A Gram-positive rubber-degrading bacterium,
Actinoplanes
sp. strain OR16 (strain NBRC 114529), is able to grow on agar plates containing natural and synthetic rubber as the sole sources of carbon and energy. When this strain was grown on natural rubber latex overlay agar plates, translucent halos around the cells were observed. To identify the natural rubber degradation genes and other features of its metabolism, its complete genome sequence was determined. The genome of OR16 consists of 9,293,892 bp and comprises one circular chromosome (GenBank accession number AP019371.1) with a G + C content of 70.3%. The genome contains 8238 protein-coding and 18 rRNA genes. A homology search of the genome sequence revealed that three genes (
lcp1
,
lcp2
, and
lcp3
) are homologous to an extracellular latex-clearing protein (Lcp) of
Streptomyces
sp. K30. RT-PCR analysis revealed that
lcp1
and
lcp2
seem to constitute an operon. Purified
lcp
gene products have oxygen consumption activity toward natural rubber latex, suggesting that all these genes encode rubber-degrading enzymes in OR16. Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR analysis indicated that the transcription of these genes is induced during the growth of OR16 on natural rubber. The genes located adjacent to
lcp1
and
lcp3
, which code for a TetR/AcrR-type transcriptional regulator, can bind to the promoter regions of these
lcp
genes. It is suggested that the putative regulators play a role in regulating the transcription of the
lcp
genes. These results strongly suggested that three
lcp
genes are required for the utilization of natural rubber in strain OR16.
Key Points
• The complete genome sequence of Actinoplanes sp. strain OR16 was determined.
• Three lcp genes which are involved in the natural rubber degradation in OR16 were identified.
• Transcription of these lcp genes is induced during utilization of rubber in OR16.
• Two regulators, which bind to the promoter regions of lcp, were determined.
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (10.1007/s00253-020-10700-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
The genome sequence of rubber-degrading
Rhizobacter gummiphilus
NS21
T
was determined.
An alternative rubber-degrading gene (
latA2
) was identified.
β-oxidation pathway genes which is involved in the rubber degradation were predicted.
Natural rubber-degrading microorganisms were isolated from waste of rubber processing factory in Cam Thuy of Vietnam. Four of them belong to Streptomyces sp. that showed the higher abilities for natural rubber degradation than the others. They are able to use both deproteinised natural rubber (DPNR) and synthetic rubber cis-1,4-polyisoprene (SR) as a sole source of carbon. Gel permeation chromatography (GPC) analysis revealed that these strains degraded DPNR and SR to low-molecular-weight products. The growth of isolates occurs essentially on the latex glove pieces after one month of incubation in mineral salt medium. The total nitrogen contents of glove pieces were determined using Kjeldahl method, which were 10-20 times higher than that in un-inoculated sample. Moreover, the degradation was also confirmed by observing the growth of isolates on glove's surface using scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
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