Carotenoids in a Corynebacterineae, Gordonia terrae AIST-1: carotenoid glucosyl mycoloyl esters.

We isolated a strain of Corynebacterineae from surface seawater from the Inland Sea of Japan. This strain, AIST-1, was determined to be a strain of Gordonia terrae based on its 16S rRNA gene sequence. The colony was red-colored, and the pigments were identified to be carotenoid derivatives. The structures of two major carotenoids were (2'S)-deoxymyxol 1'-glucoside, a dihydroxyl derivative of gamma-carotene with 12 conjugated double bonds, and (2'S)-4-ketodeoxymyxol 1'-glucoside. Their glucosyl acyl esters and mycoloyl esters were also identified. While these carotenoid moieties have been found in only a few other bacteria, the carotenoid mycoloyl esters are novel carotenoid derivatives. The type strain of G. terrae NBRC 10016T also contained the same carotenoids, but the composition of the two carotenoid glucosides was low and the total carotenoid content was less than one tenth of that of strain AIST-1.

Growth and carotenoid production of Thraustochytrium sp. CHN-1 cultured under superbright red and blue light-emitting diodes.

Isomers of astaxanthin produced by Thraustochytrium sp. CHN-1 are identified as (3S,3S')-trans-astaxanthin, (3R,3R')-trans-astaxanthin and (3S,3S')-cis-astaxanthin by chirality column HPLC, and 1H and 13C NMR. We studied the effects of light generated by superbright blue, red and near-red LEDs on the growth and carotenoid production of Thraustochytrium sp. CHN-1. Thraustochytrium sp. CHN-1 responded to blue LEDs light: It produced carotenoid pigments (astaxanthin)

Production of free and organic iodine by Roseovarius spp.

Two strains of iodine-producing bacteria were isolated from marine samples. 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated the strains were most closely related to Roseovarius tolerans, and phylogenetic analysis indicated both belong to the same genus. 5 mM iodide inhibited the growth of strain 2S5-2 almost completely, and of strain S6V slightly. Both strains produced free iodine and organic iodine from iodide. CH2I2, CHI3 and CH2ClI were the main organic iodines produced by strain 2S5-2, and CHI3 and CH2I2 by strain S6V. Experiments using cells and spent media suggested that the organic iodines were produced from the compounds released or contained in the media and cells were necessary for the considerable production of CH2I2 and CH2ClI, though CHI3 was produced by spent media with H2O2 or free iodine.

Degradation of chlorinated biphenyl, dibenzofuran, and dibenzo-p-dioxin by marine bacteria that degrade biphenyl, carbazole, or dibenzofuran.

Marine bacterial strains (BP-PH, CAR-SF, and DBF-MAK) were isolated using biphenyl, carbazole (CAR), or dibenzofuran (DF) respectively as substrates for growth. Their 16S ribosomal DNA sequences showed that the species closest to strain BP-PH, strain CAR-SF, and strain DBF-MAK are Alteromonas macleodii (96.3% identity), Neptunomonas naphthovorans (93.1% identity), and Cycloclasticus pugetii (97.3% identity), respectively. The metabolites produced suggested that strain CAR-SF degrades CAR via dioxygenation in the angular position and by the meta-cleavage pathway, and that strain DBF-MAK degrades DF via both lateral and angular dioxygenation. Polychlorinated biphenyl (KC-300) and 2,3-dichlorodibenzo-p-dioxin were partially degraded by strain BP-PH and strain DBF-MAK, while 2,7-dichlorodibenzo-p-dioxin and 2,4,8-trichlorodibenzofuran remained virtually unchanged.

Identification by HPLC-MS of carotenoids of the Thraustochytrium CHN-1 strain isolated from the Seto Inland Sea.

The orange-pigmented Thraustochytrium, CHN-1 strain was found to contain astaxanthin as the main carotenoid pigment. Echinenone, canthaxanthin, phoenicoxanthin and beta-carotene were also identified by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and HPLC-mass spectrometry. The total extractable carotenoid level was found to increase with culture age.

Tin-carbon cleavage of organotin compounds by pyoverdine from Pseudomonas chlororaphis.

The triphenyltin (TPT)-degrading bacterium Pseudomonas chlororaphis CNR15 produces extracellular yellow substances to degrade TPT. Three substances (F-I, F-IIa, and F-IIb) were purified, and their structural and catalytic properties were characterized. The primary structure of F-I was established using two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance techniques; the structure was identical to that of suc-pyoverdine from P. chlororaphis ATCC 9446, which is a peptide siderophore produced by fluorescent pseudomonads. Spectral and isoelectric-focusing analyses revealed that F-IIa and F-IIb were also pyoverdines, differing only in the acyl substituent attached to the chromophore part of F-I. Furthermore, we found that the fluorescent pseudomonads producing pyoverdines structurally different from F-I showed TPT degradation activity in the solid extracts of their culture supernatants. F-I and F-IIa degraded TPT to monophenyltin via diphenyltin (DPT) and degraded DPT and dibutyltin to monophenyltin and monobutyltin, respectively. The total amount of organotin metabolites produced by TPT degradation was nearly equivalent to that of the F-I added to the reaction mixture, whereas DPT degradation was not influenced by monophenyltin production. The TPT degradation activity of F-I was remarkably inhibited by the addition of metal ions chelated with pyoverdine. On the other hand, the activity of DPT was increased 13- and 8-fold by the addition of Cu(2+) and Sn(4+), respectively. These results suggest that metal-chelating ligands common to pyoverdines may play important roles in the Sn-C cleavage of organotin compounds in both the metal-free and metal-complexed states.