Novel bacteria-producers of osmoprotective compounds isolated from salinized natural and technogenic ecosystems of Perm krai: physiology, genetics and biotechnological potential

Screening of halophilic and halotolerant bacteria isolated from biocenoses of the industrial development area of the Verkhnekamsk potassium-magnesium salt deposit (Perm krai) for the ability to synthesize a biotechnologically significant osmoprotector - ectoine was carried out. For the study, representatives of the genera Halomonas and Chromohalobacter of the Halomonadaceae family of the Gammaproteobacteria class, as well as strains of bacteria belonging to the genera Arthrobacter and Rhodococcus of the Actinobacteria class were selected from the working collection of microorganisms of the Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology of the «Institute of Ecology and Genetics of Microorganisms (Russian Academy of Science, Ural Branch)». In the course of 'Н NMR spectroscopy studies, ectoine was shown to predominate in the cells of the Halomonadaceae family: its proportion, depending on the strain, was 64,0-78,1%. Structural and functional analysis of genes encoding ectoine synthesis enzymes was carried out in the genomes of bacteria of the genera Halomonas, Chromohalobacter, Cobetia, Kushneria, Halotalea and Salinicola of the Halomonadaceae family, deposited in the public database of the National Center for Biotechnological Information of the United States (NCBI). A protocol for amplification of the ect-genes in bacteria of the studied taxonomic groups was developed and tested.