Molecular Insights into the Copper-Sensitive Operon Repressor in Acidithiobacillus caldus.

The copper-sensitive operon repressor (CsoR) family, which is the main Cu(I)-sensing family, is widely distributed and regulates regulons involved in detoxification in response to extreme copper stress (a general range of ≥3 g/liter copper ions). Here, we identified CsoR in hyper-copper-resistant Acidithiobacillus caldus (CsoRAc), an organism used in the bioleaching process of copper ores. CsoRAc possesses highly conserved Cu(I) ligands and structures within the CsoR family members. Transcriptional analysis assays indicated that the promoter (PIII) of csoR was active but weakly responsive to copper in Escherichia coli. Copper titration assays gave a stoichiometry of 0.8 mol Cu(I) per apo-CsoRAc monomer in vitro combined with atomic absorption spectroscopy analysis. CuI-CsoRAc and apo-CsoRAc share essentially identical secondary structures and assembly states, as demonstrated by circular dichroism spectra and size exclusion chromatography profiles. The average dissociation constants (KD = 2.26 × 10-18 M and 0.53 × 10-15 M) and Cu(I) binding affinity of apo-CsoRAc were estimated by bathocuproine disulfonate (BCS) and bicinchoninic acid (BCA) competition assays, respectively. Site-directed mutations of conserved Cu(I) ligands in CsoRAc did not significantly alter the secondary structure or assembly state. Competition assays showed that mutants had the same order of magnitude of Cu(I) binding affinity as apo-CsoRAc. Moreover, apo-CsoRAc could bind to the DNA fragment P08430 in vitro, although with low affinity. Finally, a working model was developed to illustrate putative copper resistance mechanisms in A. caldus. IMPORTANCE Research on copper resistance among various species has attracted considerable interest. However, due to the lack of effective and reproducible genetic tools, few studies regarding copper resistance have been reported for A. caldus. Here, we characterized a major Cu(I)-sensing family protein, CsoRAc, which binds Cu(I) with an attomolar affinity higher than that of the Cu(I)-specific chelator bathocuproine disulfonate. In particular, CsoR family proteins were identified only in A. caldus, rather than A. ferrooxidans and A. thiooxidans, which are both used for bioleaching. Meanwhile, A. caldus harbored more copper resistance determinants and a relatively full-scale regulatory system involved in copper homeostasis. These observations suggested that A. caldus may play an essential role in the application of engineered strains with higher copper resistance in the near future.