Abstract
A toluene-resistant variant of Pseudomonas putida KT2442, strain TOL, was isolated after liquid cultivation under xylene followed by toluene for 1 month in each condition. Almost all the populations of the variant strain formed small but readily visible colonies under toluene within 24 h at 30°C. The toluene-resistant strain also showed an increase in resistance to some unrelated antibiotics. Several toluene-sensitive Tn5 mutants have been isolated from the toluene-resistant strain and showed various levels of sensitivity. Most of these mutations did not cause significant changes in antibiotic resistance; however, one of the mutants (TOL-4) was highly susceptible to both organic solvents and various antibiotics, especially β-lactams. Sequencing analysis revealed that the mutation in TOL-4 had been introduced into a gene that may encode a transporter protein of an efflux system. This efflux system is very similar to one of the multidrug efflux systems of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These observations indicate that a multidrug efflux system plays a major role in the organic solvent resistance of P. putida TOL. However, several other genes may also be involved.
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Received: December 18, 1997 / Accepted: March 16, 1998
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Fukumori, F., Hirayama, H., Takami, H. et al. Isolation and transposon mutagenesis of a Pseudomonas putida KT2442 toluene-resistant variant: involvement of an efflux system in solvent resistance. Extremophiles 2, 395–400 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s007920050084
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s007920050084