Publications by authors named "Mei Kikumoto"

Thiosulfate dehydrogenase is known to play a significant role in thiosulfate oxidation in the acidophilic, obligately chemolithoautotroph, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans. Enzyme activity measured using ferricyanide as the electron acceptor was detected in cell extracts of A. ferrooxidans ATCC 23270 grown on tetrathionate or sulfur, but no activity was detected in ferrous iron-grown cells.

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An OmpA family protein (FopA) previously reported as one of the major outer membrane proteins of an acidophilic iron-oxidizing bacterium Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans was characterized with emphasis on the modification by heat and the interaction with peptidoglycan. A 30-kDa band corresponding to the FopA protein was detected in outer membrane proteins extracted at 75°C or heated to 100°C for 10 min prior to sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). However, the band was not detected in outer membrane proteins extracted at ≤40°C and without boiling prior to electrophoresis.

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Iron- and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria in a treatment plant of acid rock drainage (ARD) from a pyrite mine in Yanahara, Okayama prefecture, Japan, were analyzed using the gene (cbbL) encoding the large subunit of ribulose-1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RubisCO). Analyses of partial sequences of cbbL genes from Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans and Acidithiobacillus caldus strains revealed the diversity in their cbbL gene sequences. In contrast to the presence of two copies of form I cbbL genes (cbbL1 and cbbL2) in A.

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Sulfide:quinone oxidoreductase (SQR) was purified from membrane of acidophilic chemolithotrophic bacterium Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans NASF-1 cells grown on sulfur medium. It was composed of a single polypeptide with an apparent molecular mass of 47 kDa. The apparent K(m) values for sulfide and ubiquinone were 42 and 14 muM respectively.

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The effects of cyanide, azide, and 2-n-Heptyl-4-hydroxy-quinoline-N-oxide (HQNO) on the oxidation of ferrous ion or elemental sulfur with Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans NASF-1 cells grown in iron- or sulfur-medium were examined. The iron oxidation of both iron- and sulfur-grown cells was strongly inhibited by cyanide and azide, but not by HQNO. Sulfur oxidation was relatively resistant to cyanide and azide, and inhibited by HQNO.

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