Identification of vitamin B producing bacteria based on the presence of bluB/cobT2 homologues.

Objectives: The objective of the study was to develop a strategy for the identification of new vitamin B-producing species and to characterize their production capability using a fast and sensitive LC-MS/MS method developed in this study.

Results: Searching for homologues of the bluB/cobT2 fusion gene known to be responsible for the production of the active vitamin B form in P. freudenreichii was shown to be a successful strategy for the identification of new vitamin B-producing strains.

Methylotrophic bacteria with cobalamin-dependent mutases in primary metabolism as potential strains for vitamin B production.

Several bacterial species are known for their ability to synthesize vitamin B but biotechnological vitamin B production today is restricted to Pseudomonas denitrificans and Propionibacterium freudenreichii. Nevertheless, the rising popularity of veganism leads to a growing demand for vitamin B and thereby interest in alternative strains which can be used as efficient vitamin B sources. In this work, we demonstrate that methylotrophic microorganisms which utilize the ethylmalonyl-CoA pathway containing B-dependent enzymes are capable of active vitamin B production.

A Desaturase-Like Enzyme Catalyzes Oxazole Formation in Pseudomonas Indolyloxazole Alkaloids.

Indolyloxazole alkaloids occur in diverse micro- and macroorganisms and exhibit a wide range of pharmacological activities. Despite their ubiquitous occurrence and simple structures, the biosynthetic pathway remained unknown. Here, we used transposon mutagenesis in the labradorin producer Pseudomonas entomophila to identify a cryptic biosynthetic locus encoding an N-acyltransferase and a non-heme diiron desaturase-like enzyme.