Identification of a Small Tetraheme Cytochrome c and a Flavocytochrome c as Two of the Principal Soluble Cytochromes c in Shewanella oneidensis Strain MR1

Abstract

Two abundant, low-redox-potential cytochromesc were purified from the facultative anaerobeShewanella oneidensis strain MR1 grown anaerobically with fumarate. The small cytochrome was completely sequenced, and the genes coding for both proteins were cloned and sequenced. The small cytochrome c contains 91 residues and four heme binding sites. It is most similar to the cytochromes c fromShewanella frigidimarina (formerly Shewanella putrefaciens) NCIMB400 and the unclassified bacterial strain H1R (64 and 55% identity, respectively). The amount of the small tetraheme cytochrome is regulated by anaerobiosis, but not by fumarate. The larger of the two low-potential cytochromes contains tetraheme and flavin domains and is regulated by anaerobiosis and by fumarate and thus most nearly corresponds to the flavocytochromec-fumarate reductase previously characterized fromS. frigidimarina to which it is 59% identical. However, the genetic context of the cytochrome genes is not the same for the twoShewanella species, and they are not located in multicistronic operons. The small cytochrome c and the cytochrome domain of the flavocytochrome c are also homologous, showing 34% identity. Structural comparison shows that theShewanella tetraheme cytochromes are not related to theDesulfovibrio cytochromes c ₃but define a new folding motif for small multiheme cytochromesc.