Temperature and salt dependent long linear and branched polyamine syntheses in the thermophiles belonging to the domain Archaea

Abstract

Cellular polyamines acid-extracted from fourteen archaea (archaebacteria) belonging to the phyla, Euryarchaeota and Crenarchaeota, including nine newly validated species, grown under different culture conditions were analyzed using HPLC and GC. The following archaebacteria were studied: moderately thermophilic Methanothermobacter, Ferroplasma, Thermogymnomonas, and Acidianus species; a slightly thermophilic methanogen, Methanolinea tarda, and a mesophilic methanogen, Methanosaeta contilii, contained triamines and tetra-amines. Hyperthermophilic Thermococcus, Pyrococcus, and Ignicoccus contained a quaternary branched penta-amine, N⁴-bis(aminopropyl)spermidine, and two linear penta-amines, in addition to triamines and tetra-amines, respectively. When Thermococcus, Pyrococcus, and Sulfurisphaera species were cultivated under different growth temperatures (60-100°C) and salt concentrations (0.15%-2.5% NaCl), temperature and salt dependent long or branched polyamine syntheses, increasing under higher temperatures and higher salt conditions, were observed.