Sulfur amino acid status controls selenium methylation in pseudomonas tolaasii. Identification of a novel metabolite from promiscuous enzyme reactions
Authors
Author (Corporation)
Publication date
26.05.2021
Typ of student thesis
Course of study
Collections
Type
01A - Journal article
Editors
Editor (Corporation)
Supervisor
Parent work
Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Special issue
DOI of the original publication
Link
Series
Series number
Volume
87
Issue / Number
12
Pages / Duration
Patent number
Publisher / Publishing institution
American Society for Microbiology
Place of publication / Event location
Washington
Edition
Version
Programming language
Assignee
Practice partner / Client
Abstract
Selenium (Se) deficiency affects many millions of people worldwide, and the volatilization of methylated Se species to the atmosphere may prevent Se from entering the food chain. Despite the extent of Se deficiency, little is known about fluxes in volatile Se species and their temporal and spatial variation in the environment, giving rise to uncertainty in atmospheric transport models. To systematically determine fluxes, one can rely on laboratory microcosm experiments to quantify Se volatilization in different conditions. Here, it is demonstrated that the sulfur (S) status of bacteria crucially determines the amount of Se volatilized. Solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography mass spectrometry showed that Pseudomonas tolaasii efficiently and rapidly (92% in 18 h) volatilized Se to dimethyl diselenide and dimethyl selenyl sulfide through promiscuous enzymatic reactions with the S metabolism. However, when the cells were supplemented with cystine (but not methionine), a major proportion of the Se (∼48%) was channeled to thus-far-unknown, nonvolatile Se compounds at the expense of the previously formed dimethyl diselenide and dimethyl selenyl sulfide (accounting for <4% of total Se). Ion chromatography and solid-phase extraction were used to isolate unknowns, and electrospray ionization ion trap mass spectrometry, electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry, and microprobe nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry were used to identify the major unknown as a novel Se metabolite, 2-hydroxy-3-(methylselanyl)propanoic acid. Environmental S concentrations often exceed Se concentrations by orders of magnitude. This suggests that in fact S status may be a major control of selenium fluxes to the atmosphere.
IMPORTANCE Volatilization from soil to the atmosphere is a major driver for Se deficiency. “Bottom-up” models for atmospheric Se transport are based on laboratory experiments quantifying volatile Se compounds. The high Se and low S concentrations in such studies poorly represent the environment. Here, we show that S amino acid status has in fact a decisive effect on the production of volatile Se species in Pseudomonas tolaasii. When the strain was supplemented with S amino acids, a major proportion of the Se was channeled to thus-far-unknown, nonvolatile Se compounds at the expense of volatile compounds. This hierarchical control of the microbial S amino acid status on Se cycling has been thus far neglected. Understanding these interactions—if they occur in the environment—will help to improve atmospheric Se models and thus predict drivers of Se deficiency.
Keywords
Selenium cycling, Selenium deficiency, selenium fate, trace element fate, atmospheric selenium
Subject (DDC)
570 - Biowissenschaften, Biologie
Event
Exhibition start date
Exhibition end date
Conference start date
Conference end date
Date of the last check
ISBN
ISSN
0099-2240
1070-6291
1098-5336
1070-6291
1098-5336
Language
English
Created during FHNW affiliation
Yes
Strategic action fields FHNW
Publication status
Published
Review
Peer review of the complete publication
Open access category
Hybrid
Citation
LIU, Ying, Sebastian HEDWIG, Andreas SCHÄFFER, Markus LENZ und Mathieu MARTINEZ, 2021. Sulfur amino acid status controls selenium methylation in pseudomonas tolaasii. Identification of a novel metabolite from promiscuous enzyme reactions. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 26 Mai 2021. Bd. 87, Nr. 12. DOI 10.1128/AEM.00104-21. Verfügbar unter: https://doi.org/10.26041/fhnw-4117