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Rhamnolipids are conserved biosurfactants molecules: implications for their biotechnological potential

  • Applied genetics and molecular biotechnology
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Abstract

A range of isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from widely different environmental sources were examined for their ability to synthesise rhamnolipid biosurfactants. No significant differences in the quantity or composition of the rhamnolipid congeners could be produced by manipulating the growth conditions. Sequences for the rhamnolipid genes indicated low levels of strain variation, and the majority of polymorphisms did lead to amino acid sequence changes that had no evident phenotypic effect. Expression of the rhlB and rhlC rhamnosyltransferase genes showed a fixed sequential expression pattern during growth, and no significant up-regulation could be induced by varying producer strains or growth media. The results indicated that rhamnolipids are highly conserved molecules and that their gene expression has a rather stringent control. This leaves little opportunity to manipulate and greatly increase the yield of rhamnolipids from strains of P. aeruginosa for biotechnological applications.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Prof James Dooley at the University of Ulster for providing the clinical strains used in this study. A.P. is grateful to Dr. Urs Ochsner for his valuable advice at the beginning of this study. This work was supported by Unilever and the Department of Trade and Industry technology programme and a CAST award from the Department of Education and Learning Northern Ireland and Unilever to Michelle Rudden.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Ulster, Coleraine, BT52 1SA, UK

    Amedea Perfumo, Michelle Rudden, Thomas J. P. Smyth, Roger Marchant & Ibrahim M. Banat

  2. Research and Development, Unilever, Port Sunlight, Wirral, Liverpool, CH63 3JW, UK

    Paul S. Stevenson & Neil J. Parry

Authors
  1. Amedea Perfumo
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  2. Michelle Rudden
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  3. Thomas J. P. Smyth
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  4. Roger Marchant
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  6. Neil J. Parry
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  7. Ibrahim M. Banat
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Correspondence to Ibrahim M. Banat.

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Perfumo, A., Rudden, M., Smyth, T.J.P. et al. Rhamnolipids are conserved biosurfactants molecules: implications for their biotechnological potential. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 97, 7297–7306 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-013-4876-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-013-4876-z

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