Selectivity in Enzymatic Phosphorus Recycling from Biopolymers: Isotope Effect, Reactivity Kinetics, and Molecular Docking with Fungal and Plant Phosphatases.

Among ubiquitous phosphorus (P) reserves in environmental matrices are ribonucleic acid (RNA) and polyphosphate (polyP), which are, respectively, organic and inorganic P-containing biopolymers. Relevant to P recycling from these biopolymers, much remains unknown about the kinetics and mechanisms of different acid phosphatases (APs) secreted by plants and soil microorganisms. Here we investigated RNA and polyP dephosphorylation by two common APs, a plant purple AP (PAP) from sweet potato and a fungal phytase from .

Strategies of organic phosphorus recycling by soil bacteria: acquisition, metabolism, and regulation.

Critical to meeting cellular phosphorus (P) demand, soil bacteria deploy a number of strategies to overcome limitation in inorganic P (P ) in soils. As a significant contributor to P recycling, soil bacteria secrete extracellular enzymes to degrade organic P (P ) in soils into the readily bioavailable P . In addition, several P compounds can be transported directly via specific transporters and subsequently enter intracellular metabolic pathways.

Hierarchical Reactivity of Enzyme-Mediated Phosphorus Recycling from Organic Mixtures by Phytase.

Biological recycling of inorganic phosphorus (P) from organic phosphorus (P) compounds by phosphatase-type enzymes, including phytases, is an important contributor to the pool of bioavailable P to plants and microorganisms. However, studies of mixed-substrate reactions with these enzymes are lacking. Here, we explore the reactivity of a phytase extract from the fungus toward a heterogeneous mixture containing, in addition to phytate, different structures of environmentally relevant P compounds such as ribonucleotides and sugar phosphates.

Mechanistic modeling of light-induced chemotactic infiltration of bacteria into leaf stomata.

Light is one of the factors that can play a role in bacterial infiltration into leafy greens by keeping stomata open and providing photosynthetic products for microorganisms. We model chemotactic transport of bacteria within a leaf tissue in response to photosynthesis occurring within plant mesophyll. The model includes transport of carbon dioxide, oxygen, bicarbonate, sucrose/glucose, bacteria, and autoinducer-2 within the leaf tissue.

Multi-omics analysis unravels a segregated metabolic flux network that tunes co-utilization of sugar and aromatic carbons in .

species thrive in different nutritional environments and can catabolize divergent carbon substrates. These capabilities have important implications for the role of these species in natural and engineered carbon processing. However, the metabolic phenotypes enabling to utilize mixed substrates remain poorly understood.

Substrate binding versus escape dynamics in a pH-affected fungal beta-glucosidase revealed by molecular dynamics simulations.

The cellulolytic ability of fungal species is important to both natural and engineered biocycling of plant matter. One essential step is the conversion of cellobiose into glucose catalyzed by beta-glucosidases. Mutagenesis studies have implicated altering the substrate binding pocket to influence the pH-activity profile of this enzyme.