Insights into the pH up-shift responsive mechanism of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans by microarray transcriptome profiling

To define the molecular response of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans under pH up-shift, temporal gene expression profiles were examined by using whole-genome DNA microarrays for A. ferrooxidans. Approximately 30% of the 3,132 genes represented on the microarray were significantly upregulated over a 160-min period, while about 14% were significantly downregulated. Our results revealed that A. ferrooxidans showed potential self-protection and self-regulation performance in response to pH up-shift stress. Many genes involved in regulation of membrane components were differentially expressed under the pH up-shift stress. Likewise, most of genes involved in phosphate metabolism, sulfur assimilation, and CO(2) fixation were obviously induced. Conversely, the transcription of a polyphosphate kinase gene (AFE1210) associated with phosphate storage was significantly repressed, which probably stemmed from the depletion of polyphosphate. Besides, most of the genes involved in hydrogen uptake were significantly induced, whereas many genes involved in nitrogen fixation were obviously repressed, which suggested that hydrogen uptake and nitrogen fixation could contribute to cytoplasmic pH homeostasis.