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Microbial production of the drugs violacein and deoxyviolacein: analytical development and strain comparison

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Abstract

Violacein and deoxyviolacein display a broad range of interesting biological properties but their production is rarely distinguished due to the lack of suitable analytical methods. An HPLC method has been developed for the separation and quantification of violacein and deoxyviolacein and can determine the content of both molecules in microbial cultures. A comparison of different production microorganisms, including recombinant Escherichia coli and the natural producer Janthinobacterium lividum, revealed that the formation of violacein and deoxyviolacein is strain-specific but showed significant variation during growth although the ratio between the two compounds remained constant.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge Prof. John Pemberton for the kind donation of the plasmids pJP1000 and pPSX-Vio+. André L. Rodrigues gratefully acknowledges financial support by the German Academic Exchange Service (A-08-71658) and by the Max-Buchner Foundation (Nr. 2924).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biochemical Engineering, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Gaußstrasse 17, 38106, Braunschweig, Germany

    André L. Rodrigues, Yvonne Göcke, Christoph Bolten & Christoph Wittmann

  2. Institute of Organic Chemistry, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany

    Nelson L. Brock & Jeroen S. Dickschat

Authors
  1. André L. Rodrigues
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  2. Yvonne Göcke
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  3. Christoph Bolten
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  4. Nelson L. Brock
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  5. Jeroen S. Dickschat
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  6. Christoph Wittmann
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Correspondence to Christoph Wittmann.

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Rodrigues, A.L., Göcke, Y., Bolten, C. et al. Microbial production of the drugs violacein and deoxyviolacein: analytical development and strain comparison. Biotechnol Lett 34, 717–720 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-011-0827-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-011-0827-x

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