, Trichostatin A in vivo 2009). From this analysis, we found three additional sophorolipid-producing species of the Starmerella clade, one of which is a novel species, and have determined that two forms of sophorolipids are selectively synthesized by different species within the clade. The strains examined in this study were obtained from the ARS Culture Collection (NRRL), National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, Peoria, IL, and maintained on YM agar (3 g L−1 yeast extract, 3 g L−1 malt extract, 5 g L−1 peptone, 10 g L−1 glucose and 20 g L−1 agar, in distilled water). The medium used for production of sophorolipids was termed SL

medium and composed of 100 g L−1 glucose, 87.5 g L−1 (100 mL L−1) oleic acid (Aldrich, technical grade), 1.5 g L−1 yeast extract, 4 g L−1 NH4Cl, 1 g L−1 KH2PO4·H2O, 0.1 g L−1 NaCl and 0.5 g L−1 MgSO4·7H2O, in distilled water. The initial Neratinib mw pH was adjusted to 4.5 with 6 N KOH. Unless specified otherwise, cultures were grown at 25 °C in 50-mL Erlenmeyer flasks with 10 mL of SL medium and shaken at 200 r.p.m. in an Innova 4335 shaker incubator. Incubation times were either 96 or 168 h and the time is given with

each reported experiment. The pH of the flask cultures was adjusted to 3.5 twice daily by the addition of 1 N NaOH. The 10 mL of spent SL medium from each shake flask was acidified with 0.4 mL 6 N HCl and extracted twice with 40 mL of ethyl acetate to remove sophorolipids and unmetabolized oleic acid. The ethyl acetate extract was reduced to dryness in a rotoevaporator,

redissolved in 2 mL chloroform, transferred to a glass vial and reduced to dryness under a nitrogen gas stream. Oleic acid was separated from sophorolipids in the mixture by three separate 3 mL hexane extractions. The hexane was evaporated and the concentration of oleic acid was quantified by weight, which was confirmed by gas–liquid chromatography (Price et al., Cobimetinib molecular weight 2009). The residue that remained after hexane extraction was the sophorolipid fraction and the amount was determined by weight following confirmation of the presence of sophorolipids by MALDI-TOF MS as described below. Yields of sophorolipids and consumption of oleic acid are reported as averages and were determined from duplicate cultures, which varied no more than 11%. MALDI-TOF MS screening was accomplished using a Bruker Omniflex instrument in reflectron mode with positive ion detection. The samples were dissolved in ethyl acetate and the matrix used was 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid. The instrument conditions were used as described previously (Price et al., 2009). Determinations were performed in duplicate. The methods used for DNA isolation, purification and sequencing were reported earlier (Kurtzman & Robnett, 1998). DNA characterization was initiated by PCR amplification of the D1/D2 domain of the LSU rRNA gene followed by sequencing reactions using the ABI Big Dye Terminator v3.0 Cycle Sequencing Kit.