Coupling of cell growth modulation to asymmetric division and cell cycle regulation in .

In proliferating bacteria, growth rate is often assumed to be similar between daughter cells. However, most of our knowledge of cell growth derives from studies on symmetrically dividing bacteria. In many α-proteobacteria, asymmetric division is a normal part of the life cycle, with each division producing daughter cells with different sizes and fates.

Isopropanol production via the thermophilic bioconversion of sugars and syngas using metabolically engineered Moorella thermoacetica.

Background: Isopropanol (IPA) is a commodity chemical used as a solvent or raw material for polymeric products, such as plastics. Currently, IPA production depends largely on high-CO-emission petrochemical methods that are not sustainable. Therefore, alternative low-CO emission methods are required.

Enhancing acetone production from H and CO using supplemental electron acceptors in an engineered Moorella thermoacetica.

Acetogens grow autotrophically and use hydrogen (H) as the energy source to fix carbon dioxide (CO). This feature can be applied to gas fermentation, contributing to a circular economy. A challenge is the gain of cellular energy from H oxidation, which is substantially low, especially when acetate formation coupled with ATP production is diverted to other chemicals in engineered strains.

Reversible Hydrogenase Activity Confers Flexibility to Balance Intracellular Redox in .

Hydrogen (H) converted to reducing equivalents is used by acetogens to fix and metabolize carbon dioxide (CO) to acetate. The utilization of H enables not only autotrophic growth, but also mixotrophic metabolism in acetogens, enhancing carbon utilization. This feature seems useful, especially when the carbon utilization efficiency of organic carbon sources is lowered by metabolic engineering to produce reduced chemicals, such as ethanol.

Single-Cell Time-Lapse Observation Reveals Cell Shrinkage upon Cell Death in Batch Culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a model organism for aging and longevity studies. In a clonal population of S. cerevisiae, the timing of cell death in the stationary phase is not synchronized, indicating that heterogeneity exists in survival at a single-cell level.

Autotrophic growth and ethanol production enabled by diverting acetate flux in the metabolically engineered Moorella thermoacetica.

Gas fermentation is a promising biological process for the conversion of CO or syngas into valuable chemicals. Homoacetogens are microorganisms growing autotrophically using CO and H or CO and metabolizing them to form acetate coupled with energy conservation. The challenge in the metabolic engineering of the homoacetogens is divergence of the acetate formation, whose intermediate is acetyl-CoA, to a targeted chemical with sufficient production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

Metabolic engineering of Moorella thermoacetica for thermophilic bioconversion of gaseous substrates to a volatile chemical.

Gas fermentation is one of the promising bioprocesses to convert CO or syngas to important chemicals. Thermophilic gas fermentation of volatile chemicals has the potential for the development of consolidated bioprocesses that can simultaneously separate products during fermentation. This study reports the production of acetone from CO and H, CO, or syngas by introducing the acetone production pathway using acetyl-coenzyme A (Ac-CoA) and acetate produced via the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway in Moorella thermoacetica.

Direct detection of mRNA expression in microbial cells by fluorescence in situ hybridization using RNase H-assisted rolling circle amplification.

Meta-analyses using next generation sequencing is a powerful strategy for studying microbiota; however, it cannot clarify the role of individual microbes within microbiota. To know which cell expresses what gene is important for elucidation of the individual cell's function in microbiota. In this report, we developed novel fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) procedure using RNase-H-assisted rolling circle amplification to visualize mRNA of interest in microbial cells without reverse transcription.

Ethanol yield and sugar usability in thermophilic ethanol production from lignocellulose hydrolysate by genetically engineered Moorella thermoacetica.

Bioconversion from inexpensive renewable resource, such as biomass, to liquid fuel is one of the promising technologies to reduce the use of petroleum. We previously reported the genetically engineered Moorella thermoacetica could produce ethanol from the lignocellulosic feedstock. However, it was still unclear which carbon source in the substrate was preferentially consumed to produce ethanol.

The mechanosensitive channel YbdG from has a role in adaptation to osmotic up-shock.

Mechanosensitive channels play an important role in the adaptation of cells to hypo-osmotic shock. Among members of this channel family in , the exact function and physiological role of the mechanosensitive channel homolog YbdG remain unclear. Characterization of YbdG's physiological role has been hampered by its lack of measurable transport activity.

Cyclic di-GMP differentially tunes a bacterial flagellar motor through a novel class of CheY-like regulators.

The flagellar motor is a sophisticated rotary machine facilitating locomotion and signal transduction. Owing to its important role in bacterial behavior, its assembly and activity are tightly regulated. For example, chemotaxis relies on a sensory pathway coupling chemical information to rotational bias of the motor through phosphorylation of the motor switch protein CheY.

A constant size extension drives bacterial cell size homeostasis.

Cell size control is an intrinsic feature of the cell cycle. In bacteria, cell growth and division are thought to be coupled through a cell size threshold. Here, we provide direct experimental evidence disproving the critical size paradigm.