Chromate resistance and reduction in Pseudomonas fluorescens strain LB300

Abstract

Pseudomonas fluorescens LB300 is a chromateresistant strain isolated from chromium-contaminated river sediment. Chromate resistance is conferred by the plasmid pLHB1. Strain LB300 grew in minimal salts medium with as much as 1000 μg of K₂CrO₄ ml⁻¹, and actively reduced chromate to Cr(III) while growing aerobically on a variety of substrates. Chromate was also reduced during anaerobic growth on acetate, the chromate serving as terminal electron acceptor. P. fluorescens LB303, a plasmidless, chromatesensitive variant of P. fluorescens LB300, did not grow in minimal salts medium with more than 10 μg of K₂CrO₄ ml⁻¹. However, resting cells of strain LB303 grown without chromate reduced chromate as well as strain LB300 cells grown under the same conditions. Furthermore, resting cells of chromate-sensitive Pseudomonas putida strain AC10, also catalyzed chromate reduction. Evidently chromate resistance and chromate reduction in these organisms are unrelated. Comparison of the rates of chromate reduction by chromate grown cells and cells grown without chromate indicated that the chromate reductase activity is constitutive. Studies with cell-free extracts show that the reductase is membrane-associated and can mediate the transfer of electrons from NADH to chromate.