Rhodococcus rhodochrous ATCC12674 becomes alkane-tolerant upon GroEL2 overexpression and survives in the n-octane phase in two phase culture.

We recently reported that the overexpression of GroEL2 played an important role in increasing the alkane tolerance of Rhodococcus erythropolis PR4. In the present study, we examined the effects of the introduction of groEL2 on the alkane tolerance of other Rhodococcus strains. The introduction of groEL2 into Rhodococcus strains led to increased alkane tolerance. The translocation of R. rhodochrous ATCC12674 cells to and survival in the n-octane (C8) phase in two phase culture were significantly enhanced by the introduction of groEL2 derived from strain PR4, suggesting that engineering cells to overexpress GroEL2 represents an effective strategy for enhancing organic solvent tolerance in Rhodococcus.