Project description:This study investigates the transcriptomic responses of Saccharomyces cerevisiae S96 normal and petite cells to 4-Methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM), a coal cleaning chemical spilled in the water supply of central West Virginia in 2014.
Project description:Glaciers are populated by a large number of microorganisms including bacteria, archaea and microeukaryotes. Several factors such as solar radiation, nutrient availability and water content greatly determine the diversity and abundance of these microbial populations, the type of metabolism and the biogeochemical cycles. In order to study their metabolic potentials, samples of glacial ice were taken from several glacial ecosystems. Microorganisms were analyzed by a polyphasic approach that combines a set of -omic techniques: 16S rRNA sequencing, culturomics and metaproteomics. This combination provides key information about diversity and functions of microbial populations, especially in rare habitats. Several whole essential proteins and enzymes related to metabolism and energy production, recombination and translation were found that demonstrate the existence of cellular activity at subzero temperatures.
Project description:Glaciers are populated by a large number of microorganisms including bacteria, archaea and microeukaryotes. Several factors such as solar radiation, nutrient availability and water content greatly determine the diversity and abundance of these microbial populations, the type of metabolism and the biogeochemical cycles. In order to study their metabolic potentials, samples of glacial ice were taken from several glacial ecosystems. Microorganisms were analyzed by a polyphasic approach that combines a set of -omic techniques: 16S rRNA sequencing, culturomics and metaproteomics. This combination provides key information about diversity and functions of microbial populations, especially in rare habitats. Several whole essential proteins and enzymes related to metabolism and energy production, recombination and translation were found that demonstrate the existence of cellular activity at subzero temperatures.
Project description:Methane-generating Archaea drive the final step in anaerobic organic compound mineralization and dictate the carbon flow of Earth’s diverse anaerobic ecosystems. Although such Archaea were presumed to be restricted to life on simple compounds like H2, acetate or methanol, an archaeon, Methermicoccus shengliensis, was recently found to convert methoxylated aromatic compounds to methane. Methoxylated aromatic compounds as component of lignin and coal are present in most subsurface sediments. Despite the significance and novelty of this outstanding archaeon its metabolism has not yet been explored. In this study, transcriptomics and proteomics reveal that M. shengliensis uses a demethoxylation system that is more related to that from acetogenic bacteria than to the methyl transferase system used for methylotrophic methanogenesis. It activates methoxy-groups using tetrahydromethanopterin as the carrier, a mechanism distinct from conventional methanogenic methyl-transfer systems dependent on Coenzyme M.