Deciphering the Cold Adaptive Mechanisms in Pseudomonas psychrophila MTCC12324 Isolated from the Arctic at 79° N.

Psychrophiles, host of cold environments, have been successfully undergoing the process of evolution by which they have acquired innate adaptations to withstand the unfavorable effects of low temperature. Psychrophiles renders immense opportunity to explore the underlying mechanisms of cold adaptation. The present study focused to explore the cold adaptive mechanisms of Pseudomonas psychrophila MTCC12324, a facultative psychrophilic bacterium isolated from the Ny-Alesund, an island in the Svalbard Archipelago (79°55' N, 11°56' E) in the Arctic. Whole genome sequencing of P. psychrophila MTCC12324 and its analysis revealed the redundant nature of genome and identified several cold acclimation genes including cold shock proteins, and chaperones involved in the adaptive mechanism to thrive in the cold environment. Comparative proteome analysis of P. psychrophila MTCC12324 at 4 °C and 25 °C has thrown lights on the metabolic pathways and cellular processes adopted to withstand the cold environment. Basic survival pathways and factors involved in energy metabolism were found to be unaltered whereas stress response factors, enzymes involved in fatty acid elongation and cold-adapted chaperones were found to be enhanced towards cold stress. The present study facilitates recognition of crucial factors including polyunsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis, mRNA chaperones, and other cold-inducible proteins which favors the bacteria in conferring cold adaptation.