title: Chromosomal integration of sfp gene in Bacillus subtilis to enhance bioavailability of hydrophobic liquids.
abstract: Bacillus subtilis C9 effectively degrades aliphatic hydrocarbons up to a chain length of C19 and produces a lipopeptide-type biosurfactant, surfactin, yet it has no genetic competency. Therefore, to obtain a transformable surfactin producer, the sfp gene cloned from B. subtilis C9 was integrated into the chromosome of B. subtilis 168, a non-surfactin producer, by homologous recombination. The transformants reduced the surface tension of the culture broth from 70.0 mN/m to 28.0 mN/m, plus the surface-active compound produced by the transformants exhibited the same Rf value as that from B. subtilis C9 and authentic surfactin in a thin-layer chromatographic analysis. The integration of the sfp gene into the chromosome of B. subtilis 168 was confirmed by Southern hybridization. Like B. subtilis C9, the transformants readily degraded n-hexadecane, although the original strain did not. It was also statistically confirmed that the hydrocarbon degradation of the transformants was highly correlated to their surfactin production by the determination of the correlation coefficient (r2 = 0.997, P < 0.01). Therefore, these results indicate that the surfactin produced from B. subtilis enhances the bioavailability of hydrophobic liquids.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejon, 305-333, Korea.
authors.forename: Young-Ki
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Seong-Bin
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Chan-Sun
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Jong-Guk
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hee-Mock
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: Byung-Dae
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Hee-Sik
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000473:Alkanes / Q000378:metabolism; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D002876:Chromosomes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000378:metabolism; D055666:Lipopeptides; D010453:Peptide Synthases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D010456:Peptides, Cyclic / Q000096:biosynthesis; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000378:metabolism; D014169:Transformation, Bacterial
chemical_list: D000473:Alkanes; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D006838:Hydrocarbons; D055666:Lipopeptides; D010456:Peptides, Cyclic; D013501:Surface-Active Agents; C009365:surfactin peptide; D010453:Peptide Synthases; C069542:surfactin synthetase; C007932:n-hexadecane