Zugl.: Hohenheim, Univ., Diss., 2009

Thesis (MSc (Genetics. Institute for Plant Biotechnology (IPB)))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / Dextran is a high value glucose polymer used in medicine and an array of laboratory techniques. It is synthesised by lactic-acid bacteria from sucrose but has also reportedly been produced by Gluconobacter oxydans (G. oxydans) from a range of maltooligosaccharides (MOS) via the action of dextrin dextranase (DDase). In this study the presence of DDase is investigated in two G. oxydans strains (ATCC 621H and ATCC 19357) and shown to be present in the ATCC 19357 strain, but not in the ATCC 621H strain. The enzyme was partially purified from the ATCC 19357 strain, and its kinetic properties investigated. The partially purified protein was also digested with trypsin, and de novo peptide sequences obtained from it. Several attempts were made to obtain the gene coding for the DDase. These include amplifying an open reading frame from the G. oxydans genome coding for a glycosyltransferase with the approximate molecular weight of the DDase, using the peptide sequences obtained from the partially purified protein to design degenerate PCR primers and the production of a genomic DNA library for functional screening in E. coli. None of these approaches led to the successful isolation of the extracellular DDase sequence.

The genus Gluconobacter is industrially important due to the ability to accomplish unusual and almost complete oxidation reactions (bioconversions) and to contaminate high sugar content products. Following preliminary evidence that some strains of Gluconobacter were resistant to cadmium, and realizing that cadmium resistance among gram-negative organisms is often encoded by an operon which also encodes cobalt and zinc resistance via an efflux mechanism, 10 strains of Gluconobacter were tested for heavy-metal resistance. Three of the 10 representative strains appeared to be resistant to cadmium chloride, and two were also resistant to cobalt- and zinc chloride. These strains, as well as two cadmium-sensitive strains were analyzed using PCR and sequencing to establish gene homology with Ralstonia eutropha, the most frequently studied Gram-negative bacterium exhibiting cadmium resistance. Amplification of two genes from the czc operon, known to encode cadmium, cobalt and zinc resistance in Ralstonia, was attempted in the three resistant and two sensitive strains of Gluconobacter. The gene, czcA, thought to encode the main pump protein of the efflux mechanism, was found in all Gluconobacter strains tested. However, amplification of a regulatory gene czcD, thought to sense the extracellular metal ion concentration, was not possible in the Gluconobacter strains tested. The PCR products were sequenced and analyzed for homology to the czc operon in Ralstonia. From the data gathered, it appears as though some strains of Gluconobacter contain at least a portion of the czc operon , encoding cadmium, cobalt and zinc resistance in Ralstonia eutropha. / Master of Science

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Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:18:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CarolinaCSO.pdf: 673645 bytes, checksum: 65edb3dd5d260d66ee98b34da41f4185 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-02-27 / Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus ? uma alfa-proteobact?ria Gram-negativa, tolerante a meios ?cidos, fixadora de nitrog?nio atmosf?rico e foi a primeira bact?ria diazotr?fica endof?tica isolada da cana-de-a??car. Por sua vez, Gluconobacter oxydans, tamb?m alfa-proteobact?ria Gram-negativa, possui a capacidade de oxidar incompletamente alco?is e carboidratos. Ambas de interesse biotecnol?gico e industrial, essas bact?rias tiveram seus genomas seq?enciados completamente em 2007. Desta forma, foi de interesse desse trabalho analisar e comparar os genes de reparo do DNA devido sua import?ncia na manuten??o da integridade gen?mica. Sendo assim, as vias de reparo presentes nos dois organismos foram identificadas, utilizando como base uma terceira alfa-proteobact?ria, a Caulobacter crescentus, cujos genes de reparo foram descritos por um trabalho anterior e tamb?m os genes bem estabelecidos para o reparo do DNA em Escherichia coli. Para esse estudo, um banco de dados contendo ort?logos para os genes de reparo de DNA encontrados nos organismos foi criado e an?lises comparativas por similaridade usando o pacote Blast e o software Clustal foram feitas. Este estudo demonstrou que as principais vias de reparo ao DNA reparos por excis?o, reparo direto, reparo recombinacional e reparo pelo sistema SOS est?o presentes nos organismos analisados, demonstrando, na maioria das vezes, boa similaridade com E. coli. Interessantemente, foram encontradas duplica??es g?nicas nos quais uma das c?pias estava presente no cromossomo e a outra, no plasm?deo, como no caso de UvrD, DnaE e Ssb, possivelmente caracterizando eventos de transfer?ncia lateral. Por fim, uma grande novidade foi a identifica??o de ort?logos para RecB em G. diazotrophicus e G. oxydans e de ort?logos duplicados de RecD em G. diazotrophicus. At? o momento, n?o havia sido relatada a presen?a de membros da via de inicia??o RecBCD do reparo recombinacional em alfaproteobact?rias

The genus <i>Gluconobacter</i> is known to carry out limited oxidations using the NAD(P)-independent membrane-bound dehydrogenases in which the products are released back to the medium. Reports of further limited oxidations of these primary oxidation products by <i>Gluconobacter</i> in single step or sequential oxidations by secondary dehydrogenases are also published. The objective of this project was to evaluate the nature of one primary (sorbitol) dehydrogenase and one secondary (sorbose) dehydrogenase because of their importance in Vitamin C production. My hypotheses were that sorbitol (the primary) dehydrogenase is constitutive, while sorbose (the secondary) dehydrogenase is inducible. Six <i>Gluconobacter</i> strains from three different species grew on plates containing 50/0 sorbose, indicating their ability to oxidize sorbose thus possessing a secondary dehydrogenase. When four strains were tested for their ability to carry out the sequential oxidation of sorbitol and then sorbose on media containing growth-limiting sorbitol concentrations, three strains showed possible biphasic growth. However, thin layer chromatography of culture media did not support sequential sorbitol and sorbose oxidation. F erricyanide assays for sorbitol and sorbose dehydrogenases from membrane fractions isolated from cells grown on glycerol, sorbitol, or sorbose showed that sorbitol dehydrogenase activity in all four strains (three species) tested was always present (constitutive) and its specific activity was always enhanced by growth on sorbose. Membrane fractions showed no or very low constitutive sorbose dehydrogenase activity and no evidence that this secondary dehydrogenase was induced. / Master of Science

Vitamin C is industrially produced by the Reichstein method, which uses gluconobacters to oxidize sorbitol to sorbose then a chemical process to convert sorbose to 2-keto-L-gulonic acid (2-KLG). The establishment of a more extensive microbial process for 2-KLG production translates into a less expensive and more efficient production of vitamin C. I examined pure strains and mixed cultures for their ability to produce 2-KLG using thin layer and high performance liquid chromatography. The DSM 4027 mixed culture produced the highest yield, 25 g/L, of 2-KLG from 100 g/L of sorbose, while the gram-negative rods isolated from DSM 4027 produced 8.8 g/L, and B. megaterium isolated from DSM 4027 produced 1.4 g/L. Thus, the gram-negative rods in the mixed culture were the primary 2-KLG producer, but B. megaterium in the DSM 4027 mixture enhanced this synthesis. Authentic pure cultures of Gluconobacter oxydans IFO strain 3293 and ATCC strain 621 produced 3.4 g/L and 5.7 g/L, respectively. Attempts to co-culture the isolated B. megaterium with the isolated gram-negative rods and authentic Gluconobacter strains did not increase 2-KLG production, nor did growing the cultures on B. megaterium spent media. Bacillus megaterium produced an unidentified keto-compound detected on the TLC chromatograms, which suggested that B. megaterium converted sorbose to an intermediate that may then be converted by the gram-negative rods in DSM 4027 to 2-KLG. Limited phenotypic tests suggested that the gram-negative rods in the DSM 4027 mixture are not gluconobacters. / Master of Science

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