier Smith DP, Thrash JC, Nicora CD, Lipton MS, Burnum-Johnson KE, Carini P, Smith RD, Giovannoni SJ. 2013. Proteomic and transcriptomic analyses of “Candidatus Pelagibacter ubique” describe the first P[subscript II]-independent response to nitrogen limitation in a free-living alphaproteobacterium. mBio 4(6):e00133-12. doi:10.1128/mBio.00133-12

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