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Tolerance of an Antarctic Bacterium to Multiple Environmental Stressors

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Abstract

A population of cold-tolerant Antarctic bacteria was screened for their ability to tolerate other environmental stress factors. Besides low temperature, they were predominantly found to be tolerant to alkali. Attempt was also made to postulate a genetic basis of their multistress-tolerance. Transposon mutagenesis of an isolate Pseudomonas syringae Lz4W was performed, and mutants with delayed growth at low temperature were further screened for sensitivity to some other stress factors. A number of multistress-sensitive mutants were isolated. The mutated gene in one of the mutants sensitive to low temperature, acid and alkali was found to encode citrate synthase. Possible role of citrate synthase in conferring multistress-tolerance was postulated.

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Acknowledgments

The investigators feel thankful to the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, for the financial support provided for the work. They are also thankful to Dr Ch.Mohan Rao, Director CCMB (CSIR) and Dr Lalji Singh, ex-Director, CCMB (CSIR) for the research infrastructure provided for the work.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Author notes

  1. Sisinthy Shivaji

    Present address: Jhaveri Microbiology Centre, L V Prasad Eye Institute, L V Prasad Marg, Hyderabad, 500 034, India

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CSIR), Hyderabad, 500 007, India

    Dipanwita Sengupta, Kavya Sangu & Madhab K. Chattopadhyay

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  1. Dipanwita Sengupta
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  2. Kavya Sangu
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  3. Sisinthy Shivaji
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  4. Madhab K. Chattopadhyay
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Correspondence to Madhab K. Chattopadhyay.

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Sengupta, D., Sangu, K., Shivaji, S. et al. Tolerance of an Antarctic Bacterium to Multiple Environmental Stressors. Curr Microbiol 71, 483–489 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-015-0874-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-015-0874-y

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