Bacterial estrogenesis without oxygen: Wood-Ljungdahl pathway likely contributed to the emergence of estrogens in the biosphere
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View abstract on PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.Anaerobic bacteria can convert testosterone into estrogens, a process previously unknown in prokaryotes. This discovery reveals a novel pathway for estrogenesis independent of oxygen and aromatase.
Area Of Science
- Microbiology
- Biochemistry
- Evolutionary Biology
Background
- Sex hormones like androgens and estrogens were traditionally believed to be exclusively produced by vertebrates.
- The oxygen-dependent enzyme aromatase, responsible for converting androgens to estrogens (estrogenesis), had not been found in prokaryotes.
Purpose Of The Study
- To investigate the potential for anaerobic estrogenesis in prokaryotes.
- To identify the mechanisms and genes involved in testosterone transformation by bacteria under anaerobic conditions.
Main Methods
- Isolation and cultivation of a novel bacterium (Phosphitispora sp. strain TUW77) from mudskipper gut.
- Physiological experiments to determine growth substrates and metabolic pathways.
- Genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic analyses to identify key genes and proteins.
- Biochemical assays using electron acceptors to confirm metabolic products.
Main Results
- Strain TUW77 performs anaerobic estrogenesis, converting testosterone into estrogens and androstanediol.
- The bacterium utilizes testosterone's C-19 methyl group as a carbon source and electron donor for growth.
- The polycistronic gene cluster 'abeABC' (anaerobic bacterial estrogenesis) was identified, encoding a cobalamin-dependent methyltransferase system.
- Genes involved in testosterone metabolism are highly expressed and show homology to known methyltransferases.
- Metabolic analysis suggests the C-19 methyl group is oxidized to CO2 via the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway (WLP), with reducing equivalents reducing testosterone to androstanediol.
- Complete conversion of testosterone to estrogen without androstanediol accumulation was achieved using an extracellular electron acceptor.
Conclusions
- Discovery of anaerobic, aromatase-independent estrogenesis in a Peptococcaceae bacterium.
- Identification of the 'abeABC' gene cluster and its role in testosterone fermentation.
- The findings suggest that the ancient Wood-Ljungdahl pathway may have played a role in the early evolution of estrogens.
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