Pyruvate: A key Nutrient in Hypersaline Environments?
Some of the most commonly occurring but difficult to isolate halophilic prokaryotes, Archaea as well as Bacteria, require or prefer pyruvate as carbon and energy source. The most efficient media for the enumeration and isolation of heterotrophic prokaryotes from natural environments, from freshwater to hypersaline, including the widely used R2A agar medium, contain pyruvate as a key ingredient. Examples of pyruvate-loving halophiles are the square, extremely halophilic archaeon Haloquadratum walsbyi and the halophilic gammaproteobacterium Spiribacter salinus. However, surprisingly little is known about the availability of pyruvate in natural environments and about the way it enters the cell. Some halophilic Archaea (Halorubrum saccharovorum, Haloarcula spp.) partially convert sugars and glycerol to pyruvate and other acids (acetate, lactate) which are excreted to the medium. Pyruvate formation from glycerol was also shown during a bloom of halophilic Archaea in the Dead Sea. However, no pyruvate transporters were yet identified in the genomes of halophilic Archaea, and altogether, our understanding of pyruvate transport in the prokaryote world is very limited. Therefore, the preference for pyruvate by fastidious and often elusive halophiles and the empirically proven enhanced colony recovery on agar media containing pyruvate are still poorly understood.
Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Jerusalem 91904, Israel. aharon.oren@mail.huji.ac.il.
Aharon
A
Oren
Halobacteriaceae; Haloquadratum; Halosimplex; Spiribacter; dihydroxyacetone; glycerol; pyruvate
Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek. 2014 Oct;106(4):675-92
25064091
Extremophiles. 2002 Dec;6(6):445-52
12486452
Mikrobiologiia. 1981 Sep-Oct;50(5):776-80
7321908
Environ Microbiol. 2004 Dec;6(12):1287-91
15560825
Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 2014 Jan;64(Pt 1):169-173
24048865
J Bacteriol. 2009 Feb;191(3):940-8
19028892
PLoS One. 2013 Jun 20;8(6):e67125
23818977
Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 2013 Nov;63(Pt 11):4202-4206
23771625
FEMS Microbiol Lett. 2004 Mar 19;232(2):211-5
15033241
J Bacteriol. 2002 Oct;184(19):5436-48
12218032
J Bacteriol. 1994 Apr;176(8):2172-6
8157586
J Biochem. 1981 Nov;90(5):1437-44
7040357
Extremophiles. 2008 Jan;12(1):5-14
17186316
BMC Genomics. 2006 Jul 04;7:169
16820047
Extremophiles. 2008 Jan;12(1):125-31
17938852
Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 2007 Feb;57(Pt 2):387-392
17267984
Eur J Biochem. 1973 Apr 2;34(1):58-67
4349657
Appl Environ Microbiol. 2014 Jul;80(13):3850-7
24747894
Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek. 2014 May;105(5):979-86
24677144
Extremophiles. 2008 Mar;12(2):177-96
18278431
Arch Mikrobiol. 1968;63(1):41-52
5709640
FEMS Microbiol Lett. 2004 Sep 15;238(2):469-73
15358434
Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek. 1961;27:121-8
13733692
J Bacteriol. 1963 Sep;86:577-81
14066440
Appl Environ Microbiol. 1977 Aug;34(2):164-9
303077
J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol. 2002 Jan;28(1):48-55
11938471
Bioprocess Biosyst Eng. 2003 Dec;26(2):109-16
14598160
BMC Genomics. 2013 Nov 13;14:787
24225341
FEMS Microbiol Lett. 2012 May;330(1):1-9
22339687
Appl Environ Microbiol. 2004 Sep;70(9):5258-65
15345408
Appl Environ Microbiol. 1985 Jan;49(1):1-7
3883894
Can J Microbiol. 1976 Apr;22(4):587-91
1260548
Can J Microbiol. 1972 Dec;18(12):1973-6
4649745