Utilization of benzylpenicillin as carbon, nitrogen and energy source by a Pseudomonas fluorescens strain

Abstract

A bacterium which utilizes benzylpenicillin as carbon, nitrogen and energy source was isolated from a lake sediment. The organism was identified as a strain of Pseudomonas fluorescens with a GC content of 59.71 Mol%. After growth of the organism on a mineral salts medium containing benzylpenicillin, the derivatives benzylpenicilloic acid, benzylpenilloic acid and benzylpenicillenic acid were found in culture media. There was no indication that the phenylacetate side chain of benzylpenicillin is decomposed. In uninoculated culture media benzylpenicillin, benzylpenicilloic acid and benzylpenicillenic acid were demonstrable. The following compounds were found to be absent from inoculated or uninoculated culture fluids: D-penicillamine, L-valine, L-cysteine, benzylpenillic acid and 6-aminopenicillanic acid. The organism possesses penicillinase. Penicillin acylase was not demonstrable. The reaction product of penicillinase, benzylpenicilloic acid, supports only little growth. There is no growth on 6-aminopenicillanic acid with or without NH4Cl. Relatively little growth occurs on 6-aminopenicillanic acid in the presence of phenylacetic acid. The data indicate that the nucleus of the benzylpenicillin molecule is utilized as carbon, nitrogen and energy source. During growth a part of the substrate is destroyed into scarcely usable benzylpenicilloic acid; hereby the antibiotic is detoxified.

Identification of Multiresistant Salmonella Isolates Capable of Subsisting on Antibiotics

“…This group includes bacteria related to the pathogens Burkholderia cepacia and Serratia marcesens (5). This phenotype has also previously been reported for catabolism of chloramphenicol by Streptomyces (1) and beta-lactams by Leptospira (8) and Pseudomonas (7).…”

Study of the Aminoglycoside Subsistence Phenotype of Bacteria Residing in the Gut of Humans and Zoo Animals

“…Subsistence phenotypes were found previously in P. fluorescens isolates obtained from lake sediments, which were described to utilize benzylpenicillin as a carbon, nitrogen and energy source ( Johnsen, 1977 ). Soil bacteria from the orders Pseudomonadales and Burkholderiales have also been isolated based on their capacity to grow on a range of antibiotics as a single carbon source ( Dantas et al, 2008 ).…”

Draft Genome Sequences of Three β-Lactam-Catabolizing Soil Proteobacteria

“…Missing from our understanding of antibiotic ecology is the ultimate environmental fate of these potential carbon sources. While antibiotic catabolism has been recognized since the discovery of the first compounds ( 2 – 4 ), including in multiple Proteobacteria species ( 5 – 10 ), the cellular machinery underlying these phenotypes has eluded discovery. In order to facilitate the study of this phenomenon, we have undertaken the whole-genome sequencing of three soil isolates termed ABC07 ( Pseudomonas sp.…”