Energy conservation by a hydrogenase-dependent chemiosmotic mechanism in an ancient metabolic pathway.

ABSTRACT: The ancient reductive acetyl-CoA pathway is employed by acetogenic bacteria to form acetate from inorganic energy sources. Since the central pathway does not gain net ATP by substrate-level phosphorylation, chemolithoautotrophic growth relies on the additional formation of ATP via a chemiosmotic mechanism. Genome analyses indicated that some acetogens only have an energy-converting, ion-translocating hydrogenase (Ech) as a potential respiratory enzyme. Although the Ech-encoding genes are widely distributed in nature, the proposed function of Ech as an ion-translocating chemiosmotic coupling site has neither been demonstrated in bacteria nor has it been demonstrated that it can be the only energetic coupling sites in microorganisms that depend on a chemiosmotic mechanism for energy conserva

SUBMITTER: Schoelmerich MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6442639 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature