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Construction of a chimeric gene cluster for the biosynthesis of apoemulsan with altered molecular weight

Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology volume 78, pages 677–683 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Acinetobacter venetianus RAG-1 produces an extracellular protein/high-molecular-weight (HMW) polysaccharide complex termed emulsan. As an emulsion stabilizer, emulsan has potential industrial applications. To control the molecular weight of the polymer, a stable chromosomal mutant was generated where RAG-1 wza, wzb, wzc genes were replaced by Escherichia coli homologs. The heterologous Wza, Wzb, Wzc proteins restored production of HMW polysaccharide. The polymer produced was of higher molecular weight than from the parent strain and with the cells exhibiting modified hydrophobicity.

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Acknowledgements

The NIH NIAID (AI055976) is gratefully acknowledged for support in this program. We thank Bruce Paniliatis for helpful discussions.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, 4 Colby St., Rm. 153, Medford, MA, 02155, USA

    Hanna Dams-Kozlowska, Nina Sainath & David L. Kaplan

Authors
  1. Hanna Dams-Kozlowska
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  2. Nina Sainath
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  3. David L. Kaplan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David L. Kaplan.

Electronic supplementary material

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Supplementary material 1

Nucleic acid and translated amino acid sequences of wza, wzb, wzc genes of E. coli B strain BL21 (Novagen) (DOC 51 KB)

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Dams-Kozlowska, H., Sainath, N. & Kaplan, D.L. Construction of a chimeric gene cluster for the biosynthesis of apoemulsan with altered molecular weight. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 78, 677–683 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-008-1346-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-008-1346-0

Keywords

  • Emulsan
  • Acinetobacter
  • Alcian Blue
  • Polymer Synthesis
  • Replacement Mutant