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Engineered membrane superchannel improves bioremediation potential of dioxin-degrading bacteria

Nature Biotechnology volume 24, pages 188–189 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Sphingomonas sp. A1 possesses specialized membrane structures termed 'superchannels' that enable the direct incorporation of macromolecules into the cell. We have engineered two related sphingomonads, the dioxin-degrading S. wittichii RW1 and the polypropylene glycol–degrading S. subarctica IFO 16058T, to incorporate this superchannel into their cell membranes. In both cases the bioremediation capability of the organisms was substantially increased pointing at the potential of this approach as a general strategy to improve bacterial degradation of hazardous compounds in the environment.

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Figure 1: Properties and microscopic observation of the engineered dioxin-degrading sphingomonad Sphingomonas wittichii RW1.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan (10556017, 10145229, 11132237, 11460039 and 09876026 to K. Murata). This work was also supported in part by the Program for Promotion of Basic Research Activities for Innovative Biosciences (PROBRAIN) of Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Basic and Applied Molecular Biotechnology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Uji, Kyoto, 611-0011, Japan

    Yuji Aso, Yukiko Miyamoto, Karen Mine Harada, Keiko Momma, Shigeyuki Kawai, Wataru Hashimoto & Kousaku Murata

  2. Laboratory of Food Quality Design and Development, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Uji, Kyoto, 611-0011, Japan

    Bunzo Mikami

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  1. Yuji Aso
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  2. Yukiko Miyamoto
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  3. Karen Mine Harada
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Correspondence to Kousaku Murata.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Fig. 1

Overall picture of the super-channel (alginate import and depolymerization systems) in Sphingomonas sp. A1. (PDF 54 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 2

Properties of nonengineered S. wittichii RW1 (wild type). (PDF 50 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 3

Properties of the engineered dioxin-degrading sphingomonad S. wittichii RW1. (PDF 23 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 4

Western blot analysis of AlgQ2 (a) and AlgS (b) in RW1 (pKS13) and RW1 (pBE11). (PDF 27 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 5

Dibenzofuran uptake rates of the resting cells of RW1 (wild type) and RW1 (pBE11). (PDF 22 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 6

Removal of dibenzofuran from a soil inoculated with RW1 (wild type) and RW1 (pBE11). (PDF 50 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 7

Engineering of S. subarctica IFO 16058T by molecular transplantation of the super-channel. (PDF 83 kb)

Supplementary Methods (PDF 56 kb)

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Aso, Y., Miyamoto, Y., Mine Harada, K. et al. Engineered membrane superchannel improves bioremediation potential of dioxin-degrading bacteria. Nat Biotechnol 24, 188–189 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt1181

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