Pattern of agarose hydrolysis by an extract of a soil bacterium

SAMPIETRO, D.A.; SAMPIETRO, A.R.; VATTUONE, M.A.

Belo Horizonte (Brasil)

Congreso; 2nd International Conference on Biodiversity (2nd IUPAC); 1999

International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry

Agar-digestive bacteria have been known since 1902, when Gram isolated a sea-water microorganism with this property. The main genera accepted with agarolytic activity are: Agarbacterium, Alginomonas, Chondroccus, Clostridium, Cytophaga, Nocardia, Pseudomonas, Sporocytophaga, Streptomyces, Vibrio and Xanthomonas. The composition of the agarolytic systems has been studied by direct isolation of the involved enzymes. The overall reaction is the result of individual enzymic activities and its knowledge may provide a procedure. The purpose of this work was the study of the pattern of agarose hydrolysis by extract of the soil bacterium Agrobacterium pastinator 2AC isolated and classified in our laboratory. The enzymic system of this bacterium hydrolyses agarose in a three-phase process. Neoagarotetraose and neoagarohexose are the main products of the overall reaction. In the first step native agarose is degraded with production of agarodextrins and a series of oligosaccharides. In the next step the accumulated products are changed with production of limit agarodextrins and the concentrations higher oligossacharides are enhanced. The third step is characterized by the production of neoagarotetraose and neogarobiose. This work opens new possibilities for the detection of different types of agarolytic enzymes.