Electronic versions

  • Julia S Sabirova
    Ghent University
  • Anke Becker
  • Heinrich Lünsdorf
  • Jean-Marc Nicaud
  • Kenneth N Timmis
  • Peter N Golyshin

The marine oil-degrading bacterium Alcanivorax borkumensis SK2 has attracted significant interest due to its hydrocarbonoclastic lifestyle, its alkane-centered metabolism, and for playing an important ecological role in cleaning up marine oil spills. In this study, we used microarray technology to characterize the transcriptional responses of A. borkumensis to n-hexadecane exposure as opposed to pyruvate, which led to the identification of a total of 220 differentially expressed genes, with 109 genes being upregulated and 111 genes being downregulated. Among the genes upregulated on alkanes are systems predicted to be involved in the terminal oxidation of alkanes, biofilm formation, signal transduction, and regulation.

Keywords

  • Alcanivoraceae/genetics, Alkanes/metabolism, Bacterial Proteins/genetics, Biodegradation, Environmental, Gene Expression Profiling, Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial, Molecular Sequence Data, Seawater/microbiology, Transcription, Genetic
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)160-8
Number of pages9
JournalFEMS Microbiology Letters
Volume319
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2011
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