Single nucleotide polymorphism analysis for the production of valuable steroid intermediates in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Mycobacterium neoaurum</Emphasis>

Objectives

To investigate single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the transformation process of phytosterol to valuable steroid intermediates in three steroid-producing Mycobacterium neoaurum strains using deep sequencing and bioinformation analysis.

Results

The assembled contig sequences from RNA sequencing of strains producing 9α-hydroxy-4-androstene-3,17-dione (9OHAD), 1,4-androstadiene-3,17-dione (ADD), and 22-hydroxy-23, 24-bisnorchola-1,4-dien-3-one (1,4-BNA) were analyzed for the presence of putative SNPs for steroid catabolism. 413, 375, and 491 SNPs were detected in the coding domain sequences and non-coding domain sequences of RNA sequencing reads of M. neoaurum strains producing 9OHAD, ADD, and BNA, respectively. Special attention was focused on SNPs associated with genes showing differential expression at proteome level, including the genes for sterol catabolism, glycerol catabolic process, signal transduction systems, transport system and energy metabolism.

Conclusions

The work facilitates the understanding of underlying genetic changes that may be responsible for steroid accumulation in M. neoaurum and is useful for its targeted genetic engineering.