Host Vector Systems of Deep-sea Piezophilic Bacteria, and the Constructions of High Pressure Glow Cells

Deep-sea bacteria are adapted to extreme environments, such as high pressures and cold temperatures. We have isolated many piezophiles which grow well even under high pressures from deep-sea sediment. Shewanella violacea DSS12 and Moritella japonica DSK1 have the ability to grow at up to 70 MPa, and those bacteria have unique mechanisms of gene expression in response to high pressure conditions. The combination of gene expression systems in piezophiles, like the high pressure-dependent promoters and GFP reporter gene, may reveal highly fluorescent cells when exposed to high hydrostatic pressure conditions. It is predicted that a novel bio-sensing system can be made to probe high pressure environments using living bacteria. First, gene transformation into our piezophiles, strains DSS12 and DSK1, were examined. Eschericha coli S17-1 was used for bacterial conjugation with those piezophiles. As a result, the broad host range vector, pKT231, and the shuttle vector, pTH10, were successfully introduced to DSS12 and DSK1, respectively. Next, The pressure regulated promoters from DSS12 and DSK1 were cloned into proper vectors and combined with GFP as a reporter gene downstream of each promoter. The transformants of DSK1 and DSS12 with the recombinant pTH10 and pKT231 plasmid, which has cadA and glnA promoters (each of them is a pressure regulated promoter from DSK1 and DSS12, respectively) and GFP, were grown under high pressure and gene expression of GFP promoted by 50 MPa pressure was confirmed. This is a critical point to create a pressure-sensing bacteria, as the "High Pressure Glow Cells", which will indicate the level of environmental pressure using fluorescence of GFP as a reporter gene.