Piyocyanin production under stress in recombinant Pseudomonas aeruginosa carrying Vitreoscilla hemoglobin gene

In this study, we used P. aeruginosa and its recombinant strain which Vitreoscilla hemoglobin (VHb) gene (vgb) was cloned. P. aeruginosa is known to be the most efficient pigment-producing bacteria (especially pigments like pyocyanin). The recombinant strain carries a single copy of vgb. Production of virulence factor pyocyanin in these bacteria was investigated under different conditions including various carbon sources, different agitation conditions and the presence of heavy metals. Temperature and the other conditions effect the amount of pyocyanin production in both bacteria. In addition, characteristics of these strains such as swimming, tremor and slip movements performed by the sensory systems were analyzed. We saw that the most active movement was sliding and VHb/vgb system increases all those movements performed by flagella. Pyocyanin is an important secondary metabolite especially bacteria under stress conditions. VHb/vgb system which increases the respiration and growth was found to provide an advantage to the bacteria for pyocyanin production.