Molecular analysis of polyphosphate biosynthesis-related genes in

Ueda, Ryoshiro; Sato, Katsuya; Hayashi, Hidenori*; Narumi, Issey*; Ono, Yutaka

It is suggesting a possibility that the polyphosphate granules in cells could accumulate harmful metal ions such as radiocesium to protect the cells from cytotoxicity. has been considered as a microorganism for bioremediation under highly radioactive contaminated environments. We generated the polyphosphate biosynthesis-related genes ( and ) disruptant strains and characterized their disruption effect to clarify the role of polyphosphate for the accumulation of cesium in . The intracellular levels of polyphosphates in the disruptant and overexpressing strains were almost same and slightly increased, respectively. On other hand, the intracellular level of polyphosphates significantly increased in the disruptant strains, suggesting that the gene plays an important role in the accumulation of polyphosphate in .