Skip to main content
PMC home page
Applied and Environmental Microbiology logoLink to Applied and Environmental Microbiology
. 1996 Sep;62(9):3146–3151. doi: 10.1128/aem.62.9.3146-3151.1996

Isolation and characterization of isopimaric acid-degrading bacteria from a sequencing batch reactor.

A E Wilson 1, E R Moore 1, W W Mohn 1
PMCID: PMC168108  PMID: 8795202

Abstract

We isolated two aerobic, gram-negative bacteria which grew on the diterpene resin acid isopimaric acid (IpA) as the sole carbon source and electron donor. The source of the isolates was a sequencing batch reactor treating a high-strength process stream from a paper mill. The isolates, IpA-1 and IpA-2, also grew on pimaric and dehydroabietic acids, and IpA-1 grew on abietic acid. Both strains used fatty acids, but neither strain used camphor, sitosterol, or betulin. Strain IpA-1 grew anaerobically with nitrate as an electron acceptor. Strains IpA-1 and IpA-2 had growth yields of 0.19 and 0.23 g of protein per g of IpA, respectively. During growth, both strains transformed IpA carbon to approximately equal amounts of biomass, carbon dioxide, and dissolved organic carbon. In both strains, growth on IpA induced an enzymatic system which caused cell suspensions to transform all four of the above resin acids. Cell suspensions of IpA-1 and IpA-2 removed IpA at rates of 0.56 and 0.13 mumol mg of protein-1 h-1, respectively. Cultures and cell suspensions of both strains failed to completely consume pimaric acid and yielded small amounts of an apparent metabolite from this acid. Cultures and cell suspensions of both strains yielded large amounts of three apparent metabolites from dehydroabietic acid. Analysis of 16S rDNA sequences indicated that the isolates are distinct members of the genus Pseudomonas sensu stricto.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (248.4 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bicho P. A., Martin V., Saddler J. N. Growth, induction, and substrate specificity of dehydroabietic acid-degrading bacteria isolated from a kraft mill effluent enrichment. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1995 Sep;61(9):3245–3250. doi: 10.1128/aem.61.9.3245-3250.1995. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Cross B. E., Myers P. L. The bacterial transformation of abietic acid. Biochem J. 1968 Jun;108(2):303–310. doi: 10.1042/bj1080303. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Gutell R. R., Weiser B., Woese C. R., Noller H. F. Comparative anatomy of 16-S-like ribosomal RNA. Prog Nucleic Acid Res Mol Biol. 1985;32:155–216. doi: 10.1016/s0079-6603(08)60348-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Karlson U., Dwyer D. F., Hooper S. W., Moore E. R., Timmis K. N., Eltis L. D. Two independently regulated cytochromes P-450 in a Rhodococcus rhodochrous strain that degrades 2-ethoxyphenol and 4-methoxybenzoate. J Bacteriol. 1993 Mar;175(5):1467–1474. doi: 10.1128/jb.175.5.1467-1474.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Maidak B. L., Olsen G. J., Larsen N., Overbeek R., McCaughey M. J., Woese C. R. The Ribosomal Database Project (RDP). Nucleic Acids Res. 1996 Jan 1;24(1):82–85. doi: 10.1093/nar/24.1.82. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Mohn W. W. Bacteria obtained from a sequencing batch reactor that are capable of growth on dehydroabietic acid. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1995 Jun;61(6):2145–2150. doi: 10.1128/aem.61.6.2145-2150.1995. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Mullis K. B., Faloona F. A. Specific synthesis of DNA in vitro via a polymerase-catalyzed chain reaction. Methods Enzymol. 1987;155:335–350. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(87)55023-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Olsen G. J. Earliest phylogenetic branchings: comparing rRNA-based evolutionary trees inferred with various techniques. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1987;52:825–837. doi: 10.1101/sqb.1987.052.01.090. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Smith P. K., Krohn R. I., Hermanson G. T., Mallia A. K., Gartner F. H., Provenzano M. D., Fujimoto E. K., Goeke N. M., Olson B. J., Klenk D. C. Measurement of protein using bicinchoninic acid. Anal Biochem. 1985 Oct;150(1):76–85. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(85)90442-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Van de Peer Y., Nicolaï S., De Rijk P., De Wachter R. Database on the structure of small ribosomal subunit RNA. Nucleic Acids Res. 1996 Jan 1;24(1):86–91. doi: 10.1093/nar/24.1.86. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Wang Z., Chen T., Gao Y., Breuil C., Hiratsuka Y. Biological degradation of resin acids in wood chips by wood-inhabiting fungi. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1995 Jan;61(1):222–225. doi: 10.1128/aem.61.1.222-225.1995. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Woese C. R., Gutell R., Gupta R., Noller H. F. Detailed analysis of the higher-order structure of 16S-like ribosomal ribonucleic acids. Microbiol Rev. 1983 Dec;47(4):621–669. doi: 10.1128/mr.47.4.621-669.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Applied and Environmental Microbiology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES