Bacterial degradation of natural rubber: a privilege of actinomycetes?

Using natural rubber latex as the sole source of carbon and energy 50 rubber-degrading bacteria were isolated. Out of those 50 isolates, 33 were identified as Streptomyces species and 8 as Micromonospora species. Screening of 1220 bacteria obtained from different culture collections revealed 46 addi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:FEMS microbiology letters 1997-05, Vol.150 (2), p.179-188
Main Authors: Jendrossek, D, Tomasi, G, Kroppenstedt, R.M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Actinomycetales - metabolism
Actinomycetes
Bacteria
Biodegradation
Biodegradation, Environmental
Carbohydrate Metabolism
Culture collections
Degradation
Energy Metabolism
Environmental Microbiology
Enzyme Induction - drug effects
Europe
Far East
Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial - drug effects
Gloves
Glucose - pharmacology
Gram-positive bacteria
Latex
Liquid culture
Microbiology
Micromonospora
Natural rubber
nonfood plant products
Phenotype
Polyisoprene oxygenase
Rubber
Rubber - metabolism
Species Specificity
Strains (organisms)
Streptomyces
Succinates - pharmacology
Succinic Acid
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Summary:Using natural rubber latex as the sole source of carbon and energy 50 rubber-degrading bacteria were isolated. Out of those 50 isolates, 33 were identified as Streptomyces species and 8 as Micromonospora species. Screening of 1220 bacteria obtained from different culture collections revealed 46 additional rubber-degrading bacteria (Streptomyces 31 strains, Micromonospora 5, Actinoplanes 3, Nocardia 2, Dactylosporangium 1, Actinomadura 1, unidentified 3). All rubber-degrading isolates were identified as members of the actinomycetes, a large group of mycelium-forming Gram-positive bacteria. Interestingly no Gram-negative bacterium could be isolated. In most strains expression of extracellular rubber-degrading enzymes was repressed by glucose and/or succinate. The reduction of the average molecular mass of solution-cast films of natural rubber from 640000 to 25 000 in liquid culture upon bacterial growth indicates the participation of an endo-cleavage mechanism of degradation.
ISSN:0378-1097
1574-6968
DOI:10.1111/j.1574-6968.1997.tb10368.x