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Shewanella sp. GA‐22 , a psychrophilic hydrocarbonoclastic antarctic bacterium producing polyunsaturated fatty acids
Author(s) -
Gentile G.,
Bonasera V.,
Amico C.,
Giuliano L.,
Yakimov M.M.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.889
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2672
pISSN - 1364-5072
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2672.2003.02077.x
Subject(s) - psychrophile , bacteria , microbiology and biotechnology , polyunsaturated fatty acid , biology , shewanella , marine bacteriophage , biochemistry , fatty acid , chemistry , genetics
Aims: The effects of different growth media and temperature on production of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) by Shewanella sp. GA‐22 were investigated. The attempts to characterize the GA‐22 genes, homologous to those of PUFA biosynthesis gene cluster, was performed. Methods and Results: Physiological and phylogenetic characterization of new Antarctic isolate GA‐22 was performed. Total fatty acids were isolated from the cells growing under different conditions and analysed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Using degenerated primers derived from the conserved regions within PUFA fatty acid synthase operons, five fragments of homological genes were amplified from GA‐22 DNA, and two of them corresponding to pfaA and pfaC synthase subunits were sequenced. Conclusions: Strain GA‐22 was shown to be able to produce three different PUFA: linoleic, arachidonic and eicosapentaenoic acids. The PUFA production was temperature‐ and carbon source‐dependent. The deduced gene products exhibited high similarity to corresponding fatty acid synthases PfaA and PfaC. Significance and Impact of Study: The PUFA production was detected on media supplemented with crude oil, gasoline and n ‐tetradecane. The apparent conservation of PUFA genes may point to the potential utilization of designed primers as functional markers in culture‐independent ecological studies, and for initial screening in biotechnological fields.