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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2006, p. 5556-5561, Vol. 72, No. 8
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00494-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Discovery of a Marine Bacterium Producing 4-Hydroxybenzoate and Its Alkyl Esters, Parabens

Xue Peng,{dagger} Kyoko Adachi, Choryu Chen, Hiroaki Kasai, Kaneo Kanoh, Yoshikazu Shizuri, and Norihiko Misawa*

Marine Biotechnology Institute, 3-75-1 Heita, Kamaishi-shi, Iwate 026-0001, Japan

Received 1 March 2006/ Accepted 12 May 2006

Chemically synthesized 4-hydroxybenzoate (4HBA) is widely used in the chemical and electrical industries as a material for producing polymers such as those of the liquid crystal type. Its alkyl esters, called parabens, have been the most widely used preservatives by the food and cosmetic industries. We report here for the first time a microorganism, a marine bacterium, which biosynthesizes these petrochemical products. The marine bacterial strain, A4B-17, which was found to belong to the genus Microbulbifer on the basis of its rRNA and gyrB sequences, was isolated from an ascidian in the coastal waters of Palau. Strain A4B-17 was, surprisingly, found to produce 10 mg/liter of 4HBA, together with its butyl (24 mg/liter), heptyl (0.4 mg/liter), and nonyl (6 mg/liter) esters. We therefore characterized 23 other marine bacteria belonging to the genus Microbulbifer, which our institute had previously isolated from various marine environments, and found that these bacteria also produced 4HBA, although with low production levels (less than one-fifth of that produced by A4B-17). We also show that the alkyl esters of 4HBA produced by strain A4B-17 were effective in preventing the growth of yeasts, molds, and gram-positive bacteria.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Marine Biotechnology Institute, 3-75-1 Heita, Kamaishi-shi, Iwate 026-0001, Japan. Phone: 81-193-26-6581. Fax: 81-193-26-6592. E-mail: norihiko.misawa{at}mbio.jp.

{dagger} Present address: Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth, 9-2 Kizugawadai, Kizu-cho, Soraku-gun, Kyoto 619-0292, Japan.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2006, p. 5556-5561, Vol. 72, No. 8
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00494-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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