Project description:Corrosion of copper in oxygen-deficient groundwater with and without deep bedrock micro-organisms: characterisation of microbial communities and surface processes
Project description:Samples collect to investigate the gene activity from microbial populations in marine steel corrosion, and to compare with gene activity in water and bed sediment samples from the surrounding area. The study was undertaken to (1) investigate mechanisms of microbially influenced corrosion (MIC) of marine steel, and (2) compare microbial population gene activity between corrosion and the surrounding environment. Purified DNA (1µg) was labelled with Cy3, purified and hybridised at 42°C for 16h with the GeoChipTM 5.0 on a MAUI hybridisation station (BioMicro, USA).
Project description:Copper is an essential component of cytochrome C oxidase (i.e. complex IV of the electron transport chain), and is thus critical for the survival of aerobic organisms. If copper is not properly regulated in the body however, it can be extremely cytotoxic and genetic mutations that compromise copper homeostasis result in severe clinical phenotypes. Understanding how cells maintain optimal copper levels is therefore highly relevant to human health. We found that addition of copper to culture medium leads to increased respiratory growth of yeast, a phenotype which we then systematically and quantitatively measured in 5050 homozygous diploid deletion strains using microarrays.
Project description:Copper and iron are essential micronutrients for most living organisms because they participate as cofactors in biological processes including respiration, photosynthesis and oxidative stress protection. In many eukaryotic organisms, including yeast and mammals, copper and iron homeostases are highly interconnected; however such interdependence is not well established in higher plants. Here we propose that COPT2, a high-affinity copper transport protein, functions under copper and iron deficiencies in Arabidopsis thaliana. COPT2 is a plasma membrane protein that functions in copper acquisition and distribution. Characterization of the COPT2 expression pattern indicates a synergic response to copper and iron limitation in roots. We have characterized a knockout of COPT2, copt2-1, that leads to increased resistance to simultaneous copper and iron deficiencies, measured as reduced leaf chlorosis and improved maintenance of the photosynthetic apparatus. We propose that COPT2 expression could play a dual role under Fe deficiency. First, COPT2 participates in the attenuation of copper deficiency responses driven by iron limitation maybe aimed to minimize further iron consume. On the other hand, global expression analyses of copt2-1 mutants versus wild type Arabidopsis plants indicate that low phosphate responses are increased in copt2-1 plants. In this sense, COPT2 function under Fe deficiency counteracts low phosphate responses. These results open up new biotechnological approaches to fight iron deficiency in crops.
Project description:16s RNA gene sequencing data from seawater, bed sediment and steel corrosion samples from Shoreham Harbour, UK, collected to allow bacterial species comparisons between microbially influenced corrosion, the surrounding seawater, and the sea bed sediment at the seafloor and 50cm depth below seafloor.
Project description:Corrosion and biofouling tendency of carbon steel in anoxic groundwater containing Sulphate Reducing Bacteria and Methanogenic Archaea