Novosphingobium aromaticivorans LigR coordinates transcription of genes involved in metabolism of multiple types of aromatics

Journal Article · Fri Nov 28 00:00:00 UTC 2025 · mSystems

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1128/msystems.01469-25 · OSTI ID:3005363

Rodríguez-Castro, Laura  ^[1]; Myers, Kevin S.  ^[1]; Linz, Alexandra M. ^[1]; Mettert, Erin L. ^[1]; Camp, Walter ^[1]; Kiley, Patricia J.  ^[1]; Noguera, Daniel R. ^[1]; Donohue, Timothy J.  ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)

Aromatic compounds are a ubiquitous and diverse family of chemicals with functions as biomolecules, natural products, industrial chemicals, and pollutants. Novosphingobium aromaticivorans DSM 12444 uses multiple inducible pathways to catabolize H-, G-, and S-type aromatics that contain zero, one, or two methoxy groups, respectively. Here, we obtain a systems-level view of the transcriptional control of its aromatic metabolic pathways. Several in vitro analyses found that a N. aromaticivorans homolog of the Sphingobium lignivorans SYK-6 transcription factor LigR bound genomic DNA upstream of genes involved in metabolism of multiple aromatic types. We found that a ΔLigR mutant had growth defects on all three types of aromatics as sole carbon sources. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that LigR was required to increase expression of gene products that function in metabolism of all three aromatic types. We also found that, in media containing both glucose and an aromatic carbon source, the ΔLigR mutant directed intermediates through alternative aromatic metabolic pathways. Protein-DNA binding assays showed that N. aromaticivorans LigR binds immediately upstream of promoters of genes involved in aromatic metabolism. We found that N. aromaticivorans LigR coordinates the expression of enzymes that function in the catabolism of H-, G-, and S-type aromatics, and that there are differences in the role of LigR in N. aromaticivorans and S. lignivorans. A comparative genomic analysis predicted that LigR homologs and the aromatic-metabolizing genes that it directly regulates are often co-localized in the genomes of Sphingomonadales, but often not found in this arrangement in many other known aromatic metabolizing bacteria.

• Research Organization: Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC), Madison, WI (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0018409
• OSTI ID: 3005363
• Journal Information: mSystems, Journal Name: mSystems Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 10; ISSN 2379-5077
• Publisher: American Society for MicrobiologyCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English