Pivotal role of anthranilate dioxygenase genes in the adaptation of Burkholderia multivorans ATCC 17616 in soil.

In our recent screen for soil-induced genes, the expression of andA operon (andAcAdAbAa) for anthranilate catabolism in Burkholderia multivorans ATCC 17616 was found to increase dramatically in a soil sample (Nishiyama et al., Environ Microbiol 12: 2539, 2010). The operon was preceded by andR encoding a putative transcriptional regulator for the andA operon. In this study, the andA promoter was induced by tryptophan and anthranilate in an andR-dependent manner. The andA promoter in a deletion mutant lacking tryptophan dioxygenase (one of enzymes for the catabolism of tryptophan to anthranilate) did not respond to tryptophan, indicating that not tryptophan but anthranilate is the effector of AndR. Although both anthranilate and tryptophan were under the detection levels in the soil sample, andA promoter showed higher activity in the soil sample than in a laboratory medium. Such induction required andR and was moderately dependent on the ferric uptake regulator (Fur). The proliferation ability of andAc mutant in the sterile soil was low compared with the co-incubated wild-type cells. These findings suggested that in the soil environment, anthranilate dioxygenase genes are induced by AndR and Fur, and play a pivotal role in the proliferation in the soil environment.