Methylotrophy in Mycobacteria: Dissection of the Methanol Metabolism Pathway in Mycobacterium smegmatis

The mycobacteria comprise both pathogenic and nonpathogenic bacteria. Although several features related to pathogenicity in various mycobacterial species, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis , have been studied in great detail, methylotrophy, i.e., the ability of an organism to utilize single-carbon (C 1 ) compounds as the sole source of carbon and energy, has remained largely unexplored in mycobacteria. Reports are available that suggest that mycobacteria, including M. tuberculosis and M. smegmatis , are capable of utilizing alternative C 1 compounds to meet their carbon and energy requirements. However, physiological pathways that are functional in mycobacteria to utilize such carbon compounds are only poorly understood. Here we report the identification and characterization of the gene products required for establishing methylotrophy in M. smegmatis We present N , N -dimethyl- p -nitrosoaniline (NDMA)-dependent methanol oxidase (Mno) as the key enzyme that is essential for the growth of M. smegmatis on methanol. We show that Mno has both methanol and formaldehyde dehydrogenase activities in vitro Further, M. smegmatis is able to utilize methanol even in the absence of the major formaldehyde dehydrogenase MscR, which suggests that Mno is sufficient to dissimilate methanol and the resulting formaldehyde in vivo Finally, we show that M. smegmatis devoid of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, which has been shown to fix CO 2 in M. tuberculosis , does not grow on methanol, suggesting that the final step of methanol utilization requires CO 2 fixation for biomass generation. Our work here thus forms the first comprehensive report that explores methylotrophy in a mycobacterial species. IMPORTANCE Methylotrophy, the ability to utilize single-carbon (C 1 ) compounds as the sole carbon and energy sources, is only poorly understood in mycobacteria. Both pathogenic and nonpathogenic mycobacteria, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis , are capable of utilizing C 1 compounds to meet their carbon and energy requirements, although the precise pathways are not well studied. Here we present a comprehensive study of methylotrophy in Mycobacterium smegmatis With several genetic knockouts, we have dissected the entire methanol metabolism pathway in M. smegmatis We show that while methanol dissimilation in M. smegmatis differs from that in other mycobacterial species, the concluding step of CO 2 fixation is similar to that in M. tuberculosis It is therefore both interesting and important to examine mycobacterial physiology in the presence of alternative carbon sources.