Transcriptional profiling of genes involved in n-hexadecane compounds assimilation in the hydrocarbon degrading Dietzia cinnamea P4 strain

• Autor(a) principal: Procópio,Luciano
• Data de Publicação: 2013
• Outros Autores: Silva,Michele de Cassia Pereira e, Elsas,Jan Dirk van, Seldin,Lucy
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Journal of Microbiology
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1517-83822013000200044
• topic: Dietzia cinnamea; n-hexadecane assimilation; alk genes; rubredoxin-alkane monooxygenase; real-time quantitative RT-PCR

The petroleum-derived degrading Dietzia cinnamea strain P4 recently had its genome sequenced and annotated. This allowed employing the data on genes that are involved in the degradation of n-alkanes. To examine the physiological behavior of strain P4 in the presence of n-alkanes, the strain was grown under varying conditions of pH and temperature. D. cinnamea P4 was able to grow at pH 7.0-9.0 and at temperatures ranging from 35 ºC to 45 ºC. Experiments of gene expression by real-time quantitative RT-PCR throughout the complete growth cycle clearly indicated the induction of the regulatory gene alkU (TetR family) during early growth. During the logarithmic phase, a large increase in transcriptional levels of a lipid transporter gene was noted. Also, the expression of a gene that encodes the protein fused rubredoxin-alkane monooxygenase was enhanced. Both genes are probably under the influence of the AlkU regulator.