Project description:A heterotrophic ammonia-oxidizing bacterium Alcaligenes sp. HO-1 was isolated from the activated sludge of a bioreactor treating ammonia-rich piggery wastewater. The goal and objectives of this experiment are to analyze the transcriptome profiles of nitrogen-metabolism-related genes of Alcaligenes sp. HO-1 in response to ammonium stimulation over time and to find out potential genes involved in ammonia oxidation process. So the RNA-seq anaylsis was performed by setting up each time points (0, 3.5, 10, 22 hours) when strain HO-1 were exposed to ammonia. HO-1 was cultured with 83 mM succinate and 14 mM ammonium sulfate until ammonia was completely consumed and then another 14 mM of ammonium sulfate was added to the culture. Cells were harvested at 0 h, 3.5 h, 10 h and 22 h after the addition of ammonium sulfate. The sequencing data of RNAs obtained from strain HO-1 cells at each time was analyzed.
Project description:Cyanobacteria are phototrophic prokaryotes that can convert inorganic carbon as CO2 into organic carbon compounds at the expense of light energy. In addition, they need only a few inorganic nutrients and can be cultivated in high densities using non-arable land and seawater. This features qualified cyanobacteria as attractive organisms for the production of third generation biofuels as part of the development of future CO2-neutral energy production. Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 represents one of the most widely used cyanobacterial model strains. On the basis of its available genome sequence and genetic tools, many strains of Synechocystis have been generated that produce different biotechnological products. Efficient isoprene production is an attractive goal, since this compound represents not only an energy-rich biofuel but is also used as chemical feedstock. Here, we report on our attempts to generate isoprene-producing strains of Synechocystis. The cDNA of a codon-optimized plant isoprene synthase (IspS) was cloned under the control of different Synechocystis promoters, which ensure strong constitutive or light-regulated ispS expression. The expression of the ispS gene was quantified by qPCR, whereas the amount of isoprene was quantified using GC-MS. Incubation of our strains at different salt conditions had marked impact on the isoprene production rates. Under low salt conditions, a good correlation was found between ispS expression and isoprene production rate. However, the cultivation of isoprene production strains under salt-supplemented conditions decreased isoprene production despite the fact that ispS expression was salt-stimulated. The characterization of the metabolome of isoprene producing strains indicated that isoprene production might be limited by insufficient precursor levels. Our isoprene production rates under low salt conditions were 2 - 6.5times higher compared to the previous report of Lindberg et al. (2010). These results can be used to guide future attempts establishing the isoprene production with cyanobacterial host systems.