Project description:A yellow-pigmented coryneform rod was isolated from the blood of a child with acute lymphoblastic leukemia who was perfused with a central venous catheter. The culture bottles were positive twice, at a 2-month interval. The isolate was identified as a Microbacterium sp. and studied along with five other similar strains. Phenotypic, chemotaxonomic, and genetic characteristics indicated that they are closely related to Microbacterium oxydans but that they belong to a distinct species, for which the name Microbacterium paraoxydans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of M. paraoxydans is CF36(T) = DSM 15019(T). The G+C content of its DNA is 69.9 mol%.
Project description:Arsenic-contaminated areas of Sanganer, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India were surveyed for the presence of metal resistant bacteria contaminated with textile effluent. Samples were collected from soil receiving regular effluent from the textile industries located at Sanganer area. The properties like pH, electrical conductivity, organic carbon, organic matter, exchangeable calcium, water holding capacity and metals like arsenic, iron, magnesium, lead and zinc were estimated in the contaminated soil. In total, nine bacterial strains were isolated which exhibited minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of arsenic ranging between 23.09 and 69.2mM. Four out of nine arsenic contaminated soil samples exhibited the presence of arsenite hyper-tolerant bacteria. Four high arsenite tolerant bacteria were characterized by 16S rDNA gene sequencing which revealed their similarity to Microbacterium paraoxydans strain 3109, Microbacterium paraoxydans strain CF36, Microbacterium sp. CQ0110Y, Microbacterium sp. GE1017. The above results were confirmed as per Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology. All the four Microbacterium strains were found to be resistant to 100μg/ml concentration of cobalt, nickel, zinc, chromium selenium and stannous and also exhibited variable sensitivity to mercury, cadmium, lead and antimony. These results indicate that the arsenic polluted soil harbors arsenite hyper-tolerant bacteria like Microbacterium which might play a role in bioremediation of the soil.
Project description:In the present study, 50 strains of yellow-pigmented gram-positive rods that had been isolated from human clinical specimens and collected over a 5-year period were further characterized by phenotypic and molecular genetic methods. All 50 strains belonged to the genus Microbacterium, and together they represented 18 different species. Microbacterium oxydans (n = 11), M. paraoxydans (n = 9), and M. foliorum (n = 7) represented more than half of the strains included in the present study. The isolation of strains belonging to M. hydrocarbonoxydans (n = 2), M. esteraromaticum (n = 1), M. oleivorans (n = 1), M. phyllosphaerae (n = 1), and M. thalassium (n = 1) from humans is reported for the first time. Microbacterium sp. strain VKM Ac-1389 (n = 1) and the previously uncultured Microbacterium sp. clone YJQ-29 (n = 1) probably represent new species. Comprehensive antimicrobial susceptibility data are given for the 50 Microbacterium isolates. This study is, so far, the largest on Microbacterium spp. encountered in human clinical specimens and outlines the heterogeneity of clinical Microbacterium strains.
Project description:Poly-?-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) depolymerase is known to decompose PHB, biodegradable polymers and therefore has great commercial significance in the bioplastic sector. However, reports on PHB depolymerases from isolates obtained from plastic-contaminated sites that reflect the potential of the source organism is scarce. In this study, we evaluated the production of extracellular PHB depolymerase from Microbacterium paraoxydans RZS6 isolated from the plastic-contaminated site in the municipal area of Shahada, Maharashtra, India, for the first time. The isolate was identified using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, gas chromatographic analysis of fatty acid methyl esters (GC-FAME), and BIOLOG method. Ithydrolyzed PHB on minimal salt medium (MSM) containing PHB as the only source of carbon. The isolate produced PHB depolymerase at 45°C during 48 h of incubation. The enzyme was purified most efficiently using octyl-sepharose CL-4B column, with the highest purification yield of 6.675 Umg-1mL-1. The activity of the enzyme was enhanced in the presence of Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions but inhibited by Fe2+ (1 mM) ions and mercaptoethanol (1000 rpm). the nzyme kinetic analysis revealed that the enzyme was a metalloenzyme; requiring Mg2+ ions, that showed optimum enzyme activity at 30°C (mesophilic) and under neutrophilic (pH 7) conditions. Scale-up from the shake-flask level to a laboratory-scale bioreactor further enhanced the enzyme yield by 0.809 UmL-1. The molecular weight of the enzyme (40 kDa), as estimated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, closely resembled the PHB depolymerase of Aureobacterium saperdae. Our findings highlighted the applicability of M. paraoxydans as a producer of extracellular PHB depolymerase having potential of degrading PHB under diverse conditions.
Project description:This study reports extraction and characterization of carotenoid pigments from Microbacterium paraoxydans, a non-photosynthetic bacterium, cultivated in Luria-Bertani (LB) medium. The isolate was identified to be moderately halo- and osmo-tolerant capable of withstanding high (~ 6%) salt and sugar (30% w/v sucrose, 20% w/v glucose) concentrations after a brief period of adaptation. The pigments were characterized using a combination of UV-Vis spectral analysis with the ?max at 407, 436 and 466 nm and ESI-MS with an m/z value at 536.44. The absorption profile of the pigments and their nature was influenced by carbon, nitrogen source and presence of salt in the growth medium. Highest level of pigment (~ 16 g kg dry wt cells-1) was produced in NH4Cl supplemented LB medium. The pigment displayed free radical scavenging, anticancer activity, characteristic of the plant carotenoids. Based on the accumulation of pigments under different conditions, a biochemical pathway for synthesis of neurosporene was proposed.
Project description:Strain G3(T) (CSUR P207?=?DSM 26203) was isolated from the fecal sample of a wild gorilla (Gorilla gorilla subsp gorilla) from Cameroon. It is a Gram-positive, facultative anaerobic short rod. This strain exhibits a 16S rRNA sequence similarity of 98.2 % with Microbacterium thalassium, the closest validly published Microbacterium species and member of the family Microbacteriaceae. Moreover, it shows a low MALDI-TOF-MS score (1.1 to 1.3) that does not allow any identification. Thus, it is likely that this strain represents a new species. Here we describe the phenotypic features of this organism, the complete genome sequence and annotation. The 3,692,770 bp long genome (one chromosome but no plasmid) contains 3,505 protein-coding and 61 RNA genes, including 4 rRNA genes. In addition, digital DNA-DNA hybridization values for the genome of the strain G3(T) against the closest Microbacterium genomes range between 19.7 to 20.5, once again confirming its new status as a new species. On the basis of these polyphasic data, consisting of phenotypic and genomic analyses, we propose the creation of Microbacterium gorillae sp. nov. that contains the strain G3(T).