Project description:KaiC is the central cog of the circadian clock in Cyanobacteria. Close homologs of this protein are widespread among bacteria not known to have a circadian physiology. The function, interaction network, and mechanism of action of these KaiC homologs are still largely unknown. Here, we focus on KaiC homologs found in environmental Pseudomonas species. We characterize experimentally the only KaiC homolog present in Pseudomonas putida KT2440 and Pseudomonas protegens CHA0. Through phenotypic assays and transcriptomics, we show that KaiC is involved in osmotic and oxidative stress resistance in P. putida and in biofilm production in both P. putida and P. protegens.
Project description:The entire set of flagellar structural components and flagellar-specific transcriptional regulators, as well as much of the core chemotaxis machinery, is encoded into a >70 kbp cluster in Pseudomonas putida KT2440 genome. We have performed RNA-seq of the wild-type strain in order to identify operon boundaries and promoters location in this cluster.
Project description:The metabolically versatile Pseudomonas putida strain KT2440 is the first Gram-negative soil bacterium certified as a biosafety strain and is being used for applications in agriculture, biotechnology and bioremediation. P. putida has to cope in its niche with numerous abiotic stresses. The stress response to 4°C, pH 4.5, 0.8 M urea or 45 mM sodium benzoate, respectively, was analyzed by the global mRNA expression profile and screening for stress-intolerant Tn5 transposon mutants. In total we identified 49 gene regions to be differentially expressed and 32 genes in 22 operons to be indispensable for growth during exposure to one or the other abiotic stresses. We propose that stress is sensed by the outer membrane proteins OmlA and FepA and the inner membrane constituents PtsP, PhoPQ and CbrAB. The metabolic response is regulated by the cyo operon, the RelA/SpoT modulon, PcnB and VacB that control mRNA stability and BipA that exerts transcript-specific translational control. The adaptation of the membrane barrier, the uptake of phosphate, the maintenance of intracellular pH and redox status and the translational control of metabolism are the indispensable key mechanisms of the P. putida stress response. Keywords: functional genomics