Project description:Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are bio-based, biodegradable polyesters that can be produced from organic-rich waste streams using mixed microbial cultures. To maximize PHA production, mixed microbial cultures may be enriched for PHA-producing bacteria with a high storage capacity through the imposition of cyclic, aerobic feast-famine conditions in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR). Though enrichment SBRs have been extensively investigated a bulk solutions-level, little evidence at the proteome level is available to describe the observed SBR behavior to guide future SBR optimization strategies. As such, the purpose of this investigation was to characterize proteome dynamics of a mixed microbial culture in an SBR operated under aerobic feast-famine conditions using fermented dairy manure as the feedstock for PHA production. At the beginning of the SBR cycle, excess PHA precursors were provided to the mixed microbial culture (i.e., feast), after which followed a long duration devoid of exogenous substrate (i.e., famine). Two-dimensional electrophoresis was used to separate protein mixtures during a complete SBR cycle, and proteins of interest were identified.
Project description:Feast-Famine Response Proteins are a widely conserved class of global regulators in prokaryotes, the most highly studied of which is the E. coli leucine-responsive regulatory protein (Lrp). Lrp senses environmental nutrition status and subsequently regulates up to one-third of the genes in E. coli, either directly or indirectly. Lrp exists predominantly as octamers and hexadecamers (16mers), where leucine is believed to shift the equilibrium towards the octameric state. In this study, we analyzed the effects of three oligomerization state mutants of Lrp in terms of their ability to bind to DNA and regulate gene expression in response to exogenous leucine. We find that oligomerization beyond dimers is required for Lrp’s regulatory activity, and that contrary to prior speculation, exogenous leucine modulates Lrp activity at its target promoters exclusively by inhibiting Lrp binding to DNA. We also find evidence that Lrp binding bridges DNA over length scales of multiple kilobases, revealing a new range of mechanisms for Lrp-mediated transcriptional regulation.
2023-01-31 | GSE198120 | GEO
Project description:Feast-famine enrichment with isobutyrate as carbon source
Project description:Guanosine 3 ,5 -bispyrophosphate (ppGpp), also known as ‘‘magic spot,’’ has been shown to bind prokaryotic RNA polymerase to down-regulate ribosome production and increase transcription of amino acid biosynthesis genes during the stringent response to amino acid starvation. Because many environmental growth perturbations cause ppGpp to accumulate, we hypothesize ppGpp to have an overarching role in regulating the genetic program that coordinates transitions between logarithmic growth (feast) and growth arrest (famine). We used the classic glucose-lactose diauxie as an experimental system to investigate the temporal changes in transcription that accompany growth arrest and recovery in wildtype Escherichia coli and in mutants that lack RelA (ppGpp synthetase) and other global regulators, i.e., RpoS and Crp. When cultured on a mixture of glucose and lactose, E. coli grows preferentially on glucose until it is exhausted, resulting in growth arrest while the cells adjust to growth on lactose, i.e., diauxie. Diauxie was delayed in the relA mutant and was accompanied by a 15% decrease in the number of carbon sources used and a 3-fold overall decrease in the induction of RpoS and Crp regulon genes. Thus the data significantly expand the previously known role of ppGpp and support a model wherein the ppGpp-dependent redistribution of RNA polymerase across the genome is the driving force behind control of the stringent response, general stress response, and starvation-induced carbon scavenging. Our conceptual model of diauxie describes these global control circuits as dynamic, interconnected, and dependent upon ppGpp for the efficient temporal coordination of gene expression that programs the cell for transitions between feast and famine. E. coli MG1655 and isogenic mutants were cultured in a 2 l Biostat B fermentor (B. Braun Biotech International) containing 1 liter of Morpholinepropanesulfonic acid (MOPS) minimal medium with 0.5 g/l of glucose and 1.5 g/l of lactose. The temperature was maintained at 37 ºC and pH was kept constant at 7.2 by the addition of 2 M NaOH. The dissolved oxygen level was maintained above 20% of saturation by adjusting the agitation speeds in the range of 270-500 rpm with fixed 1 l/min air flow.