Amycolatopsis tucumanensis, a Useful Strain for Bioremediation

DÁVILA COSTA, JOSÉ; AMOROSO MARÍA J.; ABATE, CARLOS M.

Puerto Vallarta

Simposio; Simposio Internacional de Biología de Actinomycetes; 2011

Sociedad de Actinomycetes

 Background. Mining is among the most important worldwide economic activities; however the main legacy of mining is a disturbing pollution of biosphere by toxic metals, e.g. copper. It led to the search of microorganisms able to bioremediate copper polluted soil and to study in-depth its resistance mechanisms. In this sense,  Amycolatopsis tucumanensis was isolated from copper polluted sediments and studied for its remarkable copper resistance. Aim.  Appraisal of the antioxidant network upon copper-induced stress in  A. tucumanensis, in order to attain a more detailed picture of the induced-biological responses in this strain.  Methods.  Cellular extracts obtained from copper-challenged cultures of  A. tucumanensis were used in order to determine antioxidant enzymatic activities. Differential protein expression was also tested by using 2-D electrophoresis. Results.  A. tucumanensis displayed an efficient antioxidant defense system supported by high superoxide dismutase, catalase and thiredoxin reductase activities as well as elevated metallothioneins concentration upon copper-induced stress. Moreover, proteomics analysis of copper-challenged cells allowed to identify proteins expressed under this condition.      Conclusion. This work has given evidence that an efficient antioxidant defense system might aid A. tucumanensis to survive in copper-stress conditions; this work enable to obtain new tools to modify genetically this strain to be further used in more efficient bioremediation strategies.