Involvement of the cbb3-type terminal oxidase in growth competition of bacteria, biofilm formation, and in switching between denitrification and aerobic respiration

Abstract

Paracoccus denitrificans has a branched electron transport chain with three terminal oxidases transferring electrons to molecular oxygen, namely aa3-type and cbb3-type cytochrome c oxidases and ba3-type ubiquinol oxidase. In the present study, we focused on strains expressing only one of these enzymes. The competition experiments showed that possession of cbb3-type oxidase confers significant fitness advantage during oxygen-limited growth and supports the biofilm lifestyle. The aa3-type oxidase was shown to allow rapid aerobic growth at a high oxygen supply. Activity of the denitrification pathway that had been expressed in cells grown anaerobically with nitrate was fully inhibitable by oxygen only in wild-type and cbb3 strains, while in strains aa3 and ba3 dinitrogen production from nitrate and oxygen consumption occurred simultaneously. Together, the results highlight the importance of the cbb3-type oxidase for the denitrification phenotype and suggest a way of obtaining novel bacterial strains capable of aerobic denitrification.