Section of Microbiology, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; TERRA Research and Teaching Centre, Microbial Processes and Interactions (MiPI), Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, Gembloux, Belgium.
Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical University of Denmark, Building 224, Søltofts Plads, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark; Beijing Key Laboratory of Ionic Liquids Clean Process, Key Laboratory of Green Process and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Complex Systems, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, PR China.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Mar 20;761:143281. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143281. Epub 2020 Oct 29.
Keratin is an insoluble fibrous protein from natural environments, which can be recycled to value-added products by keratinolytic microorganisms. A microbial consortium with efficient keratinolytic activity was previously enriched from soil, but the genetic basis behind its remarkable degradation properties was not investigated yet. To identify the metabolic pathways involved in keratinolysis and clarify the observed synergy among community members, shotgun metagenomic sequencing was performed to reconstruct metagenome-assembled genomes. More than 90% genera of the enriched bacterial consortium were affiliated to Chryseobacterium, Stenotrophomonas, and Pseudomonas. Metabolic potential and putative keratinases were predicted from the metagenomic annotation, providing the genetic basis of keratin degradation. Furthermore, metabolic pathways associated with keratinolytic processes such as amino acid metabolism, disulfide reduction and urea cycle were investigated from seven high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes, revealing the potential metabolic cooperation related to keratin degradation. This knowledge deepens the understanding of microbial keratinolytic mechanisms at play in a complex community, pinpointing the significance of synergistic interactions, which could be further used to optimize industrial keratin degradation processes.
角蛋白是天然环境中的一种不溶性纤维状蛋白质，可通过角蛋白水解微生物回收为增值产品。先前从土壤中富集了具有高效角蛋白水解活性的微生物群落，但尚未研究其显著降解特性的遗传基础。为了确定角蛋白水解涉及的代谢途径，并阐明群落成员之间观察到的协同作用，进行了鸟枪法宏基因组测序以重建宏基因组组装基因组。富集细菌群落中超过 90%的属与黄杆菌属、寡养单胞菌属和假单胞菌属有关。从宏基因组注释中预测了代谢潜力和潜在的角蛋白酶，为角蛋白降解提供了遗传基础。此外，还从七个高质量的宏基因组组装基因组中研究了与角蛋白水解过程相关的代谢途径，如氨基酸代谢、二硫键还原和尿素循环，揭示了与角蛋白降解相关的潜在代谢合作。这一知识加深了对复杂群落中微生物角蛋白水解机制的理解，指出了协同作用的重要性，这可进一步用于优化工业角蛋白降解过程。
