Protein expression in the obligate hydrocarbon‐degrading psychrophile Oleispira antarctica RB‐8 during alkane degradation and cold tolerance. (28th February 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gregson, Benjamin H.; Metodieva, Gergana; Metodiev, Metodi V.; Golyshin, Peter N.; McKew, Boyd A.
• Is Part Of: Environmental microbiology. Volume 22:Number 5(2020)
• Page Start: 1870
• Page End: 1883
• Publication Date: 2020-02-28
• Subjects: Microbial ecology -- Periodicals; Environmental Microbiology -- Periodicals; 579.17
• DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.14956
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1462-2912

Abstract

Summary: In cold marine environments, the obligate hydrocarbon‐degrading psychrophile Oleispira antarctica RB‐8, which utilizes aliphatic alkanes almost exclusively as substrates, dominates microbial communities following oil spills. In this study, LC–MS/MS shotgun proteomics was used to identify changes in the proteome induced during growth on n ‐alkanes and in cold temperatures. Specifically, proteins with significantly higher relative abundance during growth on tetradecane ( n ‐C14 ) at 16°C and 4°C have been quantified. During growth on n ‐C14, O . antarctica expressed a complete pathway for the terminal oxidation of n ‐alkanes including two alkane monooxygenases, two alcohol dehydrogenases, two aldehyde dehydrogenases, a fatty‐acid‐CoA ligase, a fatty acid desaturase and associated oxidoreductases. Increased biosynthesis of these proteins ranged from 3‐ to 21‐fold compared with growth on a non‐hydrocarbon control. This study also highlights mechanisms O . antarctica may utilize to provide it with ecological competitiveness at low temperatures. This was evidenced by an increase in spectral counts for proteins involved in flagella structure/output to overcome higher viscosity, flagella rotation to accumulate cells and proline metabolism to counteract oxidative stress, during growth at 4°C compared with 16°C. Such species‐specific understanding of the physiology during hydrocarbon degradation can be important for parameterizing models that predict the fate of marine oil spills.