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Isolation and Screening from Soil Biodiversity for Fungi Involved in the Degradation of Recalcitrant Materials

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Selection of Biodegrading Phytosterol Strains.

María-Angélica Mondaca¹, Maricel Vidal¹, Soledad Chamorro^2,3

¹Microbiology Department, University of Concepción, Concepción, Chile.

Methods in Molecular Biology (Clifton, N.J.)

|August 29, 2023

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers enhanced phytosterol-biotransforming bacteria, Mycobacterium sp., by culturing them with high β-sitosterol concentrations. This selection method significantly boosted their efficiency in converting β-sitosterol into valuable steroidal compounds.

Keywords:

Biotransformation Natural products Steroids β-sitosterol Mycobacterium sp.

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Published on: October 24, 2016

Area of Science:

Microbiology
Biotechnology
Biochemical Engineering

Background:

Phytosterols, like β-sitosterol, are plant-derived compounds with potential industrial applications.
Efficient microbial biotransformation of phytosterols into valuable steroidal bases is crucial for their utilization.
Developing robust microbial strains with enhanced biotransformation capabilities is an ongoing research area.

Purpose of the Study:

To select and enhance phytosterol-biotransforming strains of Mycobacterium sp.
To investigate the effect of high β-sitosterol concentration as a selective pressure for strain improvement.
To identify the key biotransformation products and assess the increased efficiency of selected strains.

Main Methods:

Culturing Mycobacterium sp. strains in a medium with 14 g/L β-sitosterol as the sole carbon source.
Successive transfers of bacterial cultures over two months to apply selective pressure.
Extraction of biotransformation products using methanol and ethyl acetate.
Qualitative and quantitative analyses using thin-layer chromatography, gas-liquid chromatography (GLC), and GLC-mass spectrometry.

Main Results:

Selected strains Mycobacterium sp. MB-3683 and Mycobacterium fortuitum B-11045 showed increased biotransformation capacity after seven transfers.
Biotransformation efficiency increased from 20% to 64% for MB-3683 and 34% to 55% for B-11045.
Androstenedione and androstadienedione were identified as the major biotransformation products.

Conclusions:

High substrate concentration of β-sitosterol serves as an effective selective mechanism for isolating highly efficient phytosterol-biotransforming strains.
The developed method significantly enhances the microbial production of steroidal bases from β-sitosterol.
This approach holds promise for the industrial-scale production of steroidal compounds through microbial biotransformation.