Project description:Quantitative RNA-seq analysis unveils osmotic and thermal adaptation mechanisms relevant for ectoine production in Chromohalobacter salexigens
Project description:Sulfolobus acidocaldarius is an obligate aerobe that grows in hot and acidic environments. S. acidocaldarius have been reported to grow on a variety of organic compounds as carbon and energy sources. However, little is known about systemic elucidation of carbon utilization for biomass formation and energy metabolism in S. acidocaldarius. In this analysis, the effect of glucose on genome-wide transcriptional profiling in S. acidocaldarius DSM 639 was investigated by RNA-Seq technology.
Project description:BackgroundChromohalobacter salexigens (formerly Halomonas elongata DSM 3043) is a halophilic extremophile with a very broad salinity range and is used as a model organism to elucidate prokaryotic osmoadaptation due to its strong euryhaline phenotype.ResultsC. salexigens DSM 3043's metabolism was reconstructed based on genomic, biochemical and physiological information via a non-automated but iterative process. This manually-curated reconstruction accounts for 584 genes, 1386 reactions, and 1411 metabolites. By using flux balance analysis, the model was extensively validated against literature data on the C. salexigens phenotypic features, the transport and use of different substrates for growth as well as against experimental observations on the uptake and accumulation of industrially important organic osmolytes, ectoine, betaine, and its precursor choline, which play important roles in the adaptive response to osmotic stress.ConclusionsThis work presents the first comprehensive genome-scale metabolic model of a halophilic bacterium. Being a useful guide for identification and filling of knowledge gaps, the reconstructed metabolic network iOA584 will accelerate the research on halophilic bacteria towards application of systems biology approaches and design of metabolic engineering strategies.
