Re-engineering a NiFe hydrogenase to increase the H2 production bias while maintaining native levels of O2 tolerance.

Naturally occurring oxygen tolerant NiFe membrane bound hydrogenases have a conserved catalytic bias towards hydrogen oxidation which limits their technological value. We present an Escherichia coli Hyd-1 amino acid exchange that apparently causes the catalytic rate of H2 production to double but does not impact the O2 tolerance.

Meningitis in adolescents: the role of commensal microbiota.

The pathogen Neisseria meningitidis causes disease amongst infants and adolescents/young adults. Here we argue that disease amongst adolescents is due largely to interaction between N. meningitidis and other members of the upper respiratory tract microbiota, through a metabolic interaction involving exchange of propionic acid.

Lipid-modified azurin of Neisseria meningitidis is a copper protein localized on the outer membrane surface and not regulated by FNR.

The laz gene of Neisseria meningitidis is predicted to encode a lipid-modified azurin (Laz). Laz is very similar to azurin, a periplasmic protein, which belongs to the copper-containing proteins in the cupredoxin superfamily. In other bacteria, azurin is an electron donor to nitrite reductase, an important enzyme in the denitrifying process.

Confocal and fluorescence lifetime imaging sheds light on the fate of a pyrene-tagged carbon monoxide-releasing Fischer carbene chromium complex.

The synthesis of a new pyrene-containing Fischer carbene complex is described. The complex has a broad absorbance spectrum between 300 and 400 nm and, on excitation at 345 nm in CH2Cl2 solution, emission is observed at 395 and 415 nm. Emission is also observed in PBS buffer, but in this case the resulting spectra are much broader.

A large genomic island allows Neisseria meningitidis to utilize propionic acid, with implications for colonization of the human nasopharynx.

Neisseria meningitidis is an important human pathogen that is capable of killing within hours of infection. Its normal habitat is the nasopharynx of adult humans. Here we identify a genomic island (the prp gene cluster) in N.

Pro-inflammatory cytokines can act as intracellular modulators of commensal bacterial virulence.

Interactions between commensal pathogens and hosts are critical for disease development but the underlying mechanisms for switching between the commensal and virulent states are unknown. We show that the human pathogen Neisseria meningitidis, the leading cause of pyogenic meningitis, can modulate gene expression via uptake of host pro-inflammatory cytokines leading to increased virulence. This uptake is mediated by type IV pili (Tfp) and reliant on the PilT ATPase activity.

The novel NhaE-type Na(+)/H (+) antiporter of the pathogenic bacterium Neisseria meningitidis.

Neisseria meningitidis is a pathogenic bacterium responsible for meningitis. The mechanisms underlying the control of Na(+) transmembrane movement, presumably important to pathogenicity, have been barely addressed. To elucidate the function of the components of the Na(+) transport system in N.

A therapeutically viable photo-activated manganese-based CO-releasing molecule (photo-CO-RM).

A new class of photochemically-activated CO-releasing molecule (photo-CO-RM), based on a Mn(CO)(4)(C^N) system, is reported in this study. Three CO molecules are released per CO-RM molecule. Complex 3 is a fast releaser, thermally stable in the dark and a viable therapeutic agent.

Neisseria meningitidis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae are differently adapted in the regulation of denitrification: single nucleotide polymorphisms that enable species-specific tuning of the aerobic-anaerobic switch.

The closely related pathogenic Neisseria species N. meningitidis and N. gonorrhoeae are able to respire in the absence of oxygen, using nitrite as an alternative electron acceptor.

Tied down: tethering redox proteins to the outer membrane in Neisseria and other genera.

Typically, the redox proteins of respiratory chains in Gram-negative bacteria are localized in the cytoplasmic membrane or in the periplasm. An alternative arrangement appears to be widespread within the betaproteobacterial genus Neisseria, wherein several redox proteins are covalently associated with the outer membrane. In the present paper, we discuss the structural properties of these outer membrane redox proteins and the functional consequences of this attachment.

A snapshot of a pathogenic bacterium mid-evolution: Neisseria meningitidis is becoming a nitric oxide-tolerant aerobe.

Members of the Neisseria genus typically display the ability to carry out denitrification of nitrite to nitrous oxide as an alternative to oxygen respiration when oxygen is depleted. The key enzymes nitrite and nitric oxide reductase are found across the Neisseria genus. Within Neisseria meningitidis, however, a number of research groups have found that a significant proportion of strains lack a functional nitrite reductase.

A sweet killer: mesoporous polysaccharide confined silver nanoparticles for antibacterial applications.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNP) confined within porous starch have been prepared in a simple, green and efficient manner, utilising the nanoporous structure of predominantly mesoporous starch (MS) to act as nanoparticle stabiliser, support and reducing surface. MS/AgNP materials present high surface areas (S(BET) > 150 m(2) g(-1)) and mesopore volumes (V(meso) > 0.45 cm(3) g(-1)).

Binding to DNA protects Neisseria meningitidis fumarate and nitrate reductase regulator (FNR) from oxygen.

Here, we report the overexpression, purification, and characterization of the transcriptional activator fumarate and nitrate reductase regulator from the pathogenic bacterium Neisseria meningitidis (NmFNR). Like its homologue from Escherichia coli (EcFNR), NmFNR binds a 4Fe-4S cluster, which breaks down in the presence of oxygen to a 2Fe-2S cluster and subsequently to apo-FNR. The kinetics of NmFNR cluster disassembly in the presence of oxygen are 2-3x slower than those previously reported for wild-type EcFNR, but similar to constitutively active EcFNR* mutants, consistent with earlier work in which we reported that the activity of FNR-dependent promoters in N.

Bacterial nitric oxide detoxification prevents host cell S-nitrosothiol formation: a novel mechanism of bacterial pathogenesis.

S-nitrosylation is an important mediator of multiple nitric oxide-dependent biological processes, including eukaryotic cellular events such as macrophage apoptosis and proinflammatory signaling. Many pathogenic bacteria possess NO detoxification mechanisms, such as the nitric oxide reductase (NorB) of Neisseria meningitidis and the flavohemoglobins (Hmp) of Salmonella enterica and Escherichia coli, which serve to protect the microorganism from nitrosative stress within the intracellular environment. In this study, we demonstrate that expression of meningococcal NorB increases the rate at which low-molecular-weight S-nitrosothiol (SNO) decomposes in vitro.

The X-ray crystal structure of an Arthrobacter protophormiae endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase reveals a (beta/alpha)(8) catalytic domain, two ancillary domains and active site residues key for transglycosylation activity.

Glycoside hydrolase family GH85 is a family of endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidases that is responsible for the hydrolysis of beta-1,4 linkage in the N,N-diacetylchitobiose core of N-linked glycans. The endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase from Arthrobacter protophormiae (Endo-A) is of particular interest, given its increasing use for the chemoenzymatic synthesis of bespoke N-glycans using N-glycan oxazolines as glycosyl donors. The E173Q variant of Endo-A is especially attractive for synthesis, as it is hydrolytically impaired but still able to catalyze N-glycan synthesis by transglycosylation using activated oxazoline donors.

Interdependence of two NarK domains in a fused nitrate/nitrite transporter.

Nitrate uptake is essential for various bacterial processes and combines with nitrite export to form the usual initial steps of denitrification, a process that reduces nitrate to dinitrogen gas. Although many bacterial species contain NarK-like transporters that are proposed to function as either nitrate/proton symporters or nitrate/nitrite antiporters based on sequence homology, these transporters remain, in general, poorly characterized. Several bacteria appear to contain a transporter that is a fusion of two NarK-like proteins, although the significance of this arrangement remains elusive.

Endohexosaminidase-catalysed glycosylation with oxazoline donors: fine tuning of catalytic efficiency and reversibility.

A complete series of oxazoline di-, tri-, tetra-, and hexasaccharides, corresponding to the core sections of N-linked glycoprotein high mannose glycans, together with the corresponding oligosaccharides containing a central glucose unit, were synthesised and tested as glycosyl donors for glycosylation of a GlcNAcAsn glycosyl amino acid catalysed by the endohexosaminidases M (Endo M), A (Endo A) and H (Endo H). Whilst Endo H did not catalyse any glycosylation reactions, both Endo M and Endo A efficiently catalysed glycosylations that were not limited to donors containing the Manbeta(1-->4)GlcNAc linkage. Precise structure activity relationships and time course studies have revealed fine-tuning of the efficiency of the synthetic processes which correlated both with the enzyme used and the precise oxazoline structure.

Measuring nitric oxide metabolism in the pathogen Neisseria meningitidis.

This chapter illustrates some of the considerations that need to be made when analyzing nitric oxide (NO) metabolism of the pathogen Neisseria meningitidis. These considerations are pertinent to other bacteria and, in particular, other pathogens. First, because of the small culture volumes that can generally be managed safely, culture experiments are maintained in small volumes.

The nitric oxide (NO)-sensing repressor NsrR of Neisseria meningitidis has a compact regulon of genes involved in NO synthesis and detoxification.

We have analyzed the extent of regulation by the nitric oxide (NO)-sensitive repressor NsrR from Neisseria meningitidis MC58, using microarray analysis. Target genes that appeared to be regulated by NsrR, based on a comparison between an nsrR mutant and a wild-type strain, were further investigated by quantitative real-time PCR, revealing a very compact set of genes, as follows: norB (encoding NO reductase), dnrN (encoding a protein putatively involved in the repair of nitrosative damage to iron-sulfur clusters), aniA (encoding nitrite reductase), nirV (a putative nitrite reductase assembly protein), and mobA (a gene associated with molybdenum metabolism in other species but with a frame shift in N. meningitidis).

Delivery of nitric oxide for analysis of the function of cytochrome c'.

On delivery of nitric oxide (NO) to protein samples (e.g., cytochrome c'), for spectroscopic experiments it is important to avoid exposure to oxygen and to remove contaminants from the NO gas.

Metabolism of nitric oxide by Neisseria meningitidis modifies release of NO-regulated cytokines and chemokines by human macrophages.

Macrophages produce nitric oxide (NO) via the inducible nitric oxide synthase as part of a successful response to infection. The gene norB of Neisseria meningitidis encodes a NO reductase which enables utilization and consumption of NO during microaerobic respiration and confers resistance to nitrosative stress-related killing by human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM). In this study we confirmed that NO regulates cytokine and chemokine release by resting MDM: accumulation of TNF-alpha, IL-12, IL-10, CCL5 (RANTES) and CXCL8 (IL-8) in MDM supernatants was significantly modified by the NO-donor S-nitroso-N-penicillamine (SNAP).

Regulation of denitrification genes in Neisseria meningitidis by nitric oxide and the repressor NsrR.

The human pathogen Neisseria meningitidis is capable of growth using the denitrification of nitrite to nitrous oxide under microaerobic conditions. This process is catalyzed by two reductases: nitrite reductase (encoded by aniA) and nitric oxide (NO) reductase (encoded by norB). Here, we show that in N.

Expression and characterisation of a major c-type cytochrome encoded by gene kustc0563 from Kuenenia stuttgartiensis as a recombinant protein in Escherichia coli.

The purification of small quantities of a major small c-type cytochrome from the anammox bacterium Kuenenia stuttgartiensis has recently been reported. In order to characterise this protein further we have expressed the gene encoding this cytochrome in Escherichia coli and have purified the protein to homogeneity. The protein is directed to the E.