Project description:Propionate is an abundant carboxylic acid in nature. Microorganisms metabolize propionate aerobically via the 2-methylcitrate pathway. This pathway depends on a series of three reactions in the citric acid cycle that leads to the conversion of succinate to oxaloacetate. Interestingly, the gamma-proteobacterium Escherichia coli can use propionate as a carbon and electron source under oxic but not under anoxic conditions. The typical downregulation of the citric acid cycle under anoxic conditions is only partially responsible for the inability to use propionate under anoxic conditions since an arcA mutant shows very limited growth on propionate. RT-PCR and transcriptomic analysis revealed a post-transcriptional regulation of the prp-genecluster encoding the necessary enzymes for propionate metabolism. The polycistronic mRNA was hydrolyzed in the 3`-5` direction under anoxic conditions. This regulatory strategy is highly constructive because the last gene of the operon encodes the first enzyme of the propionate metabolism. Further analysis revealed that RNase R catalyzes the hydrolysis of the prp transcripts. Consequently, an rnr-deletion strain could metabolize propionate under anoxic conditions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study describing the influence of RNase R on the anaerobic metabolism of E. coli.
Project description:Comparison of transcription profile of Pichia pastoris cells grown on Glucose medium with Pichia pastoris cells grown on Methanol/Glycerol medium, the fermentations were done in a chemostat.
Project description:In order to promote our understanding of the responses of green crab acid-base regulatory epithelia to high pCO2, Baltic Sea green crabs were exposed to a pCO2 of 400 Pa for 3 and 7 days after which posterior gills 7 and 9 were sampled. Gills were then subsequently screened for differentially expressed gene transcripts using a 4,462-feature microarray developed by Towle et al. 2010. For each experimental block (gill7-day3, gill7-day7, gill9-day3, gill9-day7), 6 replicate samples were obtained for control (= 39 Pa) and elevated (= 400 Pa) pCO2 exposed animals. Each microarray slide included 4 technical replicates for each transcript and was hybridized with one control pCO2 (labelled with AlexaFluor555) and one elevated pCO2 cDNA (labelled with AlexaFluor647). Lowess-normalized gene expression was calculated as the log2 of the ratio of the fluorescence intensity of the CO2-treatment cDNA to the fluorescence intensity of the control cDNA (log2 ratio=F635/F532).
Project description:In this study, we used multiple meta-omic approaches to characterize the microbial community and the active metabolic pathways of a stable industrial biogas reactor operating at thermophilic temperatures (60°C) and elevated levels of free ammonia (367 mg NH3-N/L).
Project description:The microbial diversity and metabolic potential of a methanogenic consortium residing in a 3785-liter anaerobic digester, fed with wastewater algae, was analyzed using 454 pyrosequencing technology. DNA was extracted from anaerobic sludge material and used in metagenomic analysis through PCR amplification of the methyl-coenzyme M reductase ? subunit (mcrA) gene using primer sets ML, MCR, and ME. The majority of annotated mcrA sequences were assigned taxonomically to the genera Methanosaeta in the order Methanosarcinales. Methanogens from the genus Methanosaeta are obligate acetotrophs, suggesting this genus plays a dominant role in methane production from the analyzed fermentation sample. Numerous analyzed sequences within the algae fed anaerobic digester were unclassified and could not be assigned taxonomically. Relative amplicon frequencies were determined for each primer set to determine the utility of each in pyrosequencing. Primer sets ML and MCR performed better quantitatively (representing the large majority of analyzed sequences) than primer set ME. However, each of these primer sets was shown to provide a quantitatively unique community structure, and thus they are of equal importance in mcrA metagenomic analysis.
