, 2009a, b). Its oxidation during menadione stress, a potent generator of O2•− may help signal oxidative

stress and the inactivation of KGDH. With the concomitant increase in GDH and ICDH activities observed in this study, it is quite plausible that the pool of KG created helps scavenge the ROS in a nonenzymatic manner. The presence of elevated amounts of succinate, a product of the decarboxylation selleck inhibitor of KG by ROS, in the H2O2-stressed cells would point to such a possibility. Hence, P. fluorescens appears to induce the participation of KG in the detoxification of O2•− and H2O2. In order to decipher whether histidine metabolism was an important generator of KG during oxidative stress, the cellular extracts were treated with fluorocitrate. This moiety is known to interfere with citrate metabolism (Nasser et al., 2006; Zielke et al., 2007). Hence, PLX4032 the catabolism of citrate via aconitase should be perturbed and any KG formed would emanate from the degradation of histidine. In the H2O2-stressed cultures, there was no sharp variation in the production of KG in the presence of fluorocitrate. However, in the control cultures, the inclusion of fluorocitrate led to only minute amounts of KG (Fig. 6). As the citrate decomposition pathway was blocked in both cases, it is clear that the elevated levels of KG observed in the H2O2-stressed bacteria were due to the ability

of H2O2-challenged P. fluorescens to preferentially metabolize histidine to KG, an attribute absent in the control bacteria. Hence, it is possible that P. fluorescens diverts histidine towards KG in an effort to combat oxidative stress. The role of ketoacids as antioxidants is now beginning isothipendyl to emerge. Both prokaryote and eukaryotes are known to induce the enhanced production of these moieties to cope with an oxidative environment

(Brookes et al., 2006; Mailloux et al., 2007; Sharma et al., 2008). While the involvement of pyruvate in the detoxification of ROS has been reported, the role of KG in alleviating the oxidative burden is beginning to be appreciated (Nakamichi et al., 2005; Brookes et al., 2006; Mailloux et al., 2007). These data clearly point to a pivotal role of histidine metabolism in the homeostasis of KG and shows how this amino acid is a key component of the antioxidative defense strategy in P. fluorescens. This report provides further evidence on the significance of metabolism and KG in the detoxification of ROS. It adds to the growing body of literature on the role of ketoacids in antioxidative defense. Pseudomonas fluorescens reprograms its metabolic networks in an effort to generate KG, a moiety that subsequently nullifies H2O2 with the concomitant formation of succinate and CO2. Because histidine was utilized as the sole source of nitrogen, the production of glutamate was favored. However, this amino acid appeared to be dedicated to the production of KG, as GDH was upregulated.