Essential Role of Cytochromebd-Related Oxidase in Cyanide Resistance ofPseudomonas pseudoalcaligenesCECT5344

Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes CECT5344 grows in minimal medium containing cyanide as the sole nitrogen source. Under these conditions, an O2-dependent respiration highly resistant to cyanide was detected in cell extracts. The structural genes for the cyanide-resistant terminal oxidase, cioA and cioB, are clustered and encode the integral membrane proteins that correspond to subunits I and II of classical cytochrome bd, although the presence of heme d in the membrane could not be detected by difference spectra. The cio operon from P. pseudoalcaligenes presents a singular organization, starting upstream of cioAB by the coding sequence of a putative ferredoxin-dependent sulfite or nitrite reductase and spanning downstream two additional open reading frames that encode uncharacterized gene products. PCR amplifications of RNA (reverse transcription-PCR) indicated the cyanide-dependent up-regulation and cotranscription along the operon. The targeted disruption of cioA eliminates both the expression of the cyanide-stimulated respiratory activity and the growth with cyanide as the nitrogen source, which suggests a critical role of this cytochrome bd-related oxidase in the metabolism of cyanide by P. pseudoalcaligenes CECT5344.