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The marine bacterium Pseudoalteromonas tunicata produces an antibacterial and autolytic protein, AlpP, which causes death of a subpopulation of cells during biofilm formation and mediates differentiation, dispersal, and phenotypic variation among dispersal cells. The AlpP homologue (LodA) in the marine bacterium Marinomonas mediterranea was recently identified as a lysine oxidase which mediates cell death through the production of hydrogen peroxide. Here we show that AlpP in P. tunicata also acts as a lysine oxidase and that the hydrogen peroxide generated is responsible for cell death within microcolonies during biofilm development in both M. mediterranea and P. tunicata. LodA-mediated biofilm cell death is shown to be linked to the generation of phenotypic variation in growth and biofilm formation among M. mediterranea biofilm dispersal cells. Moreover, AlpP homologues also occur in several other gram-negative bacteria from diverse environments. Our results show that subpopulations of cells in microcolonies also die during biofilm formation in two of these organisms, Chromobacterium violaceum and Caulobacter crescentus. In all organisms, hydrogen peroxide was implicated in biofilm cell death, because it could be detected at the same time as the killing occurred, and the addition of catalase significantly reduced biofilm killing. In C. violaceum the AlpP-homologue was clearly linked to biofilm cell death events since an isogenic mutant (CVMUR1) does not undergo biofilm cell death. We propose that biofilm killing through hydrogen peroxide can be linked to AlpP homologue activity and plays an important role in dispersal and colonization across a range of gram-negative bacteria.

Marinocine is a broad-spectrum antibacterial protein synthesized by the melanogenic marine bacterium Marinomonas mediterranea. This work describes the basis for the antibacterial activity of marinocine and the identification of the gene coding for this protein. The antibacterial activity is inhibited under anaerobic conditions and by the presence of catalase under aerobic conditions. Marinocine is active only in culture media containing L-lysine. In the presence of this amino acid, marinocine generates hydrogen peroxide, which causes cell death as confirmed by the increased sensitivity to marinocine of Escherichia coli strains mutated in catalase activity. The gene coding for this novel enzyme was cloned using degenerate PCR with primers designed based on conserved regions in the antimicrobial protein AlpP, synthesized by Pseudoalteromonas tunicata, and some hypothetical proteins. The gene coding for marinocine has been named lodA, standing for lysine oxidase, and it seems to form part of an operon with a second gene, lodB, that codes for a putative dehydrogenase flavoprotein. The identity of marinocine as LodA has been demonstrated by N-terminal sequencing of purified marinocine and generation of lodA mutants that lose their antimicrobial activity. This is the first report on a bacterial lysine oxidase activity and the first time that a gene encoding this activity has been cloned.

The melanogenic marine bacterium Marinomonas mediterranea synthesizes R-bodies as revealed by transmission electron microscopy. These structures were previously described in some obligate symbionts of paramecia and some free-living bacteria, none of which was isolated from sea water. In other micro-organisms, the synthesis of R-bodies has been related to extrachromosomal elements. Accordingly, M. mediterranea induction by mitomycin C or UV radiation resulted in the production of defective phages resembling bacteriocins, indicating that it is a lysogenic bacterium. Two mitomycin-C-resistant strains defective in prophage replication have been isolated. These mutants, and the previously obtained strains ngC1, T102 and T103, the latter mutated in the ppoS gene encoding a sensor histidine kinase, are affected not only in phage replication but also in polyphenol oxidase activities and melanin synthesis, suggesting a relationship between the control of all these processes.

Research has been conducted on the melanogenic marine bacterium Marinomonas mediterranea which expresses polyphenol oxidase. The method for screening laccase activity in culture plates to detect mutants affected by polyphenol oxidase is analyzed.

Microbiological research has identified a new strain of marine melanogenic bacterium, designated strain MMB-1, which comes from the genus Alteromonas. The organism uses L-tyrosine as a specific monophenolic precursor for melanin synthesis and contains two polyphenol oxidases, including a tyrosinase-like latent enzyme. It respires aerobically and uses sodium in growth processes. It is cytochrome c oxidase negative.

Both lacZ fusions with the lodAB promoter and quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) are utilized to demonstrate the role of the hybrid sensor histidine kinase PpoS in regulating lysine-[epsi]-oxidase (LOD) enzyme activity at the transcriptional level. The insights gained into the mechanisms regulating the synthesis of the antimicrobial protein lysine-[epsi]-oxidase in Marinomonas mediterranea could find significant application in the microbial colonization of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica.

Sequencing of the genome of Ralstonia solanacearum revealed several genes that putatively code for polyphenol oxidases (PPOs). All kinds of PPO activities, including laccase, cresolase, and catechol oxidase activities, in cellular extracts of this microorganism are detected to study the actual expression of these genes.