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Ruffolo F, Dinhof T, Murray L, Zangelmi E, Chin JP, Pallitsch K, Peracchi A. The Microbial Degradation of Natural and Anthropogenic Phosphonates. Molecules 2023; 28:6863. [PMID: 37836707 PMCID: PMC10574752 DOI: 10.3390/molecules28196863] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2023] [Revised: 09/21/2023] [Accepted: 09/23/2023] [Indexed: 10/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Phosphonates are compounds containing a direct carbon-phosphorus (C-P) bond, which is particularly resistant to chemical and enzymatic degradation. They are environmentally ubiquitous: some of them are produced by microorganisms and invertebrates, whereas others derive from anthropogenic activities. Because of their chemical stability and potential toxicity, man-made phosphonates pose pollution problems, and many studies have tried to identify biocompatible systems for their elimination. On the other hand, phosphonates are a resource for microorganisms living in environments where the availability of phosphate is limited; thus, bacteria in particular have evolved systems to uptake and catabolize phosphonates. Such systems can be either selective for a narrow subset of compounds or show a broader specificity. The role, distribution, and evolution of microbial genes and enzymes dedicated to phosphonate degradation, as well as their regulation, have been the subjects of substantial studies. At least three enzyme systems have been identified so far, schematically distinguished based on the mechanism by which the C-P bond is ultimately cleaved-i.e., through either a hydrolytic, radical, or oxidative reaction. This review summarizes our current understanding of the molecular systems and pathways that serve to catabolize phosphonates, as well as the regulatory mechanisms that govern their activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Ruffolo
- Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, I-43124 Parma, Italy (E.Z.)
| | - Tamara Dinhof
- Institute of Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Vienna, A-1090 Vienna, Austria;
- Vienna Doctoral School in Chemistry (DoSChem), University of Vienna, A-1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Leanne Murray
- School of Biological Sciences and Institute for Global Food Security, Queen’s University Belfast, 19 Chlorine Gardens, Belfast BT9 5DL, UK
| | - Erika Zangelmi
- Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, I-43124 Parma, Italy (E.Z.)
| | - Jason P. Chin
- School of Biological Sciences and Institute for Global Food Security, Queen’s University Belfast, 19 Chlorine Gardens, Belfast BT9 5DL, UK
| | - Katharina Pallitsch
- Institute of Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Vienna, A-1090 Vienna, Austria;
| | - Alessio Peracchi
- Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, I-43124 Parma, Italy (E.Z.)
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Murphy ARJ, Scanlan DJ, Chen Y, Bending GD, Hammond JP, Wellington EMH, Lidbury IDEA. 2-aminoethylphosphonate utilisation in Pseudomonas putida BIRD-1 is controlled by multiple master regulators. Environ Microbiol 2022; 24:1902-1917. [PMID: 35229442 PMCID: PMC9311074 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.15959] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2021] [Accepted: 02/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Bacteria possess various regulatory mechanisms to detect and coordinate a response to elemental nutrient limitation. In pseudomonads, the two‐component system regulators CbrAB, NtrBC and PhoBR, are responsible for regulating cellular response to carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) respectively. Phosphonates are reduced organophosphorus compounds produced by a broad range of biota and typified by a direct C‐P bond. Numerous pseudomonads can use the environmentally abundant phosphonate species 2‐aminoethylphosphonate (2AEP) as a source of C, N, or P, but only PhoBR has been shown to play a role in 2AEP utilization. On the other hand, utilization of 2AEP as a C and N source is considered substrate inducible. Here, using the plant‐growth‐promoting rhizobacterium Pseudomonas putida BIRD‐1 we present evidence that 2AEP utilization is under dual regulation and only occurs upon depletion of C, N, or P, controlled by CbrAB, NtrBC, or PhoBR respectively. However, the presence of 2AEP was necessary for full gene expression, i.e. expression was substrate inducible. Mutation of a LysR‐type regulator, termed AepR, upstream of the 2AEP transaminase‐phosphonatase system (PhnWX), confirmed this dual regulatory mechanism. To our knowledge, this is the first study identifying coordination between global stress response and substrate‐specific regulators in phosphonate metabolism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew R J Murphy
- School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, UK
| | - David J Scanlan
- School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, UK
| | - Yin Chen
- School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, UK
| | - Gary D Bending
- School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, UK
| | - John P Hammond
- School of Agriculture, Policy, and Development, University of Reading, Earley Gate, Whiteknights, Reading, UK
| | | | - Ian D E A Lidbury
- Plants, Photosynthesis and Soil Research Cluster, School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
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Murphy ARJ, Scanlan DJ, Chen Y, Adams NBP, Cadman WA, Bottrill A, Bending G, Hammond JP, Hitchcock A, Wellington EMH, Lidbury IDEA. Transporter characterisation reveals aminoethylphosphonate mineralisation as a key step in the marine phosphorus redox cycle. Nat Commun 2021; 12:4554. [PMID: 34315891 PMCID: PMC8316502 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24646-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2020] [Accepted: 06/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The planktonic synthesis of reduced organophosphorus molecules, such as alkylphosphonates and aminophosphonates, represents one half of a vast global oceanic phosphorus redox cycle. Whilst alkylphosphonates tend to accumulate in recalcitrant dissolved organic matter, aminophosphonates do not. Here, we identify three bacterial 2-aminoethylphosphonate (2AEP) transporters, named AepXVW, AepP and AepSTU, whose synthesis is independent of phosphate concentrations (phosphate-insensitive). AepXVW is found in diverse marine heterotrophs and is ubiquitously distributed in mesopelagic and epipelagic waters. Unlike the archetypal phosphonate binding protein, PhnD, AepX has high affinity and high specificity for 2AEP (Stappia stellulata AepX Kd 23 ± 4 nM; methylphosphonate Kd 3.4 ± 0.3 mM). In the global ocean, aepX is heavily transcribed (~100-fold>phnD) independently of phosphate and nitrogen concentrations. Collectively, our data identifies a mechanism responsible for a major oxidation process in the marine phosphorus redox cycle and suggests 2AEP may be an important source of regenerated phosphate and ammonium, which are required for oceanic primary production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew R J Murphy
- School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, UK
| | - David J Scanlan
- School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, UK
| | - Yin Chen
- School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, UK
| | - Nathan B P Adams
- Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
- Nanotemper Technologies GmbH, Flößergasse 4, Munich, Germany
| | - William A Cadman
- Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | - Andrew Bottrill
- School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, UK
| | - Gary Bending
- School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, UK
| | - John P Hammond
- School of Agriculture, Policy, and Development, University of Reading, Earley Gate, Whiteknights, Reading, UK
| | - Andrew Hitchcock
- Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | | | - Ian D E A Lidbury
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
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Phosphate insensitive aminophosphonate mineralisation within oceanic nutrient cycles. ISME JOURNAL 2018; 12:973-980. [PMID: 29339823 DOI: 10.1038/s41396-017-0031-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2017] [Revised: 08/25/2017] [Accepted: 11/29/2017] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Many areas of the ocean are nutrient-poor yet support large microbial populations, leading to intense competition for and recycling of nutrients. Organic phosphonates are frequently found in marine waters, but require specialist enzymes for catabolism. Previous studies have shown that the genes that encode these enzymes in marine systems are under Pho regulon control and so are repressed by inorganic phosphate. This has led to the conclusion that phosphonates are recalcitrant in much of the ocean, where phosphorus is not limiting despite the degradative genes being common throughout the marine environment. Here we challenge this paradigm and show, for the first time, that bacteria isolated from marine samples have the ability to mineralise 2-aminoethylphosphonate, the most common biogenic marine aminophosphonate, via substrate-inducible gene regulation rather than via Pho-regulated metabolism. Substrate-inducible, Pho-independent 2-aminoethylphosphonate catabolism therefore represents a previously unrecognised component of the oceanic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles.
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Peck SC, van der Donk WA. Phosphonate biosynthesis and catabolism: a treasure trove of unusual enzymology. Curr Opin Chem Biol 2013; 17:580-8. [PMID: 23870698 DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2013.06.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2013] [Revised: 06/15/2013] [Accepted: 06/17/2013] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Natural product biosynthesis has proven a fertile ground for the discovery of novel chemistry. Herein we review the progress made in elucidating the biosynthetic pathways of phosphonate and phosphinate natural products such as the antibacterial compounds dehydrophos and fosfomycin, the herbicidal phosphinothricin-containing peptides, and the antimalarial compound FR-900098. In each case, investigation of the pathway has yielded unusual, and often unprecedented, biochemistry. Likewise, recent investigations have uncovered novel ways to cleave the CP bond to yield phosphate under phosphorus starvation conditions. These include the discovery of novel oxidative cleavage of the CP bond catalyzed by PhnY and PhnZ as well as phosphonohydrolases that liberate phosphate from phosphonoacetate. Perhaps the crown jewel of phosphonate catabolism has been the recent resolution of the longstanding problem of the C-P lyase responsible for reductively cleaving the CP bond of a number of different phosphonates to release phosphate. Taken together, the strides made on both metabolic and catabolic fronts illustrate an array of fascinating biochemistry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Spencer C Peck
- Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1206 West Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
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McGrath JW, Chin JP, Quinn JP. Organophosphonates revealed: new insights into the microbial metabolism of ancient molecules. Nat Rev Microbiol 2013; 11:412-9. [PMID: 23624813 DOI: 10.1038/nrmicro3011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 131] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Organophosphonates are ancient molecules that contain the chemically stable C-P bond, which is considered a relic of the reducing atmosphere on primitive earth. Synthetic phosphonates now have a wide range of applications in the agricultural, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. However, the existence of C-P compounds as contemporary biogenic molecules was not discovered until 1959, with the identification of 2-aminoethylphosphonic acid in rumen protozoa. Here, we review advances in our understanding of the biochemistry and genetics of microbial phosphonate metabolism, and discuss the role of these compounds and of the organisms engaged in their turnover within the P cycle.
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Affiliation(s)
- John W McGrath
- School of Biological Sciences and the Institute for Global Food Security, The Queens University of Belfast, Medical Biology Centre, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland
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