Part:BBa_J61051

[Psal1] J61051 pSB1A2 Bca9015 Salicylate promoter

(Edited by Zheng Pu, Peking iGEM 2013) (Please visit[http://2013.igem.org/Team:Peking/Project/BioSensors/NahR]for more details)

Overview

The nahR gene originated from the 83 kb naphthalene degradation plasmid NAH7 of Pseudomonas putida encodes a 34 kDa protein which binds to nah and sal promoters to activate transcription of the degradation genes in response to the inducer salicylate. This plasmid encodes enzymes for the metabolism of naphthalene or salicylate as the sole carbon and energy source (Fig. 1a) ^[1]. The 14 genes encoding the enzymes for this metabolism are organized in two operons: nah (nahA-F), encoding six enzymes required for metabolism for naphthalene to salicylate and pyruvate, and sal (nahG-M), encoding eight enzymes which metabolize salicylate to intermediates of TCA cycle (Fig. 1b) ^[2].

We also did adaptor for this biosensor to improve its performance. (for more detail:[http://2013.igem.org/Team:Peking/Project/Plugins])

Fig. 1. Degradation pathway of naphthalene in Pseudomonas putida and the gene cluster encoding this function. (a) Gene cluster on the NAH7 plasmid that degrades naphthalene: Naphthalene is degraded into salicylate under the enzymes encoded by the "upper operon"; salicylate is further degraded to enter TCA cycle via the gene products of the "lower operon". Both of the operons are regulated by the transcription factor NahR in response to salicylate, the metabolite intermediate in the pathway. (b) Metabolism of naphthalene encoded by the NAH7 plasmid: Naphthalene is degraded by a series of enzymatic reactions in 13 steps, each catalyzed by a specific nah gene product represented by a capital letter. A through M: A, Naphthalene dioxygenase; B, cis-dihydroxy-naphthalene dioxygenase; D, 2-hydroxychromene-2-carboxylate isomerase; E, 2-hydroxybenzalpyruvate aldolase; F, salicylaldehyde dehydrogenase; G, salicylate hydroxylase; H, catechol 2,3-dioxygenase; I, 2-hydroxymuconate semialdehyde dehydrogenase; J, 2-hydroxymuconate tautomerase; K, 4-oxalcrotonate decarboxylase; L, 2-oxo-4-pentenoate hydratase; M, 2-oxo-4-hydroxypentanoate aldolase.

Protein Domain Structure

Fig. 2. The organization of NahR protein domains. Domain marked by green near the N terminal accounts for DNA binding, which contains a typical helix-turn-helix motif; red domains function to bind inducer, while the orange domain is putatively involved in multimerization of NahR in the transcription activation.

Promoter Structure

Fig. 3. Schematic diagram for the NahR-regulated promoters, nah and sal. Alignment of sal and nah promoter is shown and the consensus sequence motifs are marked in color. NahR binding sequence and RNAP binding sequence are boxed in green and yellow, respectively. The -82 to -47 region nal and sal promoters is highly homologous, which suggests a consensus NahR-binding site.

Mechansim

Several experiments all conformed that NahR tightly binds to DNA in vivo in the presence or absence of salicylate. Either the amount or the affinity of NahR binding to DNA will be affected by salicylate in engineered E. coli and its native host Pseudomonas putida [7]. This fact, along with the evidence from methylation protection experiments, suggested a conformational change in the NahR•DNA complex which results in transcription activation (Fig. 4)[8].

Fig. 4. Schematic diagram for the transcription activation at sal (or nah) promoter by NahR in the presence of inducer salicylate. 1. The DNA structure of sal promoter: A,B,C and D represent the binding sites for the putative tetramer of NahR; the yellow arrow shows the direction of sal promoter. 2. RNAP and σ70 bind to the sal promoter by recognizing -35 and -10 region; 3. Transcription factor NahR tightly binds to sal promoter and forms a tetramer no matter whether there is salicylate or not; 4. When salicylate is present, NahR•DNA complex undergoes a conformational change. After the hydrolysis of ATP, DNA is opened and transcription is activated.

Sequence and Features

Assembly Compatibility:

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

  Illegal BglII site found at 786
  
• 23
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[23]
• 25
  INCOMPATIBLE WITH RFC[25]

  Illegal NgoMIV site found at 77
  Illegal NgoMIV site found at 618
  
• 1000
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[1000]

Construction and Test

We placed the Standard Biological Part BBa_J61051 which contains the constitutively expressed NahR and sal promoter in front of the reporter gene sfGFP (Fig. 5) via standard assembly. The plasmid verified by Beijing Genomics Institute was transformed into E. coli (TOP10, TransGen Biotech). Single clone of bacteria was picked and grown in rich LB medium added chloromycetin (170 μg/ml) overnight and stored at -80℃ in 20% glycerol, waiting for induction test.

Fig. 5. Schematic diagram for the NahR biosensor circuit. The Standard Biologicla Part BBa_J61051 was placed preceding reporter sfGFP in the backbone pSB1C3. Promoters are presented in orange, RBS in light green, coding sequence in dark blue and terminators in red.

On-Off Tests

Fig. 6. Response of sensor NahR biosensor to various aromatic species. (For the full name of the compounds, CLICK HERE). (a) The induction ratio of various aromatic species in the ON-OFF test. NahR could respond to 18 out of 78 aromatics with the induction ratio over 20. (b) The aromatics-sensing profile of NahR biosensor.The aromatic species that can elicit strong responses of NahR biosensor are highlighted in green in the aromatics spectrum. The structure formula of typical inducer is also listed around the spectrum. Induction ratio is calculated by dividing the fluorescence intensity of biosensor exposed to inducers by the basal fluorescence intensity of the biosensor.

Dose-response Curve

Fig. 7. Dose response curves of NahR biosensor. (a) Dose response curves for salicylate, its homologs and derivatives; (b) Dose response curves for benzoate, its derivatives and special inducers like 5-ClSaD and 2,4,6-TClPhl. Induction ratio is calculated by dividing the fluorescence intensity of biosensor exposed to inducers by the basal fluorescence intensity of the biosensor.For the full name of the compounds, CLICK HERE).

References:
[1] Dunn, N. W., and I. C. Gunsalus.(1973) Transmissible plasmid encoding early enzymes of naphthalene oxidation in Pseudomonas putida. J. Bacteriol. 114:974-979
[2] M. A. Schell.(1983) Cloning and expression in Escherichia coli of the naphthalene degradation genes from plasmid NAH7. J. Bacteriol. 153(2):822
[3] M. A. Schell, and P. E. Wender.(1986) Identification of the nahR gene product and nucleotide sequences required for its activation of the sal operon. J. Bacteriol. 116(1):9
[4] Woojun Park, Che Ok Jeon, Eugene L. Madsen.(2002) Interaction of NahR, a LysR-type transcriptional regulator, with the K subunit of RNA polymerase in the naphthalene degrading bacterium, Pseudomonas putida NCIB 9816-4. FEMS Microbiology Letters. 213:159-165
[5] Mark A. Schell, Pamela H. Brown, and Satanaryana Raju.(1990) Use of Saturation Mutagenesis to Localize Probable Functional domains in the NahR protein, a LysR-type Transcription Activator. The Journal of Biological Chemistry. 265(7): 3384-3850.
[6] Angel Cebolla, Carolina Sousa, and Vı´ctor de Lorenzo.(1997) Effector Specificity Mutants of the Transcriptional Activator NahR of Naphthalene Degrading Pseudomonas Define Protein Sites Involved in Binding of Aromatic Inducers. The Journal of Biological Chemistry. 272(7):3986-3992
[7] M. A. Schell, and E. F. Poser.(1989) Demonstration, characterization, and mutational analysis of NahR protein binding to nah and sal promoters. J. Bacteriol. 171(2):837
[8] Jianzhong Huang and Mark A. Schell.(1991) In vivo interaction of the NahR Transcriptional Activator with its target sequences. The Journal of Biological Chemistry. 266(17):10830-10838
[9] Hoo Hwi Park, Hae Yong Lee, Woon Ki Lim, Hae Ja Shin. (2005) NahR: Effects of replacements at Asn 169 and Arg 248 on promoter binding and inducer recognition. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics. 434:67-74