Pivalic acid acts as a starter unit in a fatty acid and antibiotic biosynthetic pathway in Alicyclobacillus, Rhodococcus and Streptomyces.

Tomáš Rezanka, Lucie Siristova, Olga Schreiberová, Michal Rezanka, Jan Masák, Karel Melzoch, Karel Sigler

Index: Environ. Microbiol. 13(6) , 1577-89, (2011)

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Abstract

A biosynthetic pathway using pivalic acid as a starter unit was found in three bacterial species, Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris, Rhodococcus erythropolis and Streptomyces avermitilis. When deuterium-labelled pivalic acid was added to A. acidoterrestris and R. erythropolis nutrient media it was incorporated into fatty acids to give rise to tert-butyl fatty acids (t-FAs). In addition, in R. erythropolis, pivalic acid was transformed into two starter units, i.e. isobutyric and 2-methylbutyric acid, which served as precursors of corresponding iso-even FAs and anteiso-FAs. In S. avermitilis the biosynthesis also yielded all three branched FAs; apart from this pathway, both pivalic and 2-methylbutyric acids were incorporated into the antibiotic avermectin.© 2011 Society for Applied Microbiology and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.