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A novel GH2 (glycoside hydrolase family 2) β-galactosidase from Marinomonas sp. BSi20584 was successfully expressed in E. coli with a stable soluble form. The recombinant enzyme (rMaBGA) was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity and characterized extensively. The specific activity of purified rMaBGA was determined as 96.827 U mg−1 at 30 °C using ONPG (o-nitrophenyl-β-D-galactopyranoside) as a substrate. The optimum pH and temperature of rMaBGA was measured as 7.0 and 50 °C, respectively. The activity of rMaBGA was significantly enhanced by some divalent cations including Zn2+, Mg2+ and Ni2+, but inhibited by EDTA, suggesting that some divalent cations might play important roles in the catalytic process of rMaBGA. Although the enzyme was derived from a cold-adapted strain, it still showed considerable stability against various physical and chemical elements. Moreover, rMaBGA exhibited activity both toward Galβ-(1,3)-GlcNAc and Galβ-(1,4)-GlcNAc, which is a relatively rare occurrence in GH2 β-galactosidase. The results showed that two domains in the C-terminal region might be contributed to the β-1,3-galactosidase activity of rMaBGA. On account of its fine features, this enzyme is a promising candidate for the industrial application of β-galactosidase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the phylogenetic relationship and biogeography of bacterioplankton in polar oceans, four Psychrobacter strains, BSw10170, BSw20352, BSw20370, and BSw20461, isolated from seawater of the Bering Sea, the Chukchi Sea, and the Prydz Bay, were characterized by 16S rDNA sequencing and physiological and biochemical testing. Results demonstrated that close relationships existed between the Arctic and Antarctic strains with sequence similarities higher than 97 %. These four Psychrobacter strains not only showed almost identical phenotypic characteristics among them, but also shared a lot of similarities with those related Psychrobacter species, indicating that psychrotolerance and halotolerance of Psychrobacter strains may be among the reasons for their bipolar, even global distribution in marine environments at the genus level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) is mainly produced by marine phytoplankton as an osmolyte, antioxidant, predator deterrent, or cryoprotectant. DMSP is also an important carbon and sulfur source for marine bacteria. Bacteria may metabolize DMSP via the demethylation pathway involving the DMSP demethylase gene (dmdA) or the cleavage pathway involving several different DMSP lyase genes. Most DMSP released into seawater is degraded by bacteria via demethylation. To test a hypothesis that the high gene frequency of dmdA among major marine taxa results in part from horizontal gene transfer (HGT) events, a total of thirty-one bacterial strains were isolated from Arctic Kongsfjorden seawater in this study. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that, except for strains BSw22118, BSw22131 and BSw22132 belonging to the genera Colwellia, Pseudomonas and Glaciecola, respectively, all bacteria fell into the genus Pseudoalteromonas. DmdA genes were detected in five distantly related bacterial strains, including four Arctic strains (Pseudoalteromonas sp. BSw22112, Colwellia sp. BSw22118, Pseudomonas sp. BSw22131 and Glaciecola sp. BSw22132) and one Antarctic strain (Roseicitreum antarcticum ZS2-28). Their dmdA genes showed significant similarities (97.7%–98.3%) to that of Ruegeria pomeroyi DSS-3, which was originally isolated from temperate coastal seawater. In addition, the sequence of the gene transfer agent (GTA) capsid protein gene (g5) detected in Antarctic strain ZS2-28 exhibited a genetically closely related to that of Ruegeria pomeroyi DSS-3. Among the five tested strains, only Pseudomonas sp. BSw22131 could grow using DMSP as the sole carbon source. The results of this study support the hypothesis of HGT for dmdA among taxonomically heterogeneous bacterioplankton, and suggest a wide distribution of functional gene (i.e., dmdA) in global marine environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic (AAP) bacteria serve important functions in marine carbon and energy cycling because of their capability to utilize dissolved organic substrates and harvest light energy. AAP bacteria are widely distributed in marine environments, and their diversity has been examined in marine habitats. However, information about AAP bacteria at high latitudes remains insufficient to date. Therefore, this study determined the summer AAP bacterial diversity in Arctic Kongsfjorden and in the Antarctic coastal seawater of King George Island on the basis of pufM, a gene that encodes a pigment-binding protein subunit of the reaction center complex. Four pufM clone libraries were constructed, and 674 positive clones were obtained from four investigated stations (two in Kongsfjorden and two in the Antarctic Maxwell Bay). Arctic clones were clustered within the Alphaproteobacteria, whereas Antarctic clones were classified into the Alphaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria classes. Rhodobacteraceae-like pufM genes dominated in all samples. In addition, sequences closely related to pufM encoded on a plasmid in Sulfitobacter guttiformis were predominant in both Arctic and Antarctic samples. This result indicates the transpolar or even global distribution of pufM genes in marine environments. Meanwhile, differences between the Arctic and Antarctic sequences may prove polar endemism. These results indicate the important role of Rhodobacteraceae as AAP bacteria in bipolar coastal waters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]