[Proteomic analysis of curdlan-producing Agrobacterium sp. ATCC 31749 in response to dissolved oxygen]

Curdlan is produced by Agrobacterium sp. ATCC 31749 under nitrogen limiting condition. The biosynthesis of crudlan is a typical aerobic bioprocess, and the production of curdlan would be severely restricted under micro-aerobic and anoxic conditions. Proteomic analysis of Agrobacterium sp. was conducted to investigate the effect of dissolved oxygen on the crucial enzymes involved in curdlan biosynthesis.

Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis was performed to separate and visualize the differential expression of the intracellular proteins extracted from Agrobacterium sp. ATCC 31749 cultured under various dissolved oxygen levels (75%, 50%, 25% and 5%). In addition, a comparative proteomic analysis of the intracellular proteins expression level under various dissolved oxygen levels was done. Significant differently expressed proteins were identified by MALDI-TOF/TOF.

Finally, we identified 15 differently expressed proteins involved in polysaccharide synthesis, fatty acid synthesis, amino acid synthesis pathway. Among these proteins, phosphoglucomutase and orotidine 5-phosphate decarboxylase were the key metabolic enzymes directing curdlan biosynthesis.

Oxygen could affect the expression of the proteins taking charge of curdlan synthesis significantly.