Inducible microbial osmotic responses enable enhanced biosorption capability of cyanobacteria

Genome features of a novel hydrocarbonoclastic Chryseobacterium oranimense strain and its comparison to bacterial oil-degraders and to other C. oranimense strains

For the first time, we report the whole genome sequence of a hydrocarbonoclastic Chryseobacterium oranimense strain isolated from Trinidad and Tobago (COTT) and its genes involved in the biotransformation of hydrocarbons and xenobiotics through functional annotation. The assembly consisted of 11 contigs with 2,794 predicted protein-coding genes which included a diverse group of gene families involved in aliphatic and polycyclic hydrocarbon degradation. Comparative genomic analyses with 18 crude-oil degrading bacteria in addition to two C. oranimense strains not associated with oil were carried out. The data revealed important differences in terms of annotated genes involved in the hydrocarbon degradation process that may explain the molecular mechanisms of hydrocarbon and xenobiotic biotransformation. Notably, many gene families were expanded to explain COTT's competitive ability to manage habitat-specific stressors. Gene-based evidence of the metabolic potential of COTT supports the application of indigenous microbes for the remediation of polluted terrestrial environments and provides a genomic resource for improving our understanding of how to optimize these characteristics for more effective bioremediation.

Micelle-mediated transport disturbance providing extracellular strategy for alleviating n-butanol stress on Escherichia coli

One barrier inhibiting further progress in biofuel production is the toxicity of biofuels towards their producers. It is promising to apply gene-based intracellular techniques to engineer better strains with higher organic solvent tolerance. These methods are, however, complex. In the present study, we developed a simple, manageable, and commercial extracellular prototypal strategy to alleviate n-butanol (n-BuOH) stress on Escherichia coli via a micelle-mediated transport disturbance. When the concentration of sodium dodecyl sulfate, a typical anionic surfactant, is high enough to form micelles, n-BuOH will be trapped into/onto the micelles, and the negative charge prevents the n-BuOH from approaching the cells. Our study provides an extracellular strategy to relieve the stress from n-BuOH, and it also exhibits a new angle to advance microbial factories through extracellular routines.