Substrate preference, uptake kinetics and bioenergetics in a facultatively autotrophic, thermoacidophilic crenarchaeote.

Facultative autotrophs are abundant components of communities inhabiting geothermal springs. However, the influence of uptake kinetics and energetics on preference for substrates is not well understood in this group of organisms. Here, we report the isolation of a facultatively autotrophic crenarchaeote, strain CP80, from Cinder Pool (CP, 88.

Carbon source preference in chemosynthetic hot spring communities.

Rates of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), formate, and acetate mineralization and/or assimilation were determined in 13 high-temperature (>73 °C) hot springs in Yellowstone National Park (YNP), Wyoming, in order to evaluate the relative importance of these substrates in supporting microbial metabolism. While 9 of the hot spring communities exhibited rates of DIC assimilation that were greater than those of formate and acetate assimilation, 2 exhibited rates of formate and/or acetate assimilation that exceeded those of DIC assimilation. Overall rates of DIC, formate, and acetate mineralization and assimilation were positively correlated with spring pH but showed little correlation with temperature.

High mitochondrial densities in the hearts of Antarctic icefishes are maintained by an increase in mitochondrial size rather than mitochondrial biogenesis.

We investigated the molecular mechanisms regulating differences in mitochondrial volume density between heart ventricles of Antarctic notothenioids that vary in the expression of hemoglobin (Hb) and myoglobin (Mb). In mammals, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator-1alpha (PGC-1alpha) and nuclear respiratory factor 1 (NRF-1) stimulate mitochondrial biogenesis and maintain mitochondrial density in muscle tissues. We hypothesized that these factors would also maintain mitochondrial density in the hearts of Antarctic notothenioids.