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Biosurfactant Production by Halotolerant Rhodococcus fascians from Casey Station, Wilkes Land, Antarctica

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Abstract

Isolate A-3 from Antarctic soil in Casey Station, Wilkes Land, was characterized for growth on hydrocarbons. Use of glucose or kerosene as a sole carbon source in the culture medium favoured biosynthesis of surfactant which, by thin-layer chromatography, indicated the formation of a rhamnose-containing glycolipid. This compound lowered the surface tension at the air/water interface to 27 mN/m as well as inhibited the growth of B. subtilis ATCC 6633 and exhibited hemolytic activity. A highly hydrophobic surface of the cells suggests that uptake occurs via a direct cell–hydrocarbon substrate contact. Strain A-3 is Gram-positive, halotolerant, catalase positive, urease negative and has rod–coccus shape. Its cell walls contained meso-diaminopimelic acid. Phylogenetic analysis based on comparative analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain A-3 is closely related to Rhodococcus fascians with which it shares 100% sequence similarity. This is the first report on rhamnose-containing biosurfactant production by Rhodococcus fascians isolated from Antarctic soil.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Stephan Angeloff Institute of Microbiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev str., Block 26, 1113, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Victoria Gesheva & Evgenia Vasileva-Tonkova

  2. Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen (DSMZ), Inhoffenstr., 7B, 38124, Braunschweig, Germany

    Erko Stackebrandt

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  1. Victoria Gesheva
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  2. Erko Stackebrandt
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  3. Evgenia Vasileva-Tonkova
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Correspondence to Victoria Gesheva.

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Gesheva, V., Stackebrandt, E. & Vasileva-Tonkova, E. Biosurfactant Production by Halotolerant Rhodococcus fascians from Casey Station, Wilkes Land, Antarctica. Curr Microbiol 61, 112–117 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-010-9584-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-010-9584-7

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