Identification of a TRAP transporter for malonate transport and its expression regulated by GtrA from Sinorhizobium meliloti

Sinorhizobium meliloti can live as a saprophyte in soil or as a nitrogen-fixing symbiont inside the root nodule cells of alfalfa and related legumes by utilizing different organic compounds as its carbon source. Here we have identified the matPQMAB operon in S. meliloti 1021. Within this operon, matP, matQ and the M region of the fused gene matMA encode an extracytoplasmic solute receptor, a small transmembrane protein and a large transmembrane protein, consisting of three components of the tripartite ATP-independent periplasmic (TRAP) transporter for malonate transport. The A region of the fused gene matMA and matB encode malonate-metabolizing enzymes, malonyl-CoA decarboxylase and malonyl-CoA synthetase. The null mutant of each matPQMAB gene is unable to grow on M9 minimal medium containing malonate as the sole carbon source. However, these mutants can induce the formation of efficient nitrogen-fixing root nodules on alfalfa. The matPQMAB operon is expressed in free-living bacterial cells and symbiotic bacterial cells from infection threads and root nodules. The GntR family transcriptional regulator, GtrA, specifically binds the promoter of the matPQMAB operon, positively regulating its expression. Moreover, the matPQMAB can be transcriptionally induced by malonate. These results suggested that a C3-dicarboxylic acid TRAP transporter is responsible for malonate transport in S. meliloti.