Isolation and Characterization of Strain Exiguobacterium sp. KRL4, a Producer of Bioactive Secondary Metabolites from a Tibetan Glacier
2021
Pietro Tedesco | Fortunato Palma Esposito | Antonio Masino | Giovanni Andrea Vitale | Emiliana Tortorella | Annarita Poli | Barbara Nicolaus | Leonardo Joaquim van Zyl | Marla Trindade | Donatella de Pascale
Extremophilic microorganisms represent a unique source of novel natural products. Among them, cold adapted bacteria and particularly alpine microorganisms are still underexplored. Here, we describe the isolation and characterization of a novel Gram-positive, aerobic rod-shaped alpine bacterium (KRL4), isolated from sediments from the Karuola glacier in Tibet, China. Complete phenotypic analysis was performed revealing the great adaptability of the strain to a wide range of temperatures (5–40 °C), pHs (5.5–8.5), and salinities (0–15% w/v NaCl). Genome sequencing identified KRL4 as a member of the placeholder genus Exiguobacterium_A and annotation revealed that only half of the protein-encoding genes (1522 of 3079) could be assigned a putative function. An analysis of the secondary metabolite clusters revealed the presence of two uncharacterized phytoene synthase containing pathways and a novel siderophore pathway. Biological assays confirmed that the strain produces molecules with antioxidant and siderophore activities. Furthermore, intracellular extracts showed nematocidal activity towards C. elegans, suggesting that strain KRL4 is a source of anthelmintic compounds.
Show more [+] Less [-]AGROVOC Keywords
Bibliographic information
This bibliographic record has been provided by Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute