The organization of naphthalene degradation genes in Pseudomonas putida strain AK5.

The Pseudomonas putida АК5 that was isolated from the slime pit of a Nizhnekamsk oil chemical factory can metabolize naphthalene via salicylate and gentisate. Catabolic genes are localized on non-conjugative IncP-7 plasmid pAK5 of about 115 kb in size. The “classical” nah-1 operon and the novel sgp-operon (salicylate-gentisate pathway) are both involved in naphthalene degradation by P. putida АК5, that was first described for Pseudomonas. The sgp-operon includes six open reading frames (ORFs) (sgpAIKGHB). The four ORFs code for the entire salicylate 5-hydroxylase – oxidoreductase component (sgpA), large and small subunits of the oxigenase component (sgpG and sgpH) and 2Fe–2S ferredoxin (sgpB). Genes for gentisate 1, 2-dioxygenase (sgpI) and fumarylpyruvate hydrolase (sgpK) are located in salicylate 5-hydroxylase genes clustering between sgpA and sgpG. The putative positive regulator for the sgp-operon (sgpR) was found upstream of the sgpA gene and oriented in the opposite direction from sgpA. The putative maleylacetoacetate isomerase gene is located apart, directly downstream from the sgp-operon. The sgp-operon organization and phylogenetic analysis of deduced amino acid sequences indicate that this operon has a mosaic structure according to the modular theory of the evolution of modern catabolic pathways.