Actinobacteria A Source Of Biocatalytic Tools

Actinobacteria (Actinomycetes) represent one of the largest and most diverse phyla among Bacteria. The remarkable diversity is displayed by various lifestyles, distinct morphologies, a wide spectrum of physiological and metabolic activities, as well as genetics. Interestingly, most Actinobacteria have a high GC-content (ranging from 51% to >70%) and belong to Gram-positive or Gram-variable type microbes. Many species are well known for large genomes which may be of linear style as in case of rhodococci or circular. Many of those harbor linear megaplasmids as a kind of genetic storage device. Frequently gene redundancy is reported and in most cases the evolutionary history or a functional role remains enigmatic. Nevertheless these large genomes and megaplasmids provide access to a number of potential (homologous) biocatalysts which await elucidation. Actinobacteria are well known for their biotechnological potential which is exemplarily described for amino acid producing Corynebacteria, secondary metabolite producing Streptomyces, pathogenic targets as Nocardia and Mycobacteria, carotenoid building Micrococcus strains, acid fermenting Propionibacteria, health and food related Bifidobacterium strains, rubber degrading Gordonia species, and organic pollutant degrading rhodococci among others. In many cases individual pathways or enzymes can be modified or recombinantly employed for biocatalysis. Even some genetic tools to work directly in those microbes have been successfully used as for example in Corynebacterium or in Rhodococcus species. During the last decade more and more genomes have been sequenced and made available for data mining and become accessible by state of the art genomic manipulation methods as minimal genomes, knock-out or artificial evolution. With respect to this large and ancient phylum many questions can be asked either from a scientific or industrial point of view. In order to provide some crystallization points we like to raise some examples as follows. How small can be an actinobacterial genome? What is the driving force to comprise large and repetitive genomes/megaplasmids? What is needed to generate an actinobacterial power house for industry? Can we annotate novel biocatalysts from scratch and improve functional annotation? What are common and different features with respect to other bacteria and/or fungi? How many novel antibiotics are hidden among Actinobacteria? Is there more potential among extremophile members or are they only specialized? Here especially the production of natural compounds is of high interest.

This book provides in-depth information about the ecology, diversity and applications of Actinomycetes. The book is divided into two major parts. The first part discusses the diversity, chemical biology and ecology of Actinomycetes. It also covers the discovery of natural products from soil, endophytic and marine-derived Actinomycetes. It includes natural product discovery, chemical biology, new methods for discovering secondary metabolites, structure elucidation and biosynthetic research of natural products. The chapters in this part focus on the effects of biological and chemical elicitation at molecular level on secondary metabolism in Actinomycetes. The second part of the book discusses genomic and synthetic biology approaches in Actinomycetes drug discovery. This part includes chapters focused on the application of metabolic engineering to optimize natural product synthesis and the use of omics data in engineering of regulatory genes. It covers the advanced tools of synthetic biology and metabolic engineering including cluster assembly, CRISPR/Cas9 technologies, and chassis strain development for natural product overproduction in Actinomycetes. It describes the use of bioinformatics tools for reprogramming of biosynthetic pathways through polyketide synthase and non-ribosomal peptide synthetase engineering. These advanced genomic and molecular tools are expected to accelerate the discovery and development of new natural products from Actinomycetes with medicinal and other industrial applications. The book is useful to researchers and students in the field of microbiology, pharmaceutical sciences and drug discovery.

The world of halophiles is quite diverse and their representatives in three domains of life i.e. archaea, bacteria and eukarya. They are found all over the small subunit rRNA based tree of life and these micro-organisms are adapted to salt concentration up to saturation hence able to grow at >300g/l Nacl concentration. Their metabolic diversity is high as well encompassing oxygenic and anoxygenic phototrophs, aerobic heterotrophs, denitrifiers, sulphate reducers, fermenters and methanogens. The proteins of halophiles are magnificently engineered to function in a milieu containing 2-5M salt that encodes genes represent a valuable repository and resource for reconstruction and visualizing processes of habitat selection and adaptive evolution. Search for new enzymes endowed with novel activities and enhanced stability continues to be desirable purpose for important commercial production of biotechnological significance. These poly extremophiles proved excellent source of enzymes and metabolites possessing inherent ability to function in extreme conditions of high salt, alkaline pH and facilitating catalysis for industrial application in food processing, industrial bioconversion, bioremediation etc. In fact, it has just begun to realize the great potential and true extent of diversity and suitable applications if explored them judiciously. This book highlights current applications and research on halophiles to provide a timely overview. Chapters are written by expert authors from around the world and include topics of varied importance which include their role to play in enzyme production, restoration of soil fertility and plant growth , antimicrobial and biocatalytic potential, biomolecules in nanotechnology and aspects of quorum sensing. The book is divided into three sections, dealing with biodiversity, biotechnology and sustainable exploitation of halophiles. This major new work represents a valuable source of information to all those scientists interested in microorganisms in general and extremophiles in particular with respect to their innovative products and applications.

The Prokaryotes is a comprehensive, multi-authored, peer reviewed reference work on Bacteria and Achaea. This fourth edition of The Prokaryotes is organized to cover all taxonomic diversity, using the family level to delineate chapters. Different from other resources, this new Springer product includes not only taxonomy, but also prokaryotic biology and technology of taxa in a broad context. Technological aspects highlight the usefulness of prokaryotes in processes and products, including biocontrol agents and as genetics tools. The content of the expanded fourth edition is divided into two parts: Part 1 contains review chapters dealing with the most important general concepts in molecular, applied and general prokaryote biology; Part 2 describes the known properties of specific taxonomic groups. Two completely new sections have been added to Part 1: bacterial communities and human bacteriology. The bacterial communities section reflects the growing realization that studies on pure cultures of bacteria have led to an incomplete picture of the microbial world for two fundamental reasons: the vast majority of bacteria in soil, water and associated with biological tissues are currently not culturable, and that an understanding of microbial ecology requires knowledge on how different bacterial species interact with each other in their natural environment. The new section on human microbiology deals with bacteria associated with healthy humans and bacterial pathogenesis. Each of the major human diseases caused by bacteria is reviewed, from identifying the pathogens by classical clinical and non-culturing techniques to the biochemical mechanisms of the disease process. The 4th edition of The Prokaryotes is the most complete resource on the biology of prokaryotes. The following volumes are published consecutively within the 4th Edition: Prokaryotic Biology and Symbiotic Associations Prokaryotic Communities and Ecophysiology Prokaryotic Physiology and Biochemistry Applied Bacteriology and Biotechnology Human Microbiology Actinobacteria Firmicutes Alphaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria Gammaproteobacteria Deltaproteobacteria and Epsilonproteobacteria Other Major Lineages of Bacteria and the Archaea

This book presents an introductory overview of Actinobacteria with three main divisions: taxonomic principles, bioprospecting, and agriculture and industrial utility, which covers isolation, cultivation methods, and identification of Actinobacteria and production and biotechnological potential of antibacterial compounds and enzymes from Actinobacteria. Moreover, this book also provides a comprehensive account on plant growth-promoting (PGP) and pollutant degrading ability of Actinobacteria and the exploitation of Actinobacteria as ecofriendly nanofactories for biosynthesis of nanoparticles, such as gold and silver. This book will be beneficial for the graduate students, teachers, researchers, biotechnologists, and other professionals, who are interested to fortify and expand their knowledge about Actinobacteria in the field of Microbiology, Biotechnology, Biomedical Science, Plant Science, Agriculture, Plant pathology, Environmental Science, etc.

Corynebacterium glutamicum is most widely known for its role in the industrial production of L-glutamate and L-lysine and as a platform organism for the production of a variety of fine chemicals, biofuels, and polymers. The organism's accessibility to genetic manipulation has resulted in a wealth of data on its metabolism and regulatory networks; this in turn makes C. glutamicum the model organism of choice in white biotechnology. A key development in recent years has been the engineering of C. glutamicum to utilize a broader spectrum of carbon sources (e.g. glycerol, galactose, and pentose sugars), in addition to the traditional hexoses. Given its unique ability to co-utilize mixed carbon sources, C. glutamicum could be used for the clean-up of wastes from agricultural or other industries, simultaneously producing useful compounds such as L-lysine or putrescine. This book provides a comprehensive overview of current knowledge and research on C. glutamicum systems biology and biotechnological applications. Written by a team of prominent scientists, the topics covered include: proteomics * flux analysis technology for metabolic analysis * metabolic engineering for alternative carbon source utilization * manipulation of nitrogen metabolism * transport, degradation, and assimilation of aromatic compounds and their regulation * engineering for production of organic acids and alcohols * microbial factory for the production of polyesters * biotechnological application under oxygen deprivation * the secretory production of heterologous proteins * genetically-encoded biosensors. Packed with practical information and state-of-the-art science, this concise volume is an essential handbook for everyone working with Corynebacterium and related organisms in academia, biotechnology companies, and the pharmaceutical industry, It is a recommended volume for all microbiology libraries. [Subject: Microbiology, Life Science, Biotechnology]

This book provides in-depth insights into the biology, taxonomy, genetics, physiology and biotechnological applications of Actinobacteria. It especially focuses on the latter, reviewing the wide variety of actinobacterial bioactive molecules and their benefits for diverse industrial applications such as agriculture, aquaculture, biofuel production and food technology. Actinobacteria are one of the most promising sources of small bioactive molecules and it is estimated that only a small percentage of actinobacterial bioactive chemicals have been discovered to date. Identifying new diverse gene clusters of biotechnological relevance in the genome of Actinobacteria will be crucial to developing advanced applications for pharmaceutical, industrial and agricultural purposes. The book offers a unique resource for all graduate students, researchers and practitioners in the fields of microbiology, microbial biotechnology, and the genetic engineering of Actinobacteria.