Part:BBa_K2695010

D. aromatica chlorite dismutase

Usage and Biology

This BioBrick is included in our chlorite dismutase parts collection along with BBa_K2695000, BBa_K2695001 and BBa_K2695002.

Chlorite dismutase is an enzyme used mainly by perchlorate reducing bacteria to break down the anion chlorite into chloride and oxygen - a reaction which takes place in the periplasm of the bacterium. Chlorite is damaging to cells as it is a strong oxidant, so even though the reaction it catalyses does not release energy it is essential for survival of these organisms. No other enzymes (except for photosystem 2) are known to have the primary function of producing oxygen through a covalent oxygen-oxygen double bond. (Kostan, J et al. 2010).

This part was taken from the Proteobacterium Dechloromonas aromatica, and was also worked on by Leiden 2016 (https://parts.igem.org/Part:BBa_K1938004). We have improved on the characterisation of this part through expression of the plasmid in E. coli, a Western Blot to visualise expression and an oxygen production assay.

Sequence and Features

Assembly Compatibility:

• 10
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[10]
• 12
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[12]
• 21
  INCOMPATIBLE WITH RFC[21]

  Illegal BamHI site found at 70
  
• 23
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[23]
• 25
  INCOMPATIBLE WITH RFC[25]

  Illegal NgoMIV site found at 570
  
• 1000
  INCOMPATIBLE WITH RFC[1000]

  Illegal BsaI site found at 8
  Illegal BsaI.rc site found at 915
  

Cultivation and Expression

Cultivation:

• Cells were incubated overnight in 5ml LB media (35μg/ml chloramphenicol) at 37^oC shaking at 220 rpm.

Expression:

• Cells were grown in 50ml LB media (35μg/ul chloramphenicol) to an OD₆₀₀ of 0.6, verifying via a spectrophotometer.
• 0.2mM IPTG was added
• 1mM Hemin was added
• Cells were grown for a further 4 hours before harvesting

Western Blot

To demonstrate visually that the proteins were expressed a Western Blot was performed. The Blot membranes were probed with an anti-His-tag primary antibody raised in mouse, and an anti-mouse secondary antibody, raised in goat, conjugated to alkaline phosphatase.

                                    Figure 5: Western blot for Cld constructs 
                  Expected molecular weights (kDa): A = 32.97 | B = 32.99 | C = 32.96 | D = 31.20

The Western Blot displayed expression of chlorite dismutase for D. aromatica, and therefore we have proved expression of our new part.

Cell Lysate Oxygen Production

Oxygen production was chosen as the parameter for enzyme activity, and this was measured using a Clark oxygen electrode. The experiment was performed using lysed, rather than whole, cells to get a 'yes or no' answer to the question 'will oxygen be produced on the addition of sodium chlorite?'

Harvested cells were resuspended in a phosphate buffer, pH 7 and lysed via sonication. Evolution of oxygen from the cell lysate, after addition of sodium chlorite (250 μM), was measured using a Hansatech Clark Oxygen Electrode.

NOTE: Sodium chlorite is extremely toxic and a suspected carcinogen - because of this the oxygen measurement was carried out by a trained supervisor, NOT a member of the iGEM team.

                                         WT = Wild Type E. coli (strain: BL21 (DE3))

Out of the parts collection of chlorite dismutase enzymes, D. aromatica cld was the most effective at producing oxygen. Therefore we have shown that our part is functional in E. coli.

We have also shown through expression and the oxygen production assay that we have improved on the characterisation of Leiden 2016's D. aromatica cld part.

The results of this experiment lay the groundwork for future repeats using whole cells to test whether the oxygen will be released from the periplasm of the E. coli.

References

Kostan, J. Sjöblom, B. (2010) Structural and functional characterisation of the chlorite dismutase from the nitrite-oxidizing bacterium “Candidatus Nitrospira defluvii”: Identification of a catalytically important amino acid residue. Journal of Structural Biology, Vol 172 (issue 3), pp 331 - 342 [online]. Available from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1047847710001929?via%3Dihub [last accessed 21/09/18]