This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental material Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Franks, A. Articles by Kjelleberg, S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Franks, A. Articles by Kjelleberg, S. Agricola Articles by Franks, A. Articles by Kjelleberg, S.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 2006, p. 6079-6087, Vol. 72, No. 9
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00559-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Inhibition of Fungal Colonization by Pseudoalteromonas tunicata Provides a Competitive Advantage during Surface Colonization

A. Franks,^1,2, S. Egan,^1,2 C. Holmström,^1,2 S. James,^1,2 H. Lappin-Scott,³ and S. Kjelleberg^1,2*

Centre for Marine Biofouling and Bio-Innovation,¹ School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, New South Wales, Australia,² Hatherly Laboratories, School of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom³

Received 8 March 2006/ Accepted 6 July 2006

The marine epiphytic bacterium Pseudoalteromonas tunicata produces a range of extracellular secondary metabolites that inhibit an array of common fouling organisms, including fungi. In this study, we test the hypothesis that the ability to inhibit fungi provides P. tunicata with an advantage during colonization of a surface. Studies on a transposon-generated antifungal-deficient mutant of P. tunicata, FM3, indicated that a long-chain fatty acid-coenzyme A ligase is involved in the production of a broad-range antifungal compound by P. tunicata. Flow cell experiments demonstrated that production of an antifungal compound provided P. tunicata with a competitive advantage against a marine yeast isolate during surface colonization. This compound enabled P. tunicata to disrupt an already established fungal biofilm by decreasing the number of yeast cells attached to the surface by 66% ± 9%. For in vivo experiments, the wild-type and FM3 strains of P. tunicata were used to inoculate the surface of the green alga Ulva australis. Double-gradient denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis revealed that after 48 h, the wild-type P. tunicata had outcompeted the surface-associated fungal community, whereas the antifungal-deficient mutant had no effect on the fungal community. Our data suggest that P. tunicata is an effective competitor against fungal surface communities in the marine environment.

---

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, New South Wales, Australia. Phone: (61) 2 93852102. Fax: (61) 2 93851591. E-mail: S.Kjelleberg{at}unsw.edu.au.

Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://aem.asm.org/.

Present address: The Biomerit Research Centre, Department of Microbiology, National University of Ireland, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.

---

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 2006, p. 6079-6087, Vol. 72, No. 9
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00559-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Rao, D., Webb, J. S., Holmstrom, C., Case, R., Low, A., Steinberg, P., Kjelleberg, S. (2007). Low Densities of Epiphytic Bacteria from the Marine Alga Ulva australis Inhibit Settlement of Fouling Organisms. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 73: 7844-7852 [Abstract] [Full Text]