Researchers led by Andy Johnston and Jon Todd have isolated several bacteria that grow well on the anti-stress compound dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) as sole carbon source. Mostly, these bacteria are in the γ-Proteobacteria sub-phylum and they contain the dddD gene, which cleaves DMSP into 3-hydroxy-propionate plus the environmentally important volatile dimethyl sulfide (DMS). These bacteria were isolated from environments that contain large amounts of DMSP substrate. Thus, Marinomonas MWYL1 was from the rhizosphere of the salt-marsh grass Spartina, one of the very few angiosperms that makes DMSP and Halomonas HTNK1 was found in the phylloplane of the sea lettuce (Ulva lactuca), a macroalgal seaweed that makes large amounts of DMSP. The DMSP-catabolising strains of Pseudomonas and Psychrobacter were both isolated from the gut of a herring, consistent with the fact that the diet of these fish contains marine plankton that are rich in DMSP.
Curson, A.R.J., Sullivan, M.J., Todd, J.D. & Johnston, A.W.B. 2010 Identification of genes for dimethyl sulfide production in bacteria in the gut of Atlantic Herring (Clupea harengus). ISME, J 4, 144-146 Full Text (subscription) Request Publication
Todd, J.D., Curson, A.R.J., Nikolaidou-Katsaraidou, N., Brearley, C.A., Watmough, N.J., Chan, Y., Page, P.C., Sun, L. & Johnston, A.W.B. 2010 Molecular dissection of bacterial acrylate catabolism - unexpected links with dimethylsulfoniopropionate catabolism and dimethyl sulfide production. Environmental Microbiology, 12, 327-343 Full Text (subscription) Request Publication
Todd, J.D., Rogers, R., Li, Y.G., Wexler, M., Bond, P.L., Sun, L., Curson, A.R.J., Malin, G., Steinke, M. & Johnston, A.W.B., 2007 Structural and Regulatory Genes Required to Make the Gas Dimethyl Sulfide in Bacteria. Science, 315, 666-669 Full Text (subscription) Request Publication
Andy Johnston's Lab
Halomonas HTNK1
Marinomonas MWYL1
