Disease relevance of alkB

• We isolated Gram-positive alkane-degraders from soil and a tricking-bed reactor, and show using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with degenerate alkane hydroxylase primers and Southern blots that most Rhodococcus isolates contain three to five quite divergent homologues of the Pseudomonas putida GPo1 alkB gene [1].
• Two Mycobacterium isolates each contain one homologue, however there is no evidence for the presence of alkB homologues in the remaining strains [1].

High impact information on alkB

• The 40K peptide is the membrane component of alkane hydroxylase and the product of the plasmid alkB gene because the alkB1029 mutation altered the properties of alkane hydroxylase in whole cells, reduced its thermal stability in cell extracts, and led to increased electrophoretic mobility of the inducible 40K peptide [2].
• Competition experiments suggest that highly conserved inverted repeats in the alkB and alkS promoter regions bind ALKS:[3]
• CONCLUSIONS: Predominance of alkB genotypes depends on the ecosystem and environmental conditions, but alkane exposure generally leads to an increase of both studied genotypes [4].

Biological context of alkB

• SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The study illustrates the distribution of two different alkB genotypes in two types of ecosystems, and highlights their respective roles in the environment [4].

References