Diversity of lactate metabolism in halophilic archaea

A. Oren*, P. Gurevich

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

D-Lactate is readily used as a substrate for the growth of species of halophilic archaea belonging to the genera Haloferax and Haloarcula. L-Lactate was used by Haloferax species (Haloferax volcanii Haloferax mediterranei) only when a substantial concentration of the D-isomer was also present in the medium. On the enzymatic level, considerable diversity was found in the lactate metabolism of the different representatives of the Halobacteriaceae. At least three types of lactate dehydrogenases were detected in halophilic archaea. A high lever of activity of an NAD-linked enzyme was present constitutively in Haloarcula species, and a low level of activity was also detected in Haloferax mediterranei. NAD-independent lactate dehydrogenases, oxidizing L-lactate and D-lactate with 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol as electron acceptor, were detected in all nine species tested, but L-lactate dehydrogenase activity in Halobacterium species was very low, and Haloarcula species, which possess a high level of activity of NAD-linked lactate dehydrogenase, showed very low activities of both NAD-independent D- and L-lactate dehydrogenase. An inducible lactate racemase, displaying an unusually high pH optimum, was found in Haloferax volcanii. Lactate racemase activity was found constitutively in Haloarcula species, but no activity was detected in Halobacterium species and in Haloferax mediterranei.

Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)302-307
Number of pages6
JournalCanadian Journal of Microbiology
Volume41
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 1995

Keywords

  • Haloarcula
  • Halobacterium
  • Haloferax
  • Lactate dehydrogenase
  • Lactate racemase

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