Microbial single-cell applications under anoxic conditions.

The field of microbiology traditionally focuses on studying microorganisms at the population level. Nevertheless, the application of single-cell level methods, including microfluidics and imaging techniques, has revealed heterogeneity within populations, making these methods essential to understand cellular activities and interactions at a higher resolution. Moreover, single-cell sorting has opened new avenues for isolating cells of interest from microbial populations or complex microbial communities.

Disentangling the lipid divide: Identification of key enzymes for the biosynthesis of membrane-spanning and ether lipids in Bacteria.

Bacterial membranes are composed of fatty acids (FAs) ester-linked to glycerol-3-phosphate, while archaea have membranes made of isoprenoid chains ether-linked to glycerol-1-phosphate. Many archaeal species organize their membrane as a monolayer of membrane-spanning lipids (MSLs). Exceptions to this "lipid divide" are the production by some bacterial species of (ether-bound) MSLs, formed by tail-to-tail condensation of FAs resulting in the formation of (iso) diabolic acids (DAs), which are the likely precursors of paleoclimatological relevant branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether molecules.

Construction of a new T7 promoter compatible Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 strain for recombinant production of heme-dependent proteins.

Background: Heme proteins and heme-derived molecules are essential in numerous cellular processes. Research into their in vitro functionality requires the production of large amounts of protein. Unfortunately, high yield expression is hampered by the lack of E.

Thiol-based redox sensing in the methyltransferase associated sensor kinase RdmS in Methanosarcina acetivorans.

Organisms have evolved signal transduction systems to quickly adapt their lifestyle to internal and environmental changes. While protein kinases and two-component systems are widely distributed in Bacteria, they are also found in Archaea but are less diversified and abundant. In this work, we analysed the function of the kinase RdmS and its role in a putative two-component system in the methanogenic archaeon Methanosarcina acetivorans.

Improved Method for the Incorporation of Heme Cofactors into Recombinant Proteins Using Escherichia coli Nissle 1917.

Recombinant production of heme proteins in Escherichia coli is often limited by the availability of heme in the host. Therefore, several methods, including the reconstitution of heme proteins after production but prior to purification or the HPEX system, conferring the ability to take up external heme have been developed and used in the past. Here we describe the use of the apathogenic E.

The transcription factor AlsR binds and regulates the promoter of the alsSD operon responsible for acetoin formation in Bacillus subtilis.

Bacillus subtilis forms acetoin under anaerobic fermentative growth conditions and as a product of the aerobic carbon overflow metabolism. Acetoin formation from pyruvate requires α-acetolactate synthase and acetolactate decarboxylase, both encoded by the alsSD operon. The alsR gene, encoding the LysR-type transcriptional regulator AlsR, was found to be essential for the in vivo expression of alsSD in response to anaerobic acetate accumulation, the addition of acetate, low pH, and the aerobic stationary phase.