New Arctic Bacterial Isolates with Relevant Enzymatic Potential

Abstract

Fragments of wood drifting in the vicinity of Spitzbergen were used for the isolation of microorganisms, carried out using atypical carbon sources: colloidal chitin, cellulose and carboxymethylcellulose, xylan, casein, tributrin and olive oil. Purified cultures were subjected to a three-step identification: with classical methods, using MALDI-TOF MS Biotyper whole-cell protein fingerprinting, and molecular analysis of 16S rDNA. Subsequently, a preliminary assessment of the enzymatic potential of isolates was carried out. As a result, cellulolytic activity was observed in more than 50% of the bacterial strains, exhibiting activity of 0.30–0.40 U/mL. Over 53% of the isolates demonstrated xylanolytic activity, of which the highest reached from 0.40 to 0.90 U. Polygalacturonase activity of 0.003–1.6 was also demonstrated in half of the bacterial strains studied. Proteolytic activity of isolates did not exceed 0.3 U. An important highlight was the ability of fluorescent dye production by certain strains, grown on skim milk-agar, but also on pure meat extract.

Isolation, Physiological Characterization, and Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing of Fast-Growing Bacteria from the Sea-Affected Temporary Meltwater Ponds in the Thala Hills Oasis (Enderby Land, East Antarctica)

“…Interestingly, that bacterial species isolated from MPs in this study were previously found in both cold and non-cold environments, while most of the isolated bacterial species were similar to those found in other types of samples from cold polar and non-polar regions. For example, other researchers isolated Shewanella baltica [ 58 ], Pseudomonas lundensis [ 59 , 60 ], Pseudomonas leptonychotis [ 61 ], Carnobacterium funditum [ 62 ], Carnobacterium iners , Flavobacterium degerlachei [ 63 ], Arthrobacter agilis [ 64 ], Micrococcus luteus [ 21 ], and Leifsonia rubra [ 14 , 65 ] from water, soil, and animal samples of polar origin. The species Pseudomonas lundensis , Pseudomonas peli [ 25 ], Acinetobacter lwoffii [ 66 ], Sporosarcina globispora [ 67 ], Carnobacterium inhibens [ 68 ], Arthrobacter alpinus [ 69 , 70 ], and Arthrobacter agilis were isolated from cold non-polar environments such as frozen food, non-polar permafrost sediments, glaciers, glacial currents, a subglacial lake in the Himalayas, and Siberian permafrost.…”

“…Due to the fact that bacteria in Antarctic meltwater ponds are important for driving biogeochemical cycles, sustaining essential chemical processes, and participating in a carbon sink and because they are able to tolerate environmental fluctuations, studying them could be especially useful for understanding environmental and ecological changes in Antarctica as well as discovering new microbial cell factories for modern biotechnology and biorefinery applications. For example, biotechnologically attractive enzymes (e.g., proteases, lipases, amylases, ureases, nucleases, β-galactosidases, and keratinases) [ 14 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ] and pigments (e.g., carotenoids) [ 19 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ] can be synthesized by culturable psychrophilic and psychrotrophic bacteria [ 32 ].…”