Abstract
Synthesis of neutral lipids such as triacylglycerols (TAG) and wax esters (WE) is catalyzed in bacteria by wax ester synthase/diacylglycerol acyltransferase enzymes (WS/DGAT). We investigated the diversity of genes encoding this enzyme in contrasting natural environments from Patagonia (Argentina). The content of petroleum hydrocarbons in samples collected from oil-producing areas was measured. PCR-based analysis covered WS/DGAT occurrence in marine sediments and soil. No product was obtained in seawater samples. All clones retrieved from marine sediments affiliated with gammaproteobacterial sequences and within them, most phylotypes formed a unique cluster related to putative WS/DGAT belonging to marine OM60 clade. In contrast, soils samples contained phylotypes only related to actinomycetes. Among them, phylotypes affiliated with representatives largely or recently reported as oleaginous bacteria, as well as with others considered as possible lipid-accumulating bacteria based on the analysis of their annotated genomes. Our study shows for the first time that the environment could contain a higher variety of ws/dgat than that reported from bacterial isolates. The results of this study highlight the relevance of the environment in a natural process such as the synthesis and accumulation of neutral lipids. Particularly, both marine sediments and soil may serve as a useful source for novel WS/DGAT with biotechnological interest.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13568-015-0128-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Triacylglycerols (TAG) and wax esters (WE) are neutral lipids usually found in animals, plants, yeast and bacteria as reserve material
In this study, an important number of genes coding putative new wax ester synthase/diacylglycerol acyltransferase enzymes (WS/diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT)) enzymes were obtained from environmental samples collected in different natural habitats
No total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) were detected in Comodoro Rivadavia Port (CR) sample and ws/dgat sequences obtained were similar to those found in Belvedere Beach (BB), an area considered as pristine or no impacted by human activities
Summary
Triacylglycerols (TAG) and wax esters (WE) are neutral lipids usually found in animals, plants, yeast and bacteria as reserve material. Gram negative gammaproteobacteria, such as Acinetobacter and some genera of marine hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria, usually accumulate. Neutral storage lipids could be considered as a common trait in taxonomically non related bacterial strains, it was only studied in a small number of bacteria. These bacterial lipids attracted the interest of the industrial market, as components of lubricants, polishes and cosmetics, or as a source for generation biofuels (Röttig and Steinbüchel 2013). Hundreds of pharmaceutical and industrial components have been obtained from the environment but the storage of neutral lipids has been out of scope regardless of its biotechnological relevance
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