Publications by authors named "Andrew James Gates"
A bet-hedging strategy for denitrifying bacteria curtails their release of NO.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
November 2018
When oxygen becomes limiting, denitrifying bacteria must prepare for anaerobic respiration by synthesizing the reductases NAR (NO → NO), NIR (NO → NO), NOR (2NO → NO), and NOS (NO → N), either or sequentially, to avoid entrapment in anoxia without energy. Minimizing the metabolic burden of this precaution is a plausible fitness trait, and we show that the model denitrifier achieves this by synthesizing NOS in all cells, while only a minority synthesize NIR. Phenotypic diversification with regards to NIR is ascribed to stochastic initiation of gene transcription, which becomes autocatalytic via NO production.
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- The study explores how copper(II) ions can change the shape of i-motif DNA from its usual form to a hairpin structure.
- Unlike past methods that required pH changes to fold the DNA, this approach uses metal ions.
- The transformation is reversible, meaning the hairpin structure can go back to its original form when treated with EDTA, a chelating agent.