Occurrence and Patterns of Waxes in Neisseriaceae

Abstract

Forty-five strains classified in the family Neisseriaceae were analysed for wax esters by gas-liquid chromatography. The amounts and types of waxes varied between the taxa. Waxes were not detected in 16 strains of 'true neisseriae' (genus Neisseria) or in two strains of Kingella, but they were found in all 'false neisseriae', in all species of Moraxella except Moraxellaphenylpyrouvica, in five out of 10 strains of Acinetobacter, and in all strains of a group of psychrophilic, oxidase-positive organisms. The chain lengths of the wax esters ranged from Cz4 to C4*, with CS6 predominating. In all taxa, esters with even numbers of carbon atoms constituted 70 to roo % of the total. Saturated, mono-unsaturated and diunsaturated waxes were found. Acinetobacter strains were characterized by large amounts (30 to 98 %) of di-unsaturated wax esters; such waxes did not exceed 8 % in the 'false neisseriae ' or Moraxella spp. Waxes of strains belonging to the psychrophilic, oxidasepositive group generally resembled those found in Moraxella. Wax esters with odd numbers of carbon atoms were abundant in M. lacunata (29 %), M. atlantae (15 %) and in the psychrophilic group (19 to 28 %); long-chain esters (C40 or above) were characteristic of M . atlantae (30 %) and one strain of M . osloensis (26 %).

Oligella, a New Genus Including Oligella urethralis comb. nov. (Formerly Moraxella urethralis) and Oligella ureolytica sp. nov. (Formerly CDC Group IVe): Relationship to Taylorella equigenitalis and Related Taxa

“…bronchiseptica, Alcaligenes (members of rRNA superfamily 111), and T. equigenitalis were considerably lower and ranged from 72. 4 Chromobacterium violaceum, several Neisseria species, and a CDC group IVc-2 strain were located at Tmfe) values of 65.3 to 71.6"C ( Table 4 and Fig. 3).…”

Acyltransferases in Bacteria

“…Meanwhile, WE were also found in some genera of marine hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria, e.g., Alcanivorax, Marinobacter, or Thalassolituus, as well as in Psychrobacter, Micrococcus, or Moraxella (26,(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33), and in some Gram-positive actinomycetes, e.g., in species of Corynebacterium or Nocardia (34,35).…”

Cloning and characterization of a gene involved in triacylglycerol biosynthesis and identification of additional homologous genes in the oleaginous bacterium Rhodococcus opacus PD630

“…Moreover, biosynthesis of wax esters (WEs) has often been reported for Acinetobacter species (Fixter et al, 1986). Biosynthesis of WEs has also been sporadically reported in species of the genera Moraxella (Bryn et al, 1977), Micrococcus (Russell & Volkman, 1980) and Alcanivorax (Bredemeier et al, 2003). In general, TAGs and WEs are stored as insoluble inclusions of different shapes and sizes inside the cytoplasm, depending on the lipid, strain and culture conditions (Kalscheuer et al, 2001;Wältermann & Steinbüchel, 2005 Rhodococcus opacus strain PD630 is able to accumulate large amounts of TAGs and under certain culture conditions also minor amounts of WEs; it is one of the best-studied bacteria regarding biosynthesis and accumulation of lipids.…”