Cold Shock Response of an Antarctic Streptomyces Strain Showing Demulsifying Ability

The hydrophobic spores of Streptomyces sp. AA8321 isolated from the Antarctic coast displayed demulsification ability. The aerial spores demulsified an emulsion of kerosene/$0.2\%$ Triton X-100 (2:1, v/v) to $50\%$ and $95\%$ within 1 min contact at the concentrations of $5.0{\times}10^7$ and $1.0{\times}10^8$ spores/ml, respectively. A cold shock protein (csp) gene was cloned from the hydrophobic spore- producing Streptomyces sp. AA8321 using PCR. It encoded a low molecular protein with 68 amino acids showing very low homology with previously reported csp genes. Only the sequence of the first six amino acids was just the same and yet others were different. RNA blot analysis indicated that the csp gene was induced by cold shock, i.e., transferring from $30^{\circ}C$ to $10^{\circ}C$, and this cold shock response proposed that the isolated gene be a new type of csp gene.