Eukaryotic Cell
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Eukaryotic Cell, February 2008, p. 258-267, Vol. 7, No. 2
1535-9778/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/EC.00345-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Pneumocystis Encodes a Functional S-Adenosylmethionine Synthetase Gene{triangledown}

Geetha Kutty,1 Beatriz Hernandez-Novoa,1,{dagger} Meggan Czapiga,2 and Joseph A. Kovacs1*

Critical Care Medicine Department, NIH Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland,1 Research Technologies Branch, National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland2

Received 18 September 2007/ Accepted 23 November 2007

S-Adenosylmethionine (AdoMet) synthetase (EC 2.5.1.6) is the enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of AdoMet, a molecule important for all cellular organisms. We have cloned and characterized an AdoMet synthetase gene (sam1) from Pneumocystis spp. This gene was transcribed primarily as an ~1.3-kb mRNA which encodes a protein containing 381 amino acids in P. carinii or P. murina and 382 amino acids in P. jirovecii. sam1 was also transcribed as part of an apparent polycistronic transcript of ~5.6 kb, together with a putative chromatin remodeling protein homologous to Saccharomyces cerevisiae, CHD1. Recombinant Sam1, when expressed in Escherichia coli, showed functional enzyme activity. Immunoprecipitation and confocal immunofluorescence analysis using an antipeptide antibody showed that this enzyme is expressed in P. murina. Thus, Pneumocystis, like other organisms, can synthesize its own AdoMet and may not depend on its host for the supply of this important molecule.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Building 10, Room 2C145, MSC 1662, Bethesda, MD 20892-1662. Phone: (301) 496-9907. Fax: (301) 402-1213. E-mail: jkovacs{at}nih.gov

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 7 December 2007.

{dagger} Present address: Servicio de Enfermedades Infecciosas, 4a Planta Centro. Control A, Hospital Ramón y Cajal, Ctra. de Colmenar Km 9.100, 28034 Madrid, Spain.

Eukaryotic Cell, February 2008, p. 258-267, Vol. 7, No. 2
1535-9778/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/EC.00345-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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