AEM
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Thaler, J.-O.
Right arrow Articles by Boemare, N.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Thaler, J.-O.
Right arrow Articles by Boemare, N.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Thaler, J.-O.
Right arrow Articles by Boemare, N.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Appl Environ Microbiol, July 1998, p. 2367-2373, Vol. 64, No. 7
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Isolation and Entomotoxic Properties of the Xenorhabdus nematophilus F1 Lecithinase

Jacques-Olivier Thaler, Bernard Duvic, Alain Givaudan, and Noël Boemare*

Laboratoire de Pathologie Comparée, Université Montpellier II, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (URA INRA-CNRS no. 2209), 34095 Montpellier Cedex 05, France

Received 1 December 1997/Accepted 12 April 1998

Xenorhabdus spp. and Photorhabdus spp., entomopathogenic bacteria symbiotically associated with nematodes of the families Steinernematidae and Heterorhabditidae, respectively, were shown to produce different lipases when they were grown on suitable nutrient agar. Substrate specificity studies showed that Photorhabdus spp. exhibited a broad lipase activity, while most of the Xenorhabdus spp. secreted a specific lecithinase. Xenorhabdus spp. occur spontaneously in two variants, phase I and phase II. Only the phase I variants of Xenorhabdus nematophilus and Xenorhabdus bovienii strains produced lecithinase activity when the bacteria were grown on a solid lecithin medium (0.01% lecithin nutrient agar; 24 h of growth). Five enzymatic isomers responsible for this activity were separated from the supernatant of a X. nematophilus F1 culture in two chromatographic steps, cation-exchange chromatography and C18 reverse-phase chromatography. The substrate specificity of the X. nematophilus F1 lecithinase suggested that a phospholipase C preferentially active on phosphatidylcholine could be isolated. The entomotoxic properties of each isomer were tested by injection into the hemocoels of insect larvae. None of the isomers exhibited toxicity with the insects tested, Locusta migratoria, Galleria mellonella, Spodoptera littoralis, and Manduca sexta. The possible role of lecithinase as either a virulence factor or a symbiotic factor is discussed.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Laboratoire de Pathologie Comparée, Université Montpellier II, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (URA INRA-CNRS no. 2209), C.P. 101, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 05, France. Phone: 33-4-67-14-37-40. Fax: 33-4-67-14-46-79. E-mail: boemare{at}ensam.inra.fr.

Appl Environ Microbiol, July 1998, p. 2367-2373, Vol. 64, No. 7
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
J. Bacteriol. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. Eukaryot. Cell All ASM Journals

Copyright © 1998 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.