The volatile secondary metabolite, isoprene, is released by trees to the atmosphere in enormous quantities, where it has important effects on air quality and climate. Oil palm trees, one of the highest isoprene emitters, are increasingly dominating agroforestry over large areas of Asia, with associated uncertainties over their effects on climate. Microbes capable of using isoprene as a source of carbon for growth have been identified in soils and in the tree phyllosphere, and most are members of the Actinobacteria. Here, we used DNA stable isotope probing to identify the isoprene-degrading bacteria associated with oil palm leaves and inhabiting the surrounding soil. Among the most abundant isoprene degraders of the leaf-associated community were members of the Sphingomonadales, although no representatives of this order were previously known to degrade isoprene. Informed by these data, we obtained representatives of the most abundant isoprene degraders in enrichments, including Sphingopyxis strain OPL5 (Sphingomonadales), able to grow on isoprene as the sole source of carbon and energy. Sequencing of the genome of strain OPL5, as well as a novel Gordonia strain, confirmed their pathways of isoprene degradation and broadened our knowledge of the genetic and taxonomic diversity of this important bacterial trait.

中文翻译：

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鞘氨醇单胞菌 菌株OPL5，一种从油棕叶中分离出的鞘氨纶科的异戊二烯降解细菌

挥发性次生代谢物异戊二烯由树木释放到大气中，对空气质量和气候有重要影响。油棕树是异戊二烯排放量最高的国家之一，在亚洲大片地区日益主导着农林业，其对气候的影响也存在不确定性。在土壤和树木的叶球层中已经鉴定出能够使用异戊二烯作为碳增长来源的微生物，并且大多数是放线菌的成员。在这里，我们使用DNA稳定同位素探测技术来识别与油棕叶相关联并居住在周围土壤中的异戊二烯降解细菌。与叶相关的群落中最丰富的异戊二烯降解物是鞘氨醇鞘氨醇的成员，尽管以前尚无该顺序的代表降解异戊二烯。根据这些数据，我们获得了浓缩中最丰富的异戊二烯降解剂的代表，包括鞘脂单胞菌株OPL5（Sphingomonadales），能够在异戊二烯成长为碳源和能源的唯一来源。菌株OPL5以及新型Gordonia菌株的基因组测序证实了其异戊二烯降解的途径，并拓宽了我们对该重要细菌性状的遗传和分类学多样性的认识。