Cloning and expression of the s-triazine hydrolase gene (trzA) from Rhodococcus corallinus and development of Rhodococcus recombinant strains capable of dealkylating and dechlorinating the herbicide atrazine.

We used degenerate oligodeoxyribonucleotides derived from the N-terminal sequence of the s-triazine hydrolase from Rhodococcus corallinus NRRL B-15444R in an amplification reaction to isolate a DNA segment containing a 57-bp fragment from the trzA gene. By using the nucleotide sequence of this fragment, a nondegenerate oligodeoxyribonucleotide was synthesized and used to screen a genomic library of R. corallinus DNA for fragments containing trzA. A 5.3-kb PstI fragment containing trzA was cloned, and the nucleotide sequence of a 2,450-bp region containing trzA was determined. No trzA expression was detected in Escherichia coli or several other gram-negative bacteria. The trzA gene was subcloned into a Rhodococcus-E. coli shuttle vector, pBS305, and transformed into several Rhodococcus strains. Expression of trzA was demonstrated in all Rhodococcus transformants. Rhodococcus sp. strain TE1, which possesses the catabolic gene (atrA) for the N-dealkylation of the herbicides atrazine and simazine, was able to dechlorinate the dealkylated metabolites of atrazine and simazine when carrying the trzA gene on a plasmid. A plasmid carrying both atrA and trzA was constructed and transformed into three atrA- and trzA-deficient Rhodococcus strains. Both genes were expressed in the transformants. The s-triazine hydrolase activity of the recombinant strains carrying the trzA plasmid were compared with that of the R. corallinus strain from which it was derived.