Pedomicrobium sp. ACM 3067 is a budding-hyphal bacterium belonging to the alpha-Proteobacteria which is able to oxidize soluble Mn2+ to insoluble manganese oxide. A cosmid, from a whole-genome library, containing the putative genes responsible for manganese oxidation was identified and a primer-walking approach yielded 4350 bp of novel sequence. Analysis of this sequence showed the presence of a predicted three-gene operon, moxCBA. The moxA gene product showed homology to multicopper oxidases (MCOs) and contained the characteristic four copper-binding motifs (A, B, C and D) common to MCOs. An insertion mutation of moxA showed that this gene was essential for both manganese oxidation and laccase-like activity. The moxB gene product showed homology to a family of outer membrane proteins which are essential for Type I secretion in Gram-negative bacteria. moxBA has not been observed in other manganese-oxidizing bacteria but homologues were identified in the genomes of several bacteria including Sinorhizobium meliloti 1021 and Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58. These results suggest that moxBA and its homologues constitute a family of genes encoding an MCO and a predicted component of the Type I secretion system.

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