The detection and phylogenetic analysis of the alkane1-monooxygenase gene of members of the genus Rhodococcus

Táncsics, András and Benedek, Tibor and Szoboszlay, Sándor and Veres, Péter and Farkas, Milán and Máthé, István and Márialigeti, Károly and Kukolya, József and Lányi, Szabolcs and Kriszt, Balázs (2015) The detection and phylogenetic analysis of the alkane1-monooxygenase gene of members of the genus Rhodococcus. Systematic and Applied Microbiology (38). pp. 1-7. ISSN 0723-2020

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Abstract

Naturally occurring and anthropogenic petroleum hydrocarbons are potential carbon sources for manybacteria. The AlkB-related alkane hydroxylases, which are integral membrane non-heme iron enzymes,play a key role in the microbial degradation of many of these hydrocarbons. Several members of the genusRhodococcus are well-known alkane degraders and are known to harbor multiple alkB genes encodingfor different alkane 1-monooxygenases. In the present study, 48 Rhodococcus strains, representing 35species of the genus, were investigated to find out whether there was a dominant type of alkB genewidespread among species of the genus that could be used as a phylogenetic marker. Phylogenetic analysisof rhodococcal alkB gene sequences indicated that a certain type of alkB gene was present in almost everymember of the genus Rhodococcus. These alkB genes were common in a unique nucleotide sequencestretch absent from other types of rhodococcal alkB genes that encoded a conserved amino acid motif:WLG(I/V/L)D(G/D)GL. The sequence identity of the targeted alkB gene in Rhodococcus ranged from 78.5to 99.2% and showed higher nucleotide sequence variation at the inter-species level compared to the 16SrRNA gene (93.9–99.8%). The results indicated that the alkB gene type investigated might be applicablefor: (i) differentiating closely related Rhodococcus species, (ii) properly assigning environmental isolatesto existing Rhodococcus species, and finally (iii) assessing whether a new Rhodococcus isolate representsa novel species of the genus.

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