Abstract
SummaryIn cold marine environments, the obligate hydrocarbon‐degrading psychrophile Oleispira antarctica RB‐8, which utilizes aliphatic alkanes almost exclusively as substrates, dominates microbial communities following oil spills. In this study, LC–MS/MS shotgun proteomics was used to identify changes in the proteome induced during growth on n‐alkanes and in cold temperatures. Specifically, proteins with significantly higher relative abundance during growth on tetradecane (n‐C14) at 16°C and 4°C have been quantified. During growth on n‐C14, O. antarctica expressed a complete pathway for the terminal oxidation of n‐alkanes including two alkane monooxygenases, two alcohol dehydrogenases, two aldehyde dehydrogenases, a fatty‐acid‐CoA ligase, a fatty acid desaturase and associated oxidoreductases. Increased biosynthesis of these proteins ranged from 3‐ to 21‐fold compared with growth on a non‐hydrocarbon control. This study also highlights mechanisms O. antarctica may utilize to provide it with ecological competitiveness at low temperatures. This was evidenced by an increase in spectral counts for proteins involved in flagella structure/output to overcome higher viscosity, flagella rotation to accumulate cells and proline metabolism to counteract oxidative stress, during growth at 4°C compared with 16°C. Such species‐specific understanding of the physiology during hydrocarbon degradation can be important for parameterizing models that predict the fate of marine oil spills.
Highlights
Oleispira antarctica RB-8 is a psychrophilic aerobic bacterium belonging to the Gammaproteobacteria class, which was first isolated from oil-enriched microcosms containing seawater from Rod Bay (Ross Sea, Southern Antarctica) (Yakimov et al, 2003)
Oleispira antarctica RB-8 grew rapidly at both 4C or 16C on n-alkanes from n-C10 to n-C24 after a 3-day lag phase but was unable to grow on the larger n-alkanes or on the branched alkane pristane (Fig. S1)
It has demonstrated that O. antarctica has a very restricted substrate range, even compared with other obligate hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria (OHCB), and might explain why it is outcompeted in warmer oil-contaminated marine environments by more metabolically versatile hydrocarbon degraders
Summary
The obligate hydrocarbondegrading psychrophile Oleispira antarctica RB-8, which utilizes aliphatic alkanes almost exclusively as substrates, dominates microbial communities following oil spills. During growth on n-C14, O. antarctica expressed a complete pathway for the terminal oxidation of nalkanes including two alkane monooxygenases, two alcohol dehydrogenases, two aldehyde dehydrogenases, a fatty-acid-CoA ligase, a fatty acid desaturase and associated oxidoreductases. Increased biosynthesis of these proteins ranged from 3- to 21-fold compared with growth on a non-hydrocarbon control. This study highlights mechanisms O. antarctica may utilize to provide it with ecological competitiveness at low temperatures This was evidenced by an increase in spectral counts for proteins involved in flagella structure/output to overcome higher viscosity, flagella rotation to accumulate cells and proline metabolism to counteract oxidative stress, during. Such speciesspecific understanding of the physiology during hydrocarbon degradation can be important for parameterizing models that predict the fate of marine oil spills
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
