Project description:Based on differential gene expression analysis acid response genes were identified. Urease gene cluster and ammonia producing genes were up-regulated in the acidic environment.
Project description:Uric acid stored in the fat body of cockroaches is a nitrogen reservoir mobilized in times of scarcity. The discovery of urease in Blattabacterium cuenoti, the primary endosymbiont of cockroaches, suggests that the endosymbiont may participate in cockroach nitrogen economy. However, bacterial urease may only be one piece in the entire nitrogen recycling process from insect uric acid. Thus, in addition to the uricolytic pathway to urea, there must be glutamine synthetase assimilating the released ammonia by the urease reaction to enable the stored nitrogen to be metabolically usable.
Project description:The human gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori is extremely well adapted to the highly acidic conditions encountered in the stomach. The pronounced acid resistance of H. pylori relies mainly on the ammonia-producing enzyme urease, however, urease-independent mechanisms are likely to contribute to acid adaptation. Acid-responsive gene regulation is mediated at least in part by the ArsRS two-component system consisting of the essential OmpR-like response regulator ArsR and the non-essential cognate histidine kinase ArsS whose autophosphorylation is triggered in response to low pH. In this study by global transcriptional profiling of an ArsS-deficient H. pylori mutant grown at pH 5.0 we define the ArsR~P- dependent regulon consisting of 110 genes including the urease gene cluster, the genes encoding the aliphatic amidases AmiE and AmiF and the rocF gene encoding arginase. Keywords: Identification of an ArsRS-Regulon
Project description:Uric acid stored in the fat body of cockroaches is a nitrogen reservoir mobilized in times of scarcity. The discovery of urease in Blattabacterium cuenoti, the primary endosymbiont of cockroaches, suggests that the endosymbiont may participate in cockroach nitrogen economy. However, bacterial urease may only be one piece in the entire nitrogen recycling process from insect uric acid. Thus, in addition to the uricolytic pathway to urea, there must be glutamine synthetase assimilating the released ammonia by the urease reaction to enable the stored nitrogen to be metabolically usable. None of the Blattabacterium genomes sequenced to date possess genes encoding for those enzymes. To test the host's contribution to the process, we have sequenced and analysed Blattella germanica transcriptomes from the fat body. We identified transcripts corresponding to all genes necessary for the synthesis of uric acid and its catabolism to urea, as well as for the synthesis of glutamine, asparagine, proline and glycine, i.e. the amino acids required by the endosymbiont. We also explored the changes in gene expression with different dietary protein levels. It appears that the ability to use uric acid as a nitrogen reservoir emerged in cockroaches after its age-old symbiotic association with bacteri
Project description:In the soil the stability of urea is affected by the presence of urease, a ubiquitous enzyme released in the rhizosphere by microbial population and by decomposition of organic matter. To reduce the impact on farmer economies and environmental pollution, a common agronomical practice consists of applying urease inhibitors which delays the hydrolysis of urea and, in turn, ammonia is slowly release in the soil. General aim of the present work was the description of changes in maize root transcriptome occurring in response to treatment with the urease inhibitor NBPT.
Project description:The fate of the carbon stocked in permafrost soils following global warming and permafrost thaw is of major concern in view of the potential for increased CH4 and CO2 emissions from these soils. Complex carbon compound degradation and greenhouse gas emissions are due to soil microbial communities, but their composition and functional potential in permafrost soils are largely unknown. Here, a 2 m deep permafrost and its overlying active layer soil were subjected to metagenome sequencing, quantitative PCR, and microarray analyses. The active layer soil and 2 m permafrost soil microbial community structures were very similar, with Actinobacteria being the dominant phylum. The two soils also possessed a highly similar spectrum of functional genes, especially when compared to other already published metagenomes. Key genes related to methane generation, methane oxidation and organic matter degradation were highly diverse for both soils in the metagenomic libraries and some (e.g. pmoA) showed relatively high abundance in qPCR assays. Genes related to nitrogen fixation and ammonia oxidation, which could have important roles following climatic change in these nitrogen-limited environments, showed low diversity but high abundance. The 2 m permafrost soil showed lower abundance and diversity for all the assessed genes and taxa. Experimental biases were also evaluated and showed that the whole community genome amplification technique used caused large representational biases in the metagenomic libraries. This study described for the first time the detailed functional potential of permafrost-affected soils and detected several genes and microorganisms that could have crucial importance following permafrost thaw.
Project description:The fate of the carbon stocked in permafrost soils following global warming and permafrost thaw is of major concern in view of the potential for increased CH4 and CO2 emissions from these soils. Complex carbon compound degradation and greenhouse gas emissions are due to soil microbial communities, but their composition and functional potential in permafrost soils are largely unknown. Here, a 2 m deep permafrost and its overlying active layer soil were subjected to metagenome sequencing, quantitative PCR, and microarray analyses. The active layer soil and 2 m permafrost soil microbial community structures were very similar, with Actinobacteria being the dominant phylum. The two soils also possessed a highly similar spectrum of functional genes, especially when compared to other already published metagenomes. Key genes related to methane generation, methane oxidation and organic matter degradation were highly diverse for both soils in the metagenomic libraries and some (e.g. pmoA) showed relatively high abundance in qPCR assays. Genes related to nitrogen fixation and ammonia oxidation, which could have important roles following climatic change in these nitrogen-limited environments, showed low diversity but high abundance. The 2 m permafrost soil showed lower abundance and diversity for all the assessed genes and taxa. Experimental biases were also evaluated and showed that the whole community genome amplification technique used caused large representational biases in the metagenomic libraries. This study described for the first time the detailed functional potential of permafrost-affected soils and detected several genes and microorganisms that could have crucial importance following permafrost thaw. A 2m deep permafrost sample and it overlying active layer were sampled and their metagenome analysed. For microarray analyses, 8 other soil samples from the same region were used for comparison purposes.
Project description:Marine sponges represent one of the few eukaryotic groups that ubiquitously harbor symbiotic members of the Thaumarchaeota, which are important chemoautotrophic ammonia-oxidizers in many environments. However in most studies, direct demonstration of ammonia-oxidation by these archaea within sponges is lacking, and little is known about sponge-specific adaptations of archaeal ammonia oxidizers (AOA). In this study, we characterized the thaumarchaeal symbiont of the marine sponge Ianthella basta using metaproteogenomics, fluorescence in situ hybridization, qPCR and direct isotope-based functional assays. We demonstrate that the I. basta symbiont is not closely related to other genomically sequenced sponge AOA and is a member of a new genus. “Candidatus Nitrosospongia bastadiensis” is an abundant symbiont that is solely responsible for nitrite formation from ammonia in I. basta that surprisingly does not harbor nitrite-oxidizing microbes. Consistently, Ca N. bastadiensis encodes and expresses the genetic repertoire required for chemolithoautotrophic ammonia oxidation. Furthermore, we show that this AOA is equipped with an expanded set of extracellular subtilisin-like proteases, a metalloprotease unique among archaea, as well as a putative branched-chain amino acid ABC transporter. This repertoire is strongly indicative of a mixotrophic lifestyle and is (with slight variations) also found in other sponge-associated, but not in free-living AOA. We predict that this feature as well as an expanded and unique set of secreted serpins (protease inhibitors), a unique array of eukaryotic-like proteins, and a DNA-phosporothioation system likely involved in defense against foreign DNA, represent important adaptations of AOA to life within these ancient filter-feeding animals.
Project description:Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) account for over 30% of acute nosocomial infections in the U.S. and generate $340 million in healthcare costs annually. A major causative agent of CAUTIs is Proteus mirabilis, an understudied Gram-negative pathogen noted for its ability to form urinary stones via the activity of urease. Urease mutants cannot induce stones and are attenuated in a murine UTI model, indicating this enzyme is essential to P. mirabilis pathogenesis. The ability to induce urinary stone formation requires an active urease, a nickel metalloenzyme that hydrolyzes urea. This reaction produces ammonia as a byproduct, which can serve as a nitrogen source and weak base that raises the local pH. The resulting alkalinity induces the precipitation of polyvalent cations and anions to form stones. Expression of urease genes is activated by transcriptional regulator UreR in a urea-dependent manner. Thus, urease genes are highly expressed in the urinary tract where urea is abundant (~400 mM in human urine). Production of mature urease also requires the import of nickel into the cytoplasm and its incorporation into the urease apoenzyme. Urease accessory proteins primarily acquire nickel from the Ynt transporter and facilitate the incorporation of nickel to form mature urease. P. mirabilis encodes a second, low-affinity transport system (Nik) that can provide nickel when this metal is abundant. In this study, we identified UreR as the first defined regulator of nickel transport in P. mirabilis. We also offer evidence for direct regulation of the ynt promoter by UreR. Using bioinformatics, we identified UreR-regulated urease loci in 15 Morganellaceae family species across three genera. Additionally, we located two mobilized UreR-regulated urease loci that also encode the ynt transporter, implying that UreR regulation of ynt is a conserved regulatory relationship. Our study demonstrates that UreR regulates all genes required to produce mature urease, an essential virulence factor for P. mirabilis uropathogenesis.