The cadmium-stress stimulon of Escherichia coli K-12.

The influence of cadmium on stress protein production in Escherichia coli K-12 (strain MG1655) was analysed using two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and the gene-protein database of E. coli K-12. Cadmium (273 microM) caused complete but transient inhibition of growth accompanied by the synthesis of cadmium-induced proteins (CDPs). It was found that some CDPs induced during the growth-arrested phase belong to the heat-shock, oxidation stress, SOS and stringent response regulons, while others are general stress inducible proteins (e.g. H-NS, UspA). In addition, trigger factor, adenylate kinase, W-protein, the cold shock protein G041.2, and seven unknown proteins whose synthesis is not known to be controlled by a global regulator, were identified as immediate responders to cadmium exposure. The rate of synthesis of most of the immediate responders to cadmium exposure decreased when the growth of the cells resumed. However, seven CDPs, including those encoded by argI, tyrA and xthA, maintained a high production rate during growth in the presence of cadmium. Two of the unidentified proteins were N-terminally sequenced by Edman degradation. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of one of these proteins (designated F023.3) matches the E. coli open reading frame o216. This ORF is similar to the N-terminal third of the copper-binding protein amine oxidases (encoded by maoA) of both E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. aerogenes). The other N-terminally sequenced protein (designated C044.6) matches perfectly the product of the metK gene, S-adenosylmethionine synthetase I. In comparison to untreated cells, cadmium-stressed cells were found to recover more rapidly during subsequent stress conditions, such as ethanol, osmotic, heat shock, and nalidixic acid treatment. The role of the CDPs is discussed in view of their physiological assignments in the cell.