AupA and AupB Are Outer and Inner Membrane Proteins Involved in Alkane Uptake in Marinobacter hydrocarbonoclasticus SP17.

This study describes the functional characterization of two proteins, AupA and AupB, which are required for growth on alkanes in the marine hydrocarbonoclastic bacterium The and genes form an operon whose expression was increased upon adhesion to and biofilm formation on hexadecane. AupA and AupB are outer and inner membrane proteins, respectively, which are able to interact physically. Mutations in or/and reduced growth on solid paraffin and liquid hexadecane, while growth on nonalkane substrates was not affected.