Structural characterization and identification of cyclic lipopeptides produced by Bacillus methylotrophicus DCS1 strain

Bacillus methylotrophicus DCS1 strain was isolated from diesel contaminated soil and screened for its ability to produce biosurfactants; it was found effective for the production of surface active molecules. The structural characterization of the isolated lipopeptides was studied by a variety of analytical techniques. The organic extract of DCS1 lipopeptides was fractionated by silica gel column chromatography (60 Mesh). Fractions containing lipopeptides were collected and identified by tandem mass spectrometry MALDI-TOF-MS and MALDI-TOF MS2. The crude biosurfactants contains a mixture of homologous lipopeptides with molecular weights between 1016 and 1556 Da. Mass spectrometry analysis of partially purified lipopeptides revealed that it contains different isoforms belonging to three families: surfactin, iturin and fengycin. To identify lipopeptides isoforms, MALDI-TOF MS2 was used and ions representing characteristic fragmentations were detected. The mass spectrometry characterization revealed the presence of four variants of surfactin lipopeptides, four variants of pumilacidin that differ according to the β-hydroxy fatty acid chain length as well as the type of amino acid at position 7, five variants of iturin A/mycosubtilin varying in the β-amino fatty acid chain length from C12 to C16, C16 iturin C1, five isoforms of bacillomycin D varying in the β-amino fatty acid chain length from C14 to C18, and six fengycin isoforms that differ according to the length of the β-hydroxy fatty acid side chain as well as the amino acid at position 6. The capacity of B. methylotrohicus DCS1 strain to produce many lipopeptides isoforms belonging to different families and having a structural diversity is a very interesting characteristic that allows them to be used in various fields of biotechnological applications.