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Isolation and identification of a gene encoding 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase from the red-brown pigment-producing bacterium Alteromonas stellipolaris LMG 21856

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Abstract

We describe the isolation and identification of a gene encoding 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD (EC 1.13.11.27)) from the red-brown pigment-producing bacterium Alteromonas stellipolaris LMG 21856. HPPD directs the synthesis of 2,5-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (homogentisic acid (HGA)). The sequence of the deduced peptide showed homology to HPPDs from other strains of Alteromonas; the greatest similarity was to the hypothetical HPPD from Alteromonas sp. SN2. As observed for HPPDs from other sources, expression of the A. stellipolaris HPPD gene in Escherichia coli cells could be detected by the gradual development of a brown pigment in cultures as a result of the spontaneous oxidation and polymerization of HGA.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by China Ocean Mineral Resources R & D Association (CPMRA) Foundation (Grant No. DY125-15-R-03), the National Ocean Public Welfare Scientific Research Project (Grant No. 2014418015-5), the Key Science and Technology Program of Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, China (Grant No. 2012C10038), the International S&T Cooperation Program of China (Grant No. 2007DFA21300), the Zhejiang Provincial Top Key Discipline of Modern Microbiology and Application (Grant No. ZS2013009), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.11275164). We also thank Dr. Tjhing-Lok Tan at Alfred-Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Germany, for providing the bacterium Alteromonas stellipolaris LMG 21856.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. College of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Zhejiang Wanli University, No.8, South Qianhu Road, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, 315100, People’s Republic of China

      Sidong Zhu, Xu Xu,  Jigang Chen &  Jifang Yang

    2. Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Green Transformation of Bio-Resources, Hubei University, Wuhan, China

      Sidong Zhu & Xiangdong Ma

    3. College of Fisheries and Life Sciences, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, China

      Yanna Lu

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    1. Sidong Zhu
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    2. Yanna Lu
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    Correspondence to Jigang Chen or Jifang Yang.

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    Sidong Zhu and Yanna Lu contributed equally to this work.

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    Zhu, S., Lu, Y., Xu, X. et al. Isolation and identification of a gene encoding 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase from the red-brown pigment-producing bacterium Alteromonas stellipolaris LMG 21856. Folia Microbiol 60, 309–316 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12223-015-0386-y

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