Expression of genes involved in rhamnolipid synthesis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 in a bioreactor cultivation

Improvement in Production of Rhamnolipids Using Fried Oil with Hydrophilic Co-substrate by Indigenous Pseudomonas aeruginosa NJ2 and Characterizations

Commercialization of biosurfactant remained a challenge due to lack of structural variation and economical process using low-cost materials and low productivity. Improvement in production of biosurfactant using fried oil with hydrophilic co-substrate by an indigenous strain was studied. Microbe isolated from exhaust chimney condensate was screened for utilization of mixed carbon source and then identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa NJ2 by 16S rDNA gene sequence. FTIR, HPLC, and NMR analyses confirmed that biosurfactant was rhamnolipids. Batch fermentation using mixed substrates improved the cell growth yield to 1.48 g/L (2.34 times) and product yield to 4.28 g/L (3.4 times) with maximum specific growth rate 0.1 h^-1 (two times) and specific production rate 0.5 h^-1 (13 times) due to higher cell density and direct synthesis of lipid and rhamnose moieties through central metabolic pathways of the two substrates. Increase in carrying capacity and coefficient value (two times) of logistic equation confirmed the significance of mixed substrates. The biosurfactant showed excellent surface active and thermo-chemical stability properties. Economical production of biosurfactant with high yield and productivity could be possible by isolation of mixed carbon source utilizing strain and optimization of waste substrates from oil/soapstock and sugar/corn syrup industries in media.

Biochemistry, genetics and biotechnology of glycerol utilization in Pseudomonas species

The use of renewable waste feedstocks is an environment‐friendly choice contributing to the reduction of waste treatment costs and increasing the economic value of industrial by‐products. Glycerol (1,2,3‐propanetriol), a simple polyol compound widely distributed in biological systems, constitutes a prime example of a relatively cheap and readily available substrate to be used in bioprocesses. Extensively exploited as an ingredient in the food and pharmaceutical industries, glycerol is also the main by‐product of biodiesel production, which has resulted in a progressive drop in substrate price over the years. Consequently, glycerol has become an attractive substrate in biotechnology, and several chemical commodities currently produced from petroleum have been shown to be obtained from this polyol using whole‐cell biocatalysts with both wild‐type and engineered bacterial strains. Pseudomonas species, endowed with a versatile and rich metabolism, have been adopted for the conversion of glycerol into value‐added products (ranging from simple molecules to structurally complex biopolymers, e.g. polyhydroxyalkanoates), and a number of metabolic engineering strategies have been deployed to increase the number of applications of glycerol as a cost‐effective substrate. The unique genetic and metabolic features of glycerol‐grown Pseudomonas are presented in this review, along with relevant examples of bioprocesses based on this substrate – and the synthetic biology and metabolic engineering strategies implemented in bacteria of this genus aimed at glycerol valorization.

Rhamnolipids production from sucrose by engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Biosurfactants are biological tensioactive agents that can be used in the cosmetic and food industries. Rhamnolipids are glycolipid biosurfactants naturally produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and are composed of one or two rhamnose molecules linked to beta-hydroxy fatty acid chains. These compounds are green alternatives to petrochemical surfactants, but their large-scale production is still in its infancy, hindered due to pathogenicity of natural producer, high substrate and purification costs and low yields and productivities. This study, for the first time, aimed at producing mono-rhamnolipids from sucrose by recombinant GRAS Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains. Six enzymes from P. aeruginosa involved in mono-rhamnolipid biosynthesis were functionally expressed in the yeast. Furthermore, its SUC2 invertase gene was disrupted and a sucrose phosphorylase gene from Pelomonas saccharophila was also expressed to reduce the pathway's overall energy requirement. Two strains were constructed aiming to produce mono-rhamnolipids and the pathway's intermediate dTDP-L-rhamnose. Production of both molecules was analyzed by confocal microscopy and mass spectrometry, respectively. These strains displayed, for the first time as a proof of concept, the potential of production of these molecules by a GRAS eukaryotic microorganism from an inexpensive substrate. These constructs show the potential to further improve rhamnolipids production in a yeast-based industrial bioprocess.

The Oxidative Stress Agent Hypochlorite Stimulates c-di-GMP Synthesis and Biofilm Formation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The opportunistic human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa is able to survive under a variety of often harmful environmental conditions due to a multitude of intrinsic and adaptive resistance mechanisms, including biofilm formation as one important survival strategy. Here, we investigated the adaptation of P. aeruginosa PAO1 to hypochlorite (HClO), a phagocyte-derived host defense compound and frequently used disinfectant. In static biofilm assays, we observed a significant enhancement in initial cell attachment in the presence of sublethal HClO concentrations. Subsequent LC-MS analyses revealed a strong increase in cyclic-di-GMP (c-di-GMP) levels suggesting a key role of this second messenger in HClO-induced biofilm development. Using DNA microarrays, we identified a 26-fold upregulation of ORF PA3177 coding for a putative diguanylate cyclase (DGC), which catalyzes the synthesis of the second messenger c-di-GMP – an important regulator of bacterial motility, sessility and persistence. This DGC PA3177 was further characterized in more detail demonstrating its impact on P. aeruginosa motility and biofilm formation. In addition, cell culture assays attested a role for PA3177 in the response of P. aeruginosa to human phagocytes. Using a subset of different mutants, we were able to show that both Pel and Psl exopolysaccharides are effectors in the PA3177-dependent c-di-GMP network.

Influence of soil contamination with PAH on microbial community dynamics and expression level of genes responsible for biodegradation of PAH and production of rhamnolipids

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of bioaugmentation and addition of rhamnolipids on the biodegradation of PAHs in artificially contaminated soil, expression of genes crucial for the biodegradation process (PAHRHDαGN, PAHRHDαGP), and the synthesis of rhamnolipids as well as population changes in the soil bacterial metabiome. The positive effect of bioaugmentation and addition of rhamnolipids on the bioremediation of the majority of PAHs was confirmed during the early stages of treatment, especially in case of the most structurally complicated compounds. The results of metagenomic analysis indicated that the initial changes in the soil metabiome caused by bioaugmentation diminished after 3 months and that the community structure in treated soil was similar to control. The survival period of bacteria introduced into the soil via bioaugmentation reached a maximum of 3 months. The increased expression of genes observed after addition of PAH into the soil also returned to the initial conditions after 3 months.

Mechanism of azithromycin inhibition of HSL synthesis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen and a leading cause of nosocomial infections. Unfortunately, P. aeruginosa has low antibiotic susceptibility due to several chromosomally encoded antibiotic resistance genes. Hence, we carried out mechanistic studies to determine how azithromycin affects quorum sensing and virulence in P. aeruginosa. lasI and rhlI single and double mutants were constructed. We then undertook a quantitative approach to determine the optimal concentration of azithromycin and culture time that can affect the expression of HSLs. Furthermore, based on the above results, the effect on quorum sensing was analyzed at a transcriptional level. It was found that 2 μg/mL azithromycin caused a 79% decrease in 3-oxo-C12-HSL secretion during cultivation, while C4-HSL secretion was strongly repressed in the early stages. Azithromycin acts on ribosomes; to determine whether this can elicit alternative modes of gene expression, transcriptional regulation of representative virulence genes was analyzed. We propose a new relationship for lasI and rhlI: lasI acts as a cell density sensor, and rhlI functions as a fine-tuning mechanism for coordination between different quorum sensing systems.

Influence of ferric iron on gene expression and rhamnolipid synthesis during batch cultivation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1

Bioprocesses based on sustainable resources and rhamnolipids in particular have become increasingly attractive in recent years. These surface-active glycolipids with various chemical and biological properties have diverse biotechnological applications and are naturally produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Their production, however, is tightly governed by a complex growth-dependent regulatory network, one of the major obstacles in the way to upscale production. P. aeruginosa PAO1 was grown in shake flask cultures using varying concentrations of ferric iron. Gene expression was assessed using quantitative PCR. A strong increase in relative expression of the genes for rhamnolipid synthesis, rhlA and rhlC, as well as the genes of the pqs quorum sensing regulon was observed under iron-limiting conditions. Iron repletion on the other hand caused a down-regulation of those genes. Furthermore, gene expression of different iron regulation-related factors, i.e. pvdS, fur and bqsS, was increased in response to iron limitation. Ensuing from these results, a batch cultivation using production medium without any addition of iron was conducted. Both biomass formation and specific growth rates were not impaired compared to normal cultivation conditions. Expression of rhlA, rhlC and pvdS, as well as the gene for the 3-oxo-C12-HSL synthetase, lasI, increased until late stationary growth phase. After this time point, their expression steadily decreased. Expression of the C4-HSL synthetase gene, rhlI, on the other hand, was found to be highly increased during the entire process.

Kinetic modeling of the time course of N-butyryl-homoserine lactone concentration during batch cultivations of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1

Quorum sensing affects the regulation of more than 300 genes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, influencing growth, biofilm formation, and the biosynthesis of several products. The quorum sensing regulation mechanisms are mostly described in a qualitative character. Particularly, in this study, the kinetics of N-butyryl-homoserine lactone (C4-HSL) and rhamnolipid formation in P. aeruginosa PAO1 were of interest. In this system, the expression of the rhamnolipid biosynthesis genes rhlAB is directly coupled to the C4-HSL concentration via the rhl system. Batch cultivations in a bioreactor with sunflower oil have been used for these investigations. 3-oxo-dodecanoyl-homoserine lactone (3o-C12-HSL) displayed a lipophilic character and accumulated in the hydrophobic phase. Degradation of C4-HSL has been found to occur in the aqueous supernatant of the culture by yet unknown extracellular mechanisms, and production was found to be proportional to biomass concentration rather than by autoinduction mechanisms. Rhamnolipid production rates, as determined experimentally, were shown to correlate linearly with the concentration of autoinducer C4-HSL. These findings were used to derive a simple model, wherein a putative, extracellular protein with C4-HSL degrading activity was assumed (putative C4-HSL acylase). The model is based on data for catalytic efficiency of HSL-acylases extracted from literature (k cat/K m), experimentally determined basal C4-HSL production rates (q C4 - HSL (basal)), and two fitted parameters which describe the formation of the putative acylase and is therefore comparatively simple.