Abstract
Anoxygenic photosynthetic bacteria (APB) are metabolically versatile, capable of surviving with an extended range of carbon and nitrogen sources. This group of phototrophic bacteria have remarkable metabolic plasticity in utilizing an array of organic compounds as carbon source/electron donors and nitrogen sources with sophisticated growth modes. Rubrivivax benzoatilyticus JA2 is one such photosynthetic bacterium utilizes L-tryptophan as nitrogen source under phototrophic growth mode and produces an array of indolic compounds of biotechnological significance. However, chemotrophic L-tryptophan metabolism is largely unexplored and studying L-tryptophan metabolism under chemotrophic mode would provide new insights into metabolic potential of strain JA2. In the present study, we employed stable-isotopes assisted metabolite profiling to unravel the L-tryptophan catabolism in Rubrivivax benzoatilyticus strain JA2 under chemotrophic (dark aerobic) conditions. Utilization of L-tryptophan as a nitrogen source for growth and simultaneous production of indole derivatives was observed in strain JA2. Liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC–MS) analysis of exo-metabolite profiling of carbon labeled L-tryptophan (13C11) fed cultures of strain JA2 revealed at least seventy labeled metabolites. Of these, only fourteen metabolites were confirmed using standards, while sixteen were putative and forty metabolites remained unidentified. L-tryptophan chemotrophic catabolism revealed multiple catabolic pathways and distinct differential catabolism of L-tryptophan under chemotropic state as compared to photo-catabolism of L-tryptophan in strain JA2.
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Data availability
The datasets generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
Shabbir Ahmad acknowledges the University Grand Commission, Govt. of India for UGC-MANF (JRF/SRF) fellowship (File No. F1-17.1/201415/MANF-2014-15-MUS-JHA-35979).
Funding
Dr. Ramana thank the Department of Biotechnology and CSIR, Government of India for the award of TATA Innovation fellowship and project funding, respectively.
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SA, LPM, MM, and VRC, conceived and designed the research. SA performed the experiments. SA, LPM, MM, and VRC, discussed and analyzed the data. SA, MM, and MLP, drafted the manuscript. SA, MM, MLP, AR, VRC, and SC, edited the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the manuscript.
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Ahmad, S., Mohammed, M., Mekala, L.P. et al. Stable isotope-assisted metabolite profiling reveals new insights into L-tryptophan chemotrophic metabolism of Rubrivivax benzoatilyticus. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 39, 98 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-023-03537-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-023-03537-z