Temperature and nutrient availability control growth rate and fatty acid composition of facultatively psychrophilic Cobetia marina strain L-2

Abstract

A facultative psychrophilic bacterium, strain L-2, that grows at 0 and 5 degrees C as minimum growth temperatures in complex and defined media, respectively, was isolated. On the basis of taxonomic studies, strain L-2 was identified as Cobetia marina. The adaptability of strain L-2 to cold temperature was higher than that of the type strain and of other reported strains of the same species. When the bacterium was grown at 5-15 degrees C in a defined medium, it produced a high amount of trans-unsaturated fatty acids. By contrast, in a complex medium in the same temperature range it produced a low amount of trans-unsaturated fatty acids. In the complex medium at 5 degrees C, the bacterium exhibited a three-fold higher growth rate than that obtained in the defined medium. Following a temperature shift from 11 to 5 degrees C, strain L-2 grew better in complex than in defined medium. Furthermore, when the growth temperature was shifted from 0 to 5 degrees C both the growth rate and the yield of strain L-2 growing in complex medium was markedly enhanced. These phenomena suggest that an upshift of the growth temperature had a positive effect on metabolism. The effects of adding complex medium components to the defined medium on bacterial growth rate and fatty acid composition at 5 degrees C were also studied. The addition of yeast extract followed by peptone was effective in promoting rapid growth, while glutamate addition was less effective, resulting in a cis-unsaturated fatty acid ratio similar to that of cells grown in the complex medium. These results suggest that the rapid growth of strain L-2 at low temperatures requires a high content of various amino acids rather than the presence of a high ratio of cis-unsaturated fatty acids in the cell membrane.

The complex relationship between microbial growth rate and yield and its implications for ecosystem processes

“…The classic work of Monod (1942) shows a negative relationship between growth rate and cellular yield of E. coli , with yield decreasing and rate increasing with increasing temperature (see SI of Beardmore et al, 2011). Similar relationships among rate, yield and temperature can be seen in the growth of Cobetia marina (Figure 1 in Yumoto et al, 2004) and in an Arthrobacter species from Arctic soil (Figure 4A in Panikov and Sizova, 2007). The rate-yield tradeoff observed with changes in temperature implies a thermodynamic basis, as discussed earlier.…”

Cold Stress Tolerance in Psychrotolerant Soil Bacteria and Their Conferred Chilling Resistance in Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum Mill.) under Low Temperatures

“…Also, use of diluted complex media has been observed to yield higher number of isolates compared to the use of full strength media for isolation [20,33,35]. Minimal media supplemented with amino acids encouraged growth of Antarctic bacterium Pseudomonas syringae Lz4W, and amendment of defined media with yeast extract, peptone or casamino acids significantly improved the growth rate of facultative psychrophilic bacteria Cobetia marina L-2 when the temperature was lowered from 11 to 5°C [11,36]. Therefore, in the present study a minimal media supplemented with filter sterilized peptone as a source of amino acids was used to isolate psychrotolerant bacteria [19].…”

Terasakiispira papahanaumokuakeensis gen. nov., sp. nov., a gammaproteobacterium from Pearl and Hermes Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

“…The quinone system of strain PH27A T comprised ubiquinones Q-9 (86.4 %) and Q-8 (13.6 %), clearly distinguishing the strain from members of the genus Marinospirillum , in which the major ubiquinone is Q-8 (Satomi et al , 1998). However, the quinone systems of members of the genera Halomonas and Cobetia are also dominated by ubiquinone Q-9 (Franzmann & Tindall, 1990; Arahal et al , 2007b; Guzmán et al , 2010; Poli et al , 2007; Yumoto et al , 2004). Major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylglycerol, molecules also reported in members of the genera Halomonas and Cobetia (Franzmann & Tindall, 1990; Jiang et al , 2014; Wang et al , 2012; Romanenko et al , 2013).…”