Rhodococcus sp. strain RHA1, a soil bacterium related to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, degrades an exceptionally broad range of organic compounds. Transcriptomic analysis of cholesterol-grown RHA1 revealed a catabolic pathway predicted to proceed via 4-androstene-3,17-dione and 3,4-dihydroxy-9,10-seconandrost-1,3,5(10)-triene-9,17-dione (3,4-DHSA). Inactivation of each of the hsaC, supAB, and mce4 genes in RHA1 substantiated their roles in cholesterol catabolism. Moreover, the hsaC ؊ mutant accumulated 3,4-DHSA, indicating that HsaCRHA1, formerly annotated as a biphenyl-degrading dioxygenase, catalyzes the oxygenolytic cleavage of steroid ring A. Bioinformatic analyses revealed that 51 rhodococcal genes specifically expressed during growth on cholesterol, including all predicted to specify the catabolism of rings A and B, are conserved within an 82-gene cluster in M. tuberculosis H37Rv and Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Gué rin. M. bovis bacillus Calmette-Gué rin grew on cholesterol, and hsaC and kshA were up-regulated under these conditions. Heterologously produced HsaCH37Rv and HsaDH37Rv transformed 3,4-DHSA and its ring-cleaved product, respectively, with apparent specificities Ϸ40-fold higher than for the corresponding biphenyl metabolites. Overall, we annotated 28 RHA1 genes and proposed physiological roles for a similar number of mycobacterial genes. During survival of M. tuberculosis in the macrophage, these genes are specifically expressed, and many appear to be essential. We have delineated a complete suite of genes necessary for microbial steroid degradation, and pathogenic mycobacteria have been shown to catabolize cholesterol. The results suggest that cholesterol metabolism is central to M. tuberculosis's unusual ability to survive in macrophages and provide insights into potential targets for novel therapeutics.catabolic pathway ͉ oxygenase ͉ Rhodococcus ͉ steroid degradation

bBile acids are highly abundant steroids with important functions in vertebrate digestion. Their catabolism by bacteria is an important component of the carbon cycle, contributes to gut ecology, and has potential commercial applications. We found that Rhodococcus jostii RHA1 grows well on cholate, as well as on its conjugates, taurocholate and glycocholate. The transcriptome of RHA1 growing on cholate revealed 39 genes upregulated on cholate, occurring in a single gene cluster. Reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR confirmed that selected genes in the cluster were upregulated 10-fold on cholate versus on cholesterol. One of these genes, kshA3, encoding a putative 3-ketosteroid-9␣-hydroxylase, was deleted and found essential for growth on cholate. Two coenzyme A (CoA) synthetases encoded in the cluster, CasG and CasI, were heterologously expressed. CasG was shown to transform cholate to cholyl-CoA, thus initiating side chain degradation. CasI was shown to form CoA derivatives of steroids with isopropanoyl side chains, likely occurring as degradation intermediates. Orthologous gene clusters were identified in all available Rhodococcus genomes, as well as that of Thermomonospora curvata. Moreover, Rhodococcus equi 103S, Rhodococcus ruber Chol-4 and Rhodococcus erythropolis SQ1 each grew on cholate. In contrast, several mycolic acid bacteria lacking the gene cluster were unable to grow on cholate. Our results demonstrate that the above-mentioned gene cluster encodes cholate catabolism and is distinct from a more widely occurring gene cluster encoding cholesterol catabolism. Bile salts are surface-active steroids with an important role in the uptake and metabolism of lipophilic substrates in vertebrates. These steroids, which include cholate and chenodeoxycholate, are synthesized in the liver from cholesterol, and their eventual fate is excretion in feces or urine. Bile salts may be modified, either by microbiological activity in the duodenum or by host cell bioactivity, leading to their conjugation to glycine, taurine, or sulfate. As such, biodegradation of the various bile salts is a significant process in carbon cycling in soil and aquatic environments. The processes involved in microbial transformation of steroids are also relevant for biotechnological applications in the synthesis and/or selective modification of steroid-based drugs (29).Despite the cytotoxicity of cholate toward various prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, several bacterial species, especially members of the Proteobacteria (27, 28) and Actinomycetales (9, 32), are able to efficiently metabolize this substrate to sustain growth. Recent studies on microbial bile salts degradation have focused on the Proteobacteria. Genes encoding several steps in cholate degradation were identified, mainly in Comamonas testosteroni TA441 and Pseudomonas sp. strain Chol1. In the former strain, genes responsible for oxidation of the steroid nucleus were found (10-13), while in the latter, genes responsible for degradation of the cholate side chain were identified, in...

SummaryThe cyp125 gene of Rhodococcus jostii RHA1 was previously found to be highly upregulated during growth on cholesterol and the orthologue in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (rv3545c) has been implicated in pathogenesis. Here we show that cyp125 is essential for R. jostii RHA1 to grow on 3-hydroxysterols such as cholesterol, but not on 3-oxo sterol derivatives, and that CYP125 performs an obligate first step in cholesterol degradation. The involvement of cyp125 in sterol side-chain degradation was confirmed by disrupting the homologous gene in Rhodococcus rhodochrous RG32, a strain that selectively degrades the cholesterol side-chain. The RG32Wcyp125 mutant failed to transform the side-chain of cholesterol, but degraded that of 5-cholestene-26-oic acid-3b-ol, a cholesterol catabolite. Spectral analysis revealed that while purified ferric CYP125 RHA1 was < 10% in the low-spin state, cholesterol (KD app = 0.20 Ϯ 0.08 mM), 5a-cholestanol (KD app = 0.15 Ϯ 0.03 mM) and 4-cholestene-3-one (KD app = 0.20 Ϯ 0.03 mM) further reduced the low spin character of the haem iron consistent with substrate binding. Our data indicate that CYP125 is involved in steroid C26-carboxylic acid formation, catalysing the oxidation of C26 either to the corresponding carboxylic acid or to an intermediate state.

The actinobacterial cholesterol catabolic gene cluster contains a subset of genes that encode β-oxidation enzymes with a putative role in sterol side chain degradation. We investigated the physiological roles of several genes, i.e., fadD17, fadD19, fadE26, fadE27, and ro04690DSM43269, by gene inactivation studies in mutant strain RG32 of Rhodococcus rhodochrous DSM43269. Mutant strain RG32 is devoid of 3-ketosteroid 9α-hydroxylase (KSH) activity and was constructed following the identification, cloning, and sequential inactivation of five kshA gene homologs in strain DSM43269. We show that mutant strain RG32 is fully blocked in steroid ring degradation but capable of selective sterol side chain degradation. Except for RG32ΔfadD19, none of the mutants constructed in RG32 revealed an aberrant phenotype on sterol side chain degradation compared to parent strain RG32. Deletion of fadD19 in strain RG32 completely blocked side chain degradation of C-24 branched sterols but interestingly not that of cholesterol. The additional inactivation of fadD17 in mutant RG32ΔfadD19 also did not affect cholesterol side chain degradation. Heterologously expressed FadD19DSM43269 nevertheless was active toward steroid-C26-oic acid substrates. Our data identified FadD19 as a steroid-coenzyme A (CoA) ligase with an essential in vivo role in the degradation of the side chains of C-24 branched-chain sterols. This paper reports the identification and characterization of a CoA ligase with an in vivo role in sterol side chain degradation. The high similarity (67%) between the FadD19(DSM43269) and FadD19H37Rv enzymes further suggests that FadD19H37Rv has an in vivo role in sterol metabolism of Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv.

c trans-Sialidase (TS) enzymes catalyze the transfer of sialyl (Sia) residues from Sia(␣2-3)Gal(␤1-x)-glycans (sialo-glycans) to Gal(␤1-x)-glycans (asialo-glycans). Aiming to apply this concept for the sialylation of linear and branched (Gal) n Glc oligosaccharide mixtures (GOS) using bovine -casein-derived glycomacropeptide (GMP) as the sialic acid donor, a kinetic study has been carried out with three components of GOS, i.e., 3=-galactosyl-lactose (␤3=-GL), 4=-galactosyl-lactose (␤4=-GL), and 6=-galactosyl-lactose (␤6=-GL). This prebiotic GOS is prepared from lactose by incubation with suitable ␤-galactosidases, whereas GMP is a side-stream product of the dairy industry. The trans-sialidase from Trypanosoma cruzi (TcTS) was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified. Its temperature and pH optima were determined to be 25°C and pH 5.0, respectively. GMP [sialic acid content, 3.6% (wt/wt); N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac), >99%; (␣2-3)-linked Neu5Ac, 59%] was found to be an efficient sialyl donor, and up to 95% of the (␣2-3)-linked Neu5Ac could be transferred to lactose when a 10-fold excess of this acceptor substrate was used. The products of the TcTS-catalyzed sialylation of ␤3=-GL, ␤4=-GL, and ␤6=-GL, using GMP as the sialic acid donor, were purified, and their structures were elucidated by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Monosialylated ␤3=-GL and ␤4=-GL contained Neu5Ac connected to the terminal Gal residue; however, in the case of ␤6=-GL, TcTS was shown to sialylate the 3 position of both the internal and terminal Gal moieties, yielding two different monosialylated products and a disialylated structure. Kinetic analyses showed that TcTS had higher affinity for the GL substrates than lactose, while the V max and k cat values were higher in the case of lactose.