A xanthine oxidase inhibit activity component from biotransformation of cholesterol by Streptomyces cellulosae WHX1301

Steroids are one of the most widely used groups of medicines presently. There are some steroid drugs that have acquired with the transformation of microorganism. It's indispensability to screen the strain that is able to utilize steroids to generate new products. This study has screened a transformation strain WHX1301 that have ability to convert cholesterol. Based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence comparison, the isolate WHX1301 has been demonstrated to most similar as Streptomyces cellulosae. Separation and purification of transformation product were identifying by NMR and ESI-MS. The major of product was 2,7-dihydroxycholesterol, and the by-product were 7-Hydroxycholestane-3,5-diene, Cholesterane-3,5-diene. Fortunately, 2,7-dihydroxycholesterol has inhibitory activity against xanthine oxidase with a 34.8% inhibition rate at a concentration of 20 μg/ml. Using the resting cells of Streptomyces cellulosae WHX1301 to transform cholesterol, the product yield can reach 76%. Present paper is the first report regarding the microbial transformation of steroids by Streptomyces cellulosae.

Environmental factors affecting akinete germination and resting cell awakening of two cyanobacteria

Globally, cyanobacteria frequently cause blooms that outcompete other species in the waterbody, affecting the diversity, decreasing water exchange rates, and promoting eutrophication that leads to excessive algal growth. Here, Dolichospermum circinale (akinetes) and Microcystic aeruginosa (resting cells), were isolated from the sediment in the Uiam Dam in the North Han River and near Ugok Bridge in the Nakdong River, respectively. The morphology, germination process and rates, and growth was evaluated in different environmental conditions. D. cercinalis germination began on day two of culturing, with maximum cell growth observed on day ten. In contrast, M. aeruginosa exhibited daily increase in cell density and colony size, with notable density increase on day six. Next, different environmental conditions were assessed. Akinetes exhibited high germination rates at low light intensity (5-30 µmol/m²/s), whereas resting cells exhibited high growth rates at high light intensity (50-100 µmol/m²/s). Furthermore, both cell types exhibited optimum germination and growth in media containing N and P at 20-30° at a pH of 7-9. Our study reveals the optimum conditions for the germination and growth of cyanobacterial akinetes and resting cells isolated from river sediment, respectively, and will assist in predicting cyanobacterial blooms for appropriate management.

In vitro and in silico analysis of Brilliant Black degradation by Actinobacteria and a Paraburkholderia sp

The soil bacteria isolated in this study, including three strains of actinobacteria and one Paraburkholderia sp., showed decolorization activity of azo dyes in the resting cell assay and were shown to use methyl red as the sole carbon source to proliferate. Therefore, their ability to degrade, bioabsorb, or a combination of both was investigated using the substrate brilliant black. The strains DP-A9 and DP-L11, within 24 h of incubation, showed complete biodegradation of 173.54 mg/L brilliant black and the strains DP-D10 and DP-P12 showed partial decolorization of 83.3 mg/L and 36.4 mg/L, respectively, by both biosorption and biodegradation. In addition, the shotgun assembled genome of strains studied included a highly diverse set of genes encoding for candidate dye degrading enzymes, providing avenues to study azo dye metabolism in more detail.

Metabolic engineering of Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 20,016 for improved 1,3-propanediol production from glycerol

The production of 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO) from glycerol was studied by GRAS and native 1,3-PDO producer, Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 20016. This strain ferments glucose with production of lactate, acetate, ethanol, and converts glycerol to 1,3-PDO using NADH generated by glucose metabolism. To improve 1,3-PDO production, alcohol dehydrogenases (ADH) were disrupted and 1,3-PDO oxidoreductases (PDOR) were overexpressed. Deletion of ADH (adh2) enhanced 1,3-PDO production yield on glucose by reducing ethanol synthesis, and overexpression of PDOR (pduQ) elevated 1,3-PDO production rate and cell growth rate. The strain with simultaneous adh2 deletion, pduQ overexpression (Δadh2pduQ⁺⁺) could produce 687 mM 1,3-PDO with the yield of 1.2 ± 0.08 mol 1,3-PDO/mol glucose by fed-batch bioreactor cultivation in 48 h. However, the 1,3-PDO production rate was greatly reduced in the late period of bioreactor culture, mainly due to high lactate accumulation. This is the first report on rational metabolic engineering of L. reuteri for improved 1,3-PDO production.

A newly isolated Bacillus amyloliquefaciens SRB04 for the synthesis of selenium nanoparticles with potential antibacterial properties

The aim of this study was to isolate and characterize marine bacterial strains capable of converting selenite to elemental selenium with the formation of Se nanoparticles (SeNPs). For the first time, a novel marine strain belonging to Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (GenBank accession no. MK392020) was isolated from the coast of the Caspian Sea and characterized based on its ability for transformation of selenite to SeNPs under aerobic conditions. The preliminary formation of SeNPs was confirmed via color changes and the products characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy. The field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) together with energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis showed the presence of the spherical SeNPs on both the surface of the bacterial biomass and in the supernatant solution. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis showed the SeNPs to have an average particle size (Z-average) around 45.4-68.3 nm. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies substantiated the amorphous nature of the biosynthesized SeNPs. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopic (FTIR) studies of the SeNPs indicated typical proteinaceous and lipid-related bands as capping agents on the SeNPs. Different effective parameters corresponding the yield of SeNPs by B. amyloliquefaciens strain SRB04 were optimized under resting cell strategy. Results showed that the optimal process conditions for SeNP production were 2 mM of selenite oxyanion, 20 g/L of cell biomass, and 60 h reaction time. The synthesized SeNPs had a remarkable antibacterial activity on Staphylococcus aureus compared with chloramphenicol as a broad-spectrum antibiotic.

Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli carrying the hybrid acetone-biosynthesis pathway for efficient acetone biosynthesis from acetate

Background

The shortage of food based feedstocks has been one of the stumbling blocks in industrial biomanufacturing. The acetone bioproduction from the traditional acetone–butanol–ethanol fermentation is limited by the non-specificity of products and competitive utilization of food-based substrates. Using genetically modified Escherichia coli to produce acetone as sole product from the cost-effective non-food based substrates showed great potential to overcome these problems.

Results

A novel acetone biosynthetic pathway were constructed based on genes from Clostridium acetobutylicum (thlA encoding for thiolase, adc encoding for acetoacetate decarboxylase, ctfAB encoding for coenzyme A transferase) and Escherichia coli MG1655 (atoB encoding acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase, atoDA encoding for acetyl-CoA: acetoacetyl-CoA transferase subunit α and β). Among these constructs, one recombinant MG1655 derivative containing the hybrid pathway consisting of thlA, atoDA, and adc, produced the highest level of acetone from acetate. Reducing the gluconeogenesis pathway had little effect on acetone production, while blocking the TCA cycle by knocking out the icdA gene enhanced the yield of acetone significantly. As a result, acetone concentration increased up to 113.18 mM in 24 h by the resting cell culture coupling with gas-stripping methods.

Conclusions

An engineered E. coli strain with optimized hybrid acetone biosynthetic pathway can utilize acetate as substrate efficiently to synthesize acetone without other non-gas byproducts. It provides a potential method for industrial biomanufacturing of acetone by engineered E. coli strains from non-food based substrate.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12934-019-1054-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A Novel 2-Keto-D-Gluconic Acid High-Producing Strain Arthrobacter globiformis JUIM02

2-Keto-D-gluconic acid (2KGA) is mainly used for industrial production of erythorbic acid, a food antioxidant. In this study, a 2KGA producing strain JUIM02 was firstly identified as Arthrobacter globiformis by morphological observation and 16S rDNA sequencing. The 2KGA synthetic capacity of A. globiformis JUIM02 was evaluated by both fermentation and bioconversion, with 180 g/L dextrose monohydrate as substrates, in shake flasks and 5 L fermenters. For fermentation, 2KGA titer, yield, molar yield, and productivity of JUIM02 reached 159.05 g/L, 0.97 g/g, 90.18%, and 6.63 g/L/h in 24 h. For non-sterile and buffer-free bioconversion by free resting cells (~ 3.2 g/L dry cell weight) of JUIM02, these data were 172.96 g/L, 1.06 g/g, 98.07%, and 5.41 g/L/h in 32 h. Moreover, JUIM02 resting cells could be repeatedly used. Resting cells stored at 4 °C within 30 days showed stable bioconversion capacity, with 2KGA titers ≥ 171.50 g/L, yields ≥ 1.04 g/g, and molar yields ≥ 97.24%. The 2KGA synthetic pathway in A. globiformis, which was rarely reported, was also speculated similar to Pseudomonas and verified preliminarily. In conclusion, A. globiformis JUIM02 is a promising 2KGA industrial-producing strain suitable for various production methods and a suitable object for 2KGA metabolism research of A. globiformis.

Bioconversion of isoeugenol to vanillin and vanillic acid using the resting cells of Trichosporon asahii

40 isoeugenol-tolerant yeasts were isolated from the rhizosphere soil samples which in turn were collected from aromatic plants in different regions of Iran, and further tested for their ability to grow on a minimal medium containing isoeugenol as the sole carbon and energy source. Nine isolates which were able to grow on isoeugenol were examined for their ability to convert isoeugenol into vanillin under growing cell experiments. Of the tested yeasts, the highest conversion efficiency was observed in isolate MP24. The isolate was identified as Trichosporon asahii based on morphological, biochemical and molecular (ITS region) characters and tested to effectively convert isoeugenol into vanillin under resting cell system. A comparative analysis of thin layer chromatography (TLC), UV-Vis spectrometry, and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) verified that vanillin and vanillic acid are accumulated as two major metabolites using T. asahii strain MP24 resting cells. In the presence of 7.5 g/l of wet weight cells of the strain MP24 pre-grown on isoeugenol and harvested at the end of the exponential growth phase, the optimal concentration of vanillin reached 2.4 g/l with a molar conversion of 52.5% in the potassium phosphate buffer (100 mM, pH 5.8) supplemented with 5 g/l of isoeugenol and 2% (v/v) N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF). The total concentration of vanillin and vanillic acid obtained from the bioconversion process was 4.2 g/l (total molar yield of 88.3%). Until now, no data has been published on the conversion of isoeugenol into vanillin by the strains of the genus Trichosporon.

A novel strain of Aureobasidium sp. TeO12 for theophylline production from caffeine

A total of 40 fungal cultures were isolated for their ability to grow on caffeine as a sole source carbon and nitrogen, and further screened for theophylline-producing activities under the growing cell system. Based on thin-layer chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography analyses, the potent strain Aureobasidium sp. TeO12 was chosen for its capability to generate theophylline via biotransformation of caffeine. It was identified based on phenotypic characteristics and its ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 rDNA sequencing data (GenBank accession number no. KT439072). To improve theophylline yield, the effects of various factors, such as resting cell density, Fe(II) concentration, and course of the transformation of caffeine, were studied in a biotransformation reaction containing 0.1 M sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7), Aureobasidium sp. TeO12 resting cells as the whole-cell catalyst and caffeine (2.5 g/L) as the substrate, and the reaction was incubated at 30 °C on an orbital shaker (200 rpm). The results indicated that optimal combination included resting cell density 6 g/L, Fe(II) concentration 75 mg/L, and the biotransformation time 72 h. Under these optimal reaction conditions, the highest theophylline concentration of 1.55 g/L (molar yield of 67%) with an average degradation yield of the substrate of about 83% was obtained in the biotransformation process. This is the first report on the biotransformation of caffeine into theophylline by a novel strain of the genus Aureobasidium.

Overexpression of membrane-bound gluconate-2-dehydrogenase to enhance the production of 2-keto-D-gluconic acid by Gluconobacter oxydans

Background

2-keto-d-gluconic acid (2KGA) is widely used as a chemical intermediate in the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and environmental industries. Several microbial fermentation processes have been developed for production of 2KGA but these suffer from substrate/product inhibition, byproduct formation and low productivity. In previous work, we showed that 2KGA can be specifically produced from glucose (Glu) or gluconic acid (GA) by resting wild-type Gluconobacter oxydans DSM2003 cells, although substrate concentration was relatively low. In this study, we attempted to improve 2KGA productivity by G. oxydans DSM2003 by overexpressing the ga2dh gene, which encodes the membrane-bound gluconate-2-dehydrogenase enzyme (GA2DH).

Results

The ga2dh gene was overexpressed in G. oxydans DSM2003 under the control of three promoters, P_tufB, P_ga2dh or P_ghp0169, respectively. Among the recombinant strains obtained, G. oxydans_tufB_ga2dh showed a similar growth rate to that of the control strain and displayed the highest specific productivity of 2KGA from GA, which was increased nearly twofold compared with that of the control strain during batch biotransformation. When biocatalysis conditions were optimized, with provision of sufficient oxygen during biotransformation, up to 480 g/L GA was completely utilized over 45 h by resting cells of G. oxydans_tufB_ga2dh and 453.3 g/L 2KGA was produced. A productivity of 10.07 g/L/h and a yield of 95.3 % were obtained. Overexpression of the ga2dh gene also significantly improved the conversion of Glu to 2KGA. Under optimized conditions, 270 g/L Glu was converted to 321 g/L 2KGA over 18 h, with a yield of 99.1 % and a productivity of 17.83 g/L/h. The glucose concentrations during the batch biotransformation and the 2KGA productivities achieved in this study were relatively high compared with the results of previous studies.

Conclusions

This study developed an efficient bacterial strain (G. oxydans_tufB_ga2dh) for the production of 2KGA by overexpressing the ga2dh gene in G. oxydans. Supply of sufficient oxygen enhanced the positive effect of gene overexpression on 2KGA production. Gluconobacter oxydans_tufB_ga2dh is thus a competitive species for use in 2KGA production.

Enhanced xylitol production: Expression of xylitol dehydrogenase from Gluconobacter oxydans and mixed culture of resting cell

Xylitol has numerous applications in food and pharmaceutical industry, and it can be biosynthesized by microorganisms. In the present study, xdh gene, encoding xylitol dehydrogenase (XDH), was cloned from the genome of Gluconobacter oxydans CGMCC 1.49 and overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21. Sequence analysis revealed that XDH has a TGXXGXXG NAD(H)-binding motif and a YXXXK active site motif, and belongs to the short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase family. And then, the enzymatic properties and kinetic parameter of purified recombinant XDH were investigated. Subsequently, transformations of xylitol from d-xylulose and d-arabitol, respectively, were studied through mixed culture of resting cells of G. oxydans wild-type strain and recombinant strain BL21-xdh. We obtained 28.80 g/L xylitol by mixed culture from 30 g/L d-xylulose in 28 h. The production was increased by more than three times as compared with that of wild-type strain. Furthermore, 25.10 g/L xylitol was produced by the mixed culture from 30 g/L d-arabitol in 30 h with a yield of 0.837 g/g, and the max volumetric productivity of 0.990 g/L h was obtained at 22 h. These contrast to the fact that wild-type strain G. oxydans only produced 8.10 g/L xylitol in 30 h with a yield of 0.270 g/g. To our knowledge, these values are the highest among the reported yields and productivity efficiencies of xylitol from d-arabitol with engineering strains.