Abstract
This work aimed to stablish the influence of different carbon and nitrogen sources, including vegetable oils, on the variability of the protein profiles of an oil and grease-degrading strain of Candida palmioleophila. Production of biomass and protein by C. palmioleophila strain SACL11 was evaluated under eight different culture conditions, which provided palm oil or sunflower oil as sole carbon source and ammonium sulfate as sole nitrogen source, during 48 h at 30 °C. Protein profiles from C. palmioleophila crude extracts were obtained by SDS-PAGE every 12 h and analyzed with bioinformatic programs. The results showed that treatments providing the highest concentrations of each of the carbon and nitrogen sources resulted in a higher biomass production, with sunflower oil being the carbon source that produced the highest values and an overall faster growth. Proteins of approximately 63 KDa and 28 KDa were detected only in protein extracts obtained from media containing palm or sunflower oil as carbon source, suggesting a key role of these proteins in the hydrolysis of oils. Furthermore, the molecular weights of these proteins were similar to several reported lipases and esterases from Candida rugosa and other related species, reinforcing their possible function. In conclusion, this work identified and reported for the first time differential protein profiles of the lipolytic yeast C. palmioleophila in response to different growth conditions, and found evidence of the involvement of lipase-like proteins during the metabolism of vegetable oils. This give insight about the enzymes involved in grease metabolism and reinforces the potential of this promising microorganism to be used as an excellent bioremediation agent in fat, oil and grease-polluted environments.
