CO2-responsive expression and gene organization of three ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase enzymes and carboxysomes in Hydrogenovibrio marinus strain MH-110

Hydrogenovibrio marinus strain MH-110, an obligately lithoautotrophic hydrogen-oxidizing bacterium, fixes CO2 by the Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle. Strain MH-110 possesses three different sets of genes for ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RubisCO): CbbLS-1 and CbbLS-2, which belong to form I (L8S8), and CbbM, which belongs to form II (L-x). In this paper, we report that the genes for CbbLS-1 (cbbLS-1) and CbbM (cbbM) are both followed by the cbbQO genes and preceded by the cbbR genes encoding LysR-type regulators. In contrast, the gene for CbbLS-2 (cbbLS-2) is followed by genes encoding carboxysome shell peptides. We also characterized the three RubisCOs in vivo by examining their expression profiles in environments with different CO2 availabilities. Immunoblot analyses revealed that when strain MH-110 was cultivated in 15% CO2, only the form II RubisCO, CbbM, was expressed. When strain MH-110 was cultivated in 2% CO2, CbbLS-1 was expressed in addition to CbbM. In the 0.15% CO, culture, the expression of CbbM decreased and that of CbbLS-1 disappeared, and CbbLS-2 was expressed. In the atmospheric CO2 concentration of approximately 0.03%, all three RubisCOs were expressed. Transcriptional analyses of mRNA by reverse transcription-PCR showed that the regulation was at the transcriptional level. Electron microscopic observation of MH-110 cells revealed the formation of carboxysomes in the 0-15% CO2 concentration. The results obtained here indicate that strain MH-110 adapts well to various CO2 conccntrations by using different types of RubisCO enzymes.