title: Genetic characterization of the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway in Methylobacterium extorquens AM1 and isolation of a colorless mutant.
abstract: Genomic searches were used to reconstruct the putative carotenoid biosynthesis pathway in the pink-pigmented facultative methylotroph Methylobacterium extorquens AM1. Four genes for putative phytoene desaturases were identified. A colorless mutant was obtained by transposon mutagenesis, and the insertion was shown to be in one of the putative phytoene desaturase genes. Mutations in the other three did not affect color. The tetracycline marker was removed from the original transposon mutant, resulting in a pigment-free strain with wild-type growth properties useful as a tool for future experiments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering. Department of Microbiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-2180, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Van Dien
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Marx
authors.forename: Brooke N
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.forename: Mary E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Lidstrom
mesh_terms: D002338:Carotenoids / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D020601:Methylobacterium extorquens / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D010088:Oxidoreductases / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D002338:Carotenoids; D010088:Oxidoreductases; C022398:phytoene dehydrogenase