A Na+:H+ antiporter and a molybdate transporter are essential for arsenite oxidation in Agrobacterium tumefaciens

Transposon Tn5-B22 mutagenesis was used to identify genetic determinants required for arsenite [As(III)] oxidation in an Agrobacterium tumefaciens soil isolate, strain 5A. In one mutant, the transposon interrupted modB, which codes for the permease component of a high-affinity molybdate transporter. In a second mutant, the transposon insertion occurred in mrpB, which is part of a seven-gene operon encoding an Mrp-type Na+:H+ antiporter complex. Complementation experiments with mod and mrp operons PCR cloned from the genome-sequenced A. tumefaciens strain C58 resulted in complementation back to an As(III)-oxidizing phenotype, confirming that these genes encode activities essential for As(III) oxidation in this strain of A. tumefaciens. As expected, the mrp mutant was extremely sensitive to NaCl and LiCl, indicating that the Mrp complex in A. tumefaciens is involved in Na+ circulation across the membrane. Gene expression studies (lacZ reporter and reverse transcriptase PCR experiments) failed to show evidence of transcriptional regulation of the mrp operon in response to As(III) exposure, whereas expression of the mod operon was found to be up-regulated by As(III) exposure. In each mutant, the loss of As(III)-oxidizing capacity resulted in conversion to an arsenate [As(V)]-reducing phenotype. Neither mutant was more sensitive to As(III) than the parental strain.