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Evidence for farnesol‐mediated isoprenoid synthesis regulation in a halophilic archaeon, Haloferax volcanii
Author(s) -
Tachibana Akira,
Tanaka Toshio,
Taniguchi Makoto,
Oi Susumu
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(95)01479-9
Subject(s) - haloferax volcanii , farnesol , halophile , haloarchaea , chemistry , archaea , biochemistry , stereochemistry , biology , bacteria , genetics , gene
Farnesol strongly inhibited growth of a halophilic archaeon, Haloferax volcanii , with an IC 50 value of only 2 μM (0.4 μg/ml) in rich medium and 50 nM (0.01 μg/ml) in minimal medium without lysis. Other isoprenoid alcohols such as isopentenol, dimethylallyl alcohol, geraniol, and geranylgeraniol at 500 μM did not affect its growth. Mevalonate, which is the precursor of all isoprenoid membrane lipids in archaea, led to recovery of the growth inhibition of H. volcanii , but acetate had no such effect. Farnesol inhibited incorporation of acetate, but not mevalonate, into the lipid fraction. These results suggest that farnesol inhibited the biosynthetic pathway from acetate (acetyl‐CoA) to mevalonate. Farnesol is known to be derived from the important intermediate of isoprenoids, farnesyl diphosphate (FPP), and found in neutral lipid fraction from this archaeon. Moreover, the cell‐free extracts from H. volcanii could phosphorylate farnesol with ATP to generate farnesyl monophosphate and FPP. We conclude that farnesol‐mediated isoprenoid synthesis regulation system by controlling farnesol concentration is present in H. volcanii .