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Chromobacterium violaceum adaptation to low-phosphate conditions

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Abstract

Chromobacterium violaceum is a free-living bacterium that inhabits low-nutrient environments such as the Amazon basin. Bacteria respond to phosphate (Pi) shortage by expressing a range of genes involved in Pi uptake and assimilation, known as the PHO regulon. Several PHO regulon genes have been annotated in the genome of C. violaceum. Here we show that C. violaceum is extremely well adapted to low-Pi conditions. Remarkably, this bacterium is able to grow in media containing only traces of Pi. The PHO regulon genes are induced upon Pi depletion, but the bacteria continued to grow under these conditions. Unlike other Proteobacteria hitherto analyzed, neither PstS nor PhoU play a role in the repression of the PHO regulon under Pi excess.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for supporting this study. F.N.V. was supported by FAPESP scholarship 2009/05265-7.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Microbiologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes, 1374, São Paulo, SP, CEP:05508-900, Brazil

    Fernanda Nogales da Costa Vasconcelos, Gabriel Padilla & Beny Spira

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  1. Fernanda Nogales da Costa Vasconcelos
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  2. Gabriel Padilla
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  3. Beny Spira
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Correspondence to Beny Spira.

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Communicated by Erko Stackebrandt.

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da Costa Vasconcelos, F.N., Padilla, G. & Spira, B. Chromobacterium violaceum adaptation to low-phosphate conditions. Arch Microbiol 198, 269–277 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-016-1188-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-016-1188-6

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