Rhodococcus erythropolis MTHt3 biotransforms ergopeptines to lysergic acid

BMC Microbiology

Research Article

Wulf-Dieter Moll¹  Michaela Thamhesl¹  Gerd Schatzmayr¹  Wolfgang Kneifel²  Elisavet Kunz-Vekiru³  Rudolf Krska³  Elisabeth Apfelthaler³  Heidi Elisabeth Schwartz-Zimmermann³ 

[1] BIOMIN Research Center, Technopark 1, 3430, Tulln, Austria;Christian Doppler Laboratory for Innovative Bran Biorefinery, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Muthgasse 18, 1190, Vienna, Austria;Department for Agrobiotechnology (IFA-Tulln), Christian Doppler Laboratory for Mycotoxin Research, Center for Analytical Chemistry, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) Vienna, Konrad Lorenz Straße 20, 3430, Tulln, Austria;

关键词: Tall Fescue;    Ergotamine;    Ergot Alkaloid;    Lysergic Acid;    Tryptone Soya Broth;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12866-015-0407-7

 received in 2014-08-14, accepted in 2015-03-11,  发布年份 2015

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundErgopeptines are a predominant class of ergot alkaloids produced by tall fescue grass endophyte Neotyphodium coenophialum or cereal pathogen Claviceps purpurea. The vasoconstrictive activity of ergopeptines makes them toxic for mammals, and they can be a problem in animal husbandry.ResultsWe isolated an ergopeptine degrading bacterial strain, MTHt3, and classified it, based on its 16S rDNA sequence, as a strain of Rhodococcus erythropolis (Nocardiaceae, Actinobacteria). For strain isolation, mixed microbial cultures were obtained from artificially ergot alkaloid-enriched soil, and provided with the ergopeptine ergotamine in mineral medium for enrichment. Individual colonies derived from such mixed cultures were screened for ergotamine degradation by high performance liquid chromatography and fluorescence detection. R. erythropolis MTHt3 converted ergotamine to ergine (lysergic acid amide) and further to lysergic acid, which accumulated as an end product. No other tested R. erythropolis strain degraded ergotamine. R. erythropolis MTHt3 degraded all ergopeptines found in an ergot extract, namely ergotamine, ergovaline, ergocristine, ergocryptine, ergocornine, and ergosine, but the simpler lysergic acid derivatives agroclavine, chanoclavine, and ergometrine were not degraded. Temperature and pH dependence of ergotamine and ergine bioconversion activity was different for the two reactions.ConclusionsDegradation of ergopeptines to ergine is a previously unknown microbial reaction. The reaction end product, lysergic acid, has no or much lower vasoconstrictive activity than ergopeptines. If the genes encoding enzymes for ergopeptine catabolism can be cloned and expressed in recombinant hosts, application of ergopeptine and ergine degrading enzymes for reduction of toxicity of ergot alkaloid-contaminated animal feed may be feasible.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Thamhesl et al.; licensee BioMed Central . 2015. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.