2-Hydroxypyridine metabolism and pigment formation in three Arthrobacter species

Three species of the genus Arthrobacter, A. crystallopoietes, A. pyridinolis, and A. viridescens, have the capabilities to utilize 2-hydroxypyridine (2-HP) as the sole source of carbon and nitrogen for growth and to produce an extracellular crystalline pigment from this substrate. Degradation of 2-HP by cell-free extracts requires the presence of both reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and molecular oxygen and is stimulated by flavin mononucleotide, suggesting the presence of a monooxygenase activity in the extract. Loss of the ability to produce pigment at a high spontaneous frequency, 0.26% loss per generation, is observed only with A. crystallopoietes and can be visualized by the presence of sectored and fully nonpigmented colonies on solid media containing 2-HP. Concomitant with the loss of pigment-producing character are both loss of ability to utilize 2-HP for growth and oxidation of 2-HP by cell-free extracts. These three 2-HP-associated characteristics also are lost simultaneously by treating cultures of A. crystallopoietes with curing agents, such as acridine orange and mitomycin C, but are not curable in A. pyridinolis or A. viridescens. All nonpigmented strains of A. crystallopoietes are nonrevertible for these properties. These data suggest that 2-HP-related characteristics are plasmid determined in A. crystallopoietes but not in A. pyridinolis and A. viridescens. A survey for the presence of plasmids in these three species and two physiologically unrelated species, A. globiformis and A. atrocyaneus, revealed plasmid material only in A. globiformis and A. crystallopoietes.