Proteomic and transcriptomic analysis of selenium utilization in Methanococcus maripaludis

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Katrina Funkner - , Chair of Microbial Diversity, TUD Dresden University of Technology (Author)
  • Anja Poehlein - , University of Göttingen (Author)
  • Nico Jehmlich - , Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (Author)
  • Richard Egelkamp - , University of Göttingen (Author)
  • Rolf Daniel - , University of Göttingen (Author)
  • Martin von Bergen - , Leipzig University (Author)
  • Michael Rother - , Chair of Microbial Diversity, TUD Dresden University of Technology (Author)

Abstract

Methanococcus maripaludis utilizes selenocysteine- (Sec-) containing proteins (selenoproteins), mostly active in the organism’s primary energy metabolism, methanogenesis. During selenium depletion, M. maripaludis employs a set of enzymes containing cysteine (Cys) instead of Sec. The genes coding for these Sec-/Cys-containing isoforms were the only genes known of which expression is influenced by the selenium status of the cell. Using proteomics and transcriptomics, approx. 7% and 12%, respectively, of all genes/proteins were found differentially expressed/synthesized in response to the selenium supply. Some of the genes identified involve methanogenesis, nitrogenase functions, and putative transporters. An increase of transcript abundance for putative transporters under selenium depletion indicated the organism’s effort to tap into alternative sources of selenium. M. maripaludis is known to utilize selenite and dimethylselenide as selenium sources. To expand this list, a selenium-responsive reporter strain was assessed with nine other, environmentally relevant selenium species. While the effect of some was very similar to that of selenite, others were effectively utilized at lower concentrations. Conversely, selenate and seleno-amino acids were only utilized at unphysiologically high concentrations and two compounds were not utilized at all. To address the role of the selenium-regulated putative transporters, M. maripaludis mutant strains lacking one or two of the putative transporters were tested for the capability to utilize the different selenium species. Of the five putative transporters analyzed by loss-of-function mutagenesis, none appeared to be absolutely required for utilizing any of the selenium species tested, indicating they have redundant and/or overlapping specificities or are not dedicated selenium transporters.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)e0133823
JournalMSystems
Volume9
Issue number5
Publication statusPublished - 16 May 2024
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMedCentral PMC11097638
Scopus 85193455105

Keywords

Keywords

  • Archaeal Proteins/metabolism, Gene Expression Profiling, Gene Expression Regulation, Archaeal, Methanococcus/metabolism, Proteomics, Selenium/metabolism, Selenoproteins/genetics, Transcriptome