Part:BBa_K5205009

ureF, nickel-binding protein from Sporosarcina pasteurii DSM33

ureF encodes for a nickel-binding protein involved in the assembly of the urease metallocentre in S. pasteurii DSM33 (Ciurli et al., 2002). The urease is crucial for catalyzing the hydrolysis of urea into ammonia and carbon dioxide, a key step in the process of microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP).

Figure 1. A. Schematic of urease and microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) in S. pasteurii (Wu et al., 2021); B. UreF in the urease gene cluster of S. pasteurii DSM33 (Pei et al., 2023).

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 414
  
• 23
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[23]
• 25
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[25]
• 1000
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[1000]

Usage and Biology

Microbiologically Induced Calcite Precipitation (MICP) involves hydrolyzing urea into ammonia and carbonate ions, raising pH to form calcium carbonate precipitates (Sarayu et al., 2014). This process can also precipitate heavy metals like cadmium and remove them from the water (Qasem et al., 2021). By introducing urease-related genes (ureF) from S. pasteurii into E. coli, E. coli can be engineered to be a heavy metal remover.

References

Beeumen, J. (2002). Molecular characterization of Bacillus pasteurii UreE, a metal-binding chaperone for the assembly of the urease active site. J Biol Inorg Chem, 7(6), 623-631. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00775-002-0341-7

Ciurli, S., Safarov, N., Miletti, S., Dikiy, A., Christensen, S. K., Kornetzky, K., Bryant, D. A., Vandenberghe, I., Devreese, B., Samyn, B., Remaut, H., & van

Pei, D., Liu, Z., & Hu, B. (2023). A novel urease gene structure of Sporosarcina pasteurii with double operons.

Qasem, N. A. A., Mohammed, R. H., & Lawal, D. U. (2021). Removal of heavy metal ions from wastewater: a comprehensive and critical review. npj Clean Water, 4(1), 36. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41545-021-00127-0

Sarayu, K., Iyer, N. R., & Murthy, A. R. (2014). Exploration on the biotechnological aspect of the ureolytic bacteria for the production of the cementitious materials--a review. Appl Biochem Biotechnol, 172(5), 2308-2323. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-013-0686-0

Wu, Y., Li, H., & Li, Y. (2021). Biomineralization Induced by Cells of Sporosarcina pasteurii: Mechanisms, Applications and Challenges. Microorganisms, 9(11). https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9112396