Physiological control and regulation of the Rhodobacter capsulatus cbb operons

The genes encoding enzymes of the Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) reductive pentose phosphate pathway in Rhodobacter capsulatus are organized in at least two operons, each preceded by a separate cbbR gene, encoding potential LysR-type transcriptional activators. As a prelude to studies of cbb gene regulation in R. capsulatus, the nucleotide sequence of a 4,537-bp region, which included cbbRII, was determined. This region contained the following open reading frames: a partial pgm gene (encoding phosphoglucomutase) and a complete qor gene (encoding NADPH:quinone oxidoreductase), followed by cbbRII, cbbF (encoding fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase), cbbP (encoding phosphoribulokinase), and part of cbbT (encoding transketolase). Physiological control of the CBB pathway and regulation of the R. capsulatus cbb genes were studied by using a combination of mutant strains and promoter fusion constructs. Characterization of mutant strains revealed that either form I or form II ribulose 1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RubisCO), encoded by the cbbLS and cbbM genes, respectively, could support photoheterotrophic and autotrophic growth. A strain with disruptions in both cbbL and cbbM could not grow autotrophically and grew photoheterotrophically only when dimethyl sulfoxide was added to the culture medium. Disruption of cbbP resulted in a strain that did not synthesize form II RubisCO and had a phenotype similar to that observed in the RubisCO-minus strain, suggesting that there is only one cbbP gene in R. capsulatus and that this gene is cotranscribed with cbbM. Analysis of RubisCO activity and synthesis in strains with disruptions in either cbbRI or cbbRII, and beta-galactosidase determinations from wild-type and mutant strains containing cbbIp- and cbbIIp-lacZ fusion constructs, indicated that the cbbI and cbbII operons of R. capsulatus are within separate CbbR regulons.