Toluene-degrading Antarctic Pseudomonas strains from fuel-contaminated soil.

Two psychrotolerant toluene-degrading Pseudomonas spp. were isolated from JP8 jet-fuel-contaminated soils, Scott Base, Antarctica. Isolates metabolized meta-toluate as sole carbon source at temperatures ranging from 6 to 30 degrees C. Large plasmids (>64kb) were isolated from both isolates. Sequence analysis of PCR products amplified using xylB (the gene encoding benzyl alcohol dehydrogenase) primers revealed that isolates 7/167 and 8/46 were 100% and 92% homologous, respectively, to the xylB gene of the meta-cleavage toluene degradative pathway encoded by the TOL plasmid (pWWO) of Pseudomonas putida mt-2. Assays of cell-free extracts of 7/167 and 8/46 demonstrated activity of catechol 2,3-dioxygenase, benzyl alcohol dehydrogenase, and benzaldehyde dehydrogenase, indicating that the isolates use the meta-cleavage pathway enzymes of toluene degradation typical of TOL type plasmids. As both isolates are able to grow at 6 degrees C ex situ it is feasible that they would be able to metabolize toluene in the Antarctic soils from where they were originally isolated.

Synthesis and utility of sulfated chromogenic carbohydrate model substrates for measuring activities of mucin-desulfating enzymes.

A chromogenic substrate, 4-nitrophenyl 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-beta-D-glucopyranoside 6-sodium sulfate was synthesized and used in combination with beta-N-acetylhexosaminidase for detection of the sulfatase, MdsA, by release of 4-nitrophenol. MdsA was originally isolated from the bacterium Prevotella strain RS2 and is believed to be involved in desulfation of sulfomucins, major components of the mucus barrier protecting the human colon surface. The exo nature of the MdsA sulfatase was indicated by its inability to de-esterify the disaccharide 4-nitrophenyl beta-D-galactopyranosyl-(1-->4)-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-beta-D-glucopyranoside 6-sodium sulfate. This latter compound was prepared from monosaccharide precursors by two different methods, the shorter requiring just six steps from 4-nitrophenyl 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-beta-D-glucopyranoside and giving an overall yield of 26.4%. The syntheses of 4-nitrophenyl beta-D-galactopyranoside 3-triethylammonium sulfate and 6-triethylammonium sulfate and their use in combination with beta-galactosidase as chromogenic substrates for detecting Bacteroides fragilis sulfatases with different specificities was also demonstrated.