Genome-Wide Transcriptional Responses of Nitrosomonas europaea to Zinc

Nitrosomonas europaea is a Gram-negative obligate chemolithoautotroph that derives energy for growth through oxidation of ammonia and participates in the process of nitrification in global nitrogen cycling. The physiological, proteomic, and transcriptional responses of N. europaea to zinc stress were studied. The nitrite production rate and ammonia-dependent oxygen uptake rate of the cells exposed to 3.4 uM ZnCl2 decreased about 61 % and 69 % within 30 minutes, respectively. Two proteins were notably up regulated in zinc treatment and the mRNA levels of their encoding genes started to increase by one hour after the addition of zinc. A total of 27 genes were up regulated and 30 genes were down regulated. Up-regulated genes included mercury resistance genes (merACDPT), inorganic ion transport genes, oxidative stress genes, toxin-antitoxin genes (TA) and two-component signal transduction systems genes. The merACDPT was the highest up regulated operon (46-fold). Down-regulated genes included the RuBisCO operon (cbbO), carbohydrate transporter (mrsA and mnxG) and amino acid transporter. Keywords: zinc, stress response, global transcription, mercury resistance genes, inorganic ion transport genes, oxidative stress genes The 3.4 uM ZnCl2 caused 50 % inhibition in physiological response for 1 hour incubation. Transcriptional levels of the cells inhibited by zinc were compared with the cells under control condition.