Affiliation:
1. Department of Microbiology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
Abstract
Hydroxycinnamates (HCAs) are essential components of lignin and are involved in various plant functions, including defense. In nature, microbial degradation of HCAs is influential to global carbon cycling. HCA degradation pathways are also of industrial relevance, as microbial transformation of the HCA, ferulate, can generate vanillin, a valuable flavoring compound. Yet, surprisingly little is known of the genetics underlying bacterial HCA degradation. Here, we make comparisons to previously characterized bacterial HCA degraders and use a genetic approach to characterize genes involved in catabolism and uptake of HCAs in the environmentally relevant marine bacterium
Sagittula stellata
. We provide evidence of overlapping substrate specificity between HCA degradation pathways and uptake proteins. We conclude that
S. stellata
is uniquely poised to utilize HCAs found in the complex mixtures of plant-derived compounds in nature. This strategy may be common among marine bacteria residing in lignin-rich coastal waters and has potential relevance to biotechnology sectors.
Funder
National Science Foundation
U.S. Department of Energy
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Subject
Ecology,Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology,Food Science,Biotechnology
Cited by
7 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献