title: Acrylamide biodegradation ability and plant growth-promoting properties of Variovorax boronicumulans CGMCC 4969.
abstract: Species of the genus Variovorax are often isolated from nitrile or amide-containing organic compound-contaminated soil. However, there have been few biological characterizations of Variovorax and their contaminant-degrading enzymes. Previously, we reported a new soil isolate, Variovorax boronicumulans CGMCC 4969, and its nitrile hydratase that transforms the neonicotinoid insecticide thiacloprid into an amide metabolite. In this study, we showed that CGMCC 4969 is able to degrade acrylamide, a neurotoxicant and carcinogen in animals, during cell growth in a mineral salt medium as well as in its resting state. Resting cells rapidly hydrolyzed 600 mg/L acrylamide to acrylic acid with a half-life of 2.5 min. In in vitro tests, CGMCC 4969 showed plant growth-promoting properties; it produced a siderophore, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, and the phytohormone salicylic acid. Interestingly, in soil inoculated with this strain, 200 mg/L acrylamide was completely degraded in 4 days. Gene cloning and overexpression in the Escherichia coli strain Rosetta (DE3) pLysS resulted in the production of an aliphatic amidase of 345 amino acids that hydrolyzed acrylamide into acrylic acid. The amidase contained a conserved catalytic triad, Glu59, Lys 134, and Cys166, and an "MRHGDISSS" amino acid sequence at the N-terminal region. Variovorax boronicumulans CGMCC 4969, which is able to use acrylamide for cell growth and rapidly degrade acrylamide in soil, shows promising plant growth-promoting properties. As such, it has the potential to be developed into an effective Bioaugmentation strategy to promote growth of field crops in acrylamide-contaminated soil.
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Microbes and Functional Genomics, Jiangsu Engineering and Technology Research Center for Industrialization of Microbial Resources, College of Life Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210023, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhong-Hua
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yu-Min
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Qian-Wen
authors.initials: QW
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Jun-Yi
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Si-Yi
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Sheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Yi-Jun
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Dai
mesh_terms: D020106:Acrylamide / Q000378:metabolism*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D001711:Biotransformation; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D042621:Comamonadaceae / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D019295:Computational Biology; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000378:metabolism; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D063245:Plant Development; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D020106:Acrylamide