Cloning and expression of the phosphotriesterase gene hocA from Pseudomonas monteilii C11

The cloning of a gene encoding the novel phosphotriesterase from Pseudomonas monteilii C11, which enabled it to use the organophosphate (OP) coroxon as its sole phosphorus source, is described. The gene, called hocA (hydrolysis of coroxon) consists of 501 bp and encodes a protein of 19 kDa. This protein had no sequence similarity to any proteins in the SWISS-PROT/GenBank databases. When a spectinomycin-resistance cassette was placed in this gene, phosphotriesterase activity was abolished and P. monteilii C11 could no longer grow with coroxon as the sole phosphorus source. Overexpression and purification of HocA as a maltose-binding protein fusion produced a protein having a broad substrate specificity across oxon and thion OPs. Michaelis-Menten kinetics were observed with the oxon OP3s, but not with the thion OPs. End-product inhibition was observed for coroxon-hydrolytic activity. Increased expression of hocA was observed from an integrative hocA-lacZ fusion when cultures were grown in the absence of phosphate, suggesting that it might be part of the Pho regulon, but the phosphate-regulated promoter was not cloned in this study. This is believed to be the first study in which a gene required for an organism to grow with OP pesticides as a phosphorus source has been isolated.