Project description:Metabolic flexibility in aerobic methane oxidising bacteria (methanotrophs) enhances cell growth and survival in instances where resources are variable or limiting. Examples include the production of intracellular compounds (such as glycogen or polyhydroxyalkanoates) in response to unbalanced growth conditions and the use of some energy substrates, besides methane, when available. Indeed, recent studies show that verrucomicrobial methanotrophs can grow mixotrophically through oxidation of hydrogen and methane gases via respiratory membrane-bound group 1d [NiFe] hydrogenases and methane monooxygenases respectively. Hydrogen metabolism is particularly important for adaptation to methane and oxygen limitation, suggesting this metabolic flexibility may confer growth and survival advantages. In this work, we provide evidence that, in adopting a mixotrophic growth strategy, the thermoacidophilic methanotroph, Methylacidiphilum sp. RTK17.1 changes its growth rate, biomass yields and the production of intracellular glycogen reservoirs. Under nitrogen-fixing conditions, removal of hydrogen from the feed-gas resulted in a 14 % reduction in observed growth rates and a 144% increase in cellular glycogen content. Concomitant with increases in glycogen content, the total protein content of biomass decreased following the removal of hydrogen. Transcriptome analysis of Methylacidiphilum sp. RTK17.1 revealed a 3.5-fold upregulation of the Group 1d [NiFe] hydrogenase in response to oxygen limitation and a 4-fold upregulation of nitrogenase encoding genes (nifHDKENX) in response to nitrogen limitation. Genes associated with glycogen synthesis and degradation were expressed constitutively and did not display evidence of transcriptional regulation. Collectively these data further challenge the belief that hydrogen metabolism in methanotrophic bacteria is primarily associated with energy conservation during nitrogen fixation and suggests its utilisation provides a competitive growth advantage within hypoxic habitats.
Project description:Nitrogen (N) is an abundant and essential macronutrient for plants growth and development processes, especially for the huge banana trees with high biomass. In this paper, we studied the response of banana resists to low N stress ueing Illumina RNA-Seq technology, and analyzed the DEGs associated with the absorption, transport, and ulitilize of nitrogen.
Project description:Photosynthetic microbes can produce the clean-burning fuel hydrogen using one of nature’s most plentiful resources, sunlight 1,2. Anoxygenic photosynthetic bacteria generate hydrogen and ammonia during a process known as biological nitrogen fixation. This reaction is catalyzed by the enzyme nitrogenase and consumes nitrogen gas, ATP and electrons 3. One bacterium, Rhodopseudomonas palustris, has a remarkable ability to obtain electrons from green plant-derived material 4,5 and to efficiently absorb both high and low intensity light energy to form ATP 6. Manipulating R. palustris or a similar organism to produce hydrogen commercially will require us to identify all its genes that contribute to hydrogen production and to understand how this process is regulated in cells. Here we describe mutant strains in which metabolism is redirected such that hydrogen production is uncoupled from nitrogen fixation. Our data indicate that three different single amino acid changes in the transcriptional regulator NifA each yielded strains that produced hydrogen even in the presence of the repressing nitrogen source ammonium and in the absence of specific inducing metabolic signals. We used the mutants to show that, in addition to nitrogenase genes, 18 genes outside of the nitrogenase gene cluster may contribute to hydrogen production. Some of these genes are likely involved in efficient ATP acquisition and in channeling electrons to nitrogenase for reduction of protons to molecular hydrogen. Our results demonstrate that photosynthetic bacteria can be genetically manipulated for sustained production of pure hydrogen in a variety of cultivation conditions in the absence of oxygen, nitrogen or other gases as long as light and an electron donor are supplied. Keywords: Comparison of transcriptome profiles
Project description:After tomato fruits harvesting huge amounts of biomass residues, including plant and immature fruit, remaining in the field can be utilized to produce bioenergy. Little is known about the molecular aspects underlying tomato plant biomass production and hydrolysis. To identify genes involved in the regulation of plant biomass accumulation and composition, two Solanum pennellii introgression lines (ILs) with contrasting phenotypes for plant architecture and biomass characteristics, were analyzed. A multiple approach aimed to characterize such near-isogenic lines was carried out for studying gene expression dynamics, microscopy cell traits and qualitative and quantitative cell wall chemical compounds variation. Transcriptomic analysis showed that the enhanced biomass production observed in IL2-6 line is due to a more effective coordination of chloroplast and mitochondria energy fluxes (photosynthesis, cell division, cell wall and hormone metabolism activation). In parallel, microscopy analysis revealed a higher number of cells and chloroplasts in leaf epidermis in the high biomass line whilst chemical measurements on the two lines pointed out striking differences in the cell wall composition and organization. Taken together, our findings shed light on the mechanisms underlying the tomato biomass production and open new routes for improving the tomato lignocellulosic processability.
Project description:Potassium (K+) is a crucial macronutrient in high biomass plants, especially in banana.we comparatively studyed the phenotypic traits and transcriptomic profiles of banana leaves and roots between low potassium group (LK) and normal-potassium group (NK). In our study, the K+ content and biomass index of banana seedling were all significantly decreased under the stress of low potassium group. Moreover, thirty differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to potassium transport and uptake and transcription factors were analyzed deeply. DEGs about ABC transporters, protein kinases and ion transporters were also detected, these genes may play important roles during potassium deficiency. These results provide valuable information about banana response to low potassium conditions.
Project description:Photosynthetic microbes can produce the clean-burning fuel hydrogen using one of natureâ??s most plentiful resources, sunlight 1,2. Anoxygenic photosynthetic bacteria generate hydrogen and ammonia during a process known as biological nitrogen fixation. This reaction is catalyzed by the enzyme nitrogenase and consumes nitrogen gas, ATP and electrons 3. One bacterium, Rhodopseudomonas palustris, has a remarkable ability to obtain electrons from green plant-derived material 4,5 and to efficiently absorb both high and low intensity light energy to form ATP 6. Manipulating R. palustris or a similar organism to produce hydrogen commercially will require us to identify all its genes that contribute to hydrogen production and to understand how this process is regulated in cells. Here we describe mutant strains in which metabolism is redirected such that hydrogen production is uncoupled from nitrogen fixation. Our data indicate that three different single amino acid changes in the transcriptional regulator NifA each yielded strains that produced hydrogen even in the presence of the repressing nitrogen source ammonium and in the absence of specific inducing metabolic signals. We used the mutants to show that, in addition to nitrogenase genes, 18 genes outside of the nitrogenase gene cluster may contribute to hydrogen production. Some of these genes are likely involved in efficient ATP acquisition and in channeling electrons to nitrogenase for reduction of protons to molecular hydrogen. Our results demonstrate that photosynthetic bacteria can be genetically manipulated for sustained production of pure hydrogen in a variety of cultivation conditions in the absence of oxygen, nitrogen or other gases as long as light and an electron donor are supplied. Transcriptome profile of wild type (CGA009) growing photosynthetically in the presence of amonium an acetate was compare with that of 4 different mutants (CGA570, CGA571, CGA572 and CGA574). We did 2 biological replicates per strain.
Project description:Algal photo-bio hydrogen production, a promising method for producing clean and renewable fuel in the form of hydrogen gas, has been studied extensively over the last few decades. In this study, microarray analyses were used to obtain a global expression profile of mRNA abundance in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii at five different time points before the onset and during the course of sulphur depleted hydrogen production. The present work confirms previous findings on the impacts of sulphur deprivation but also provides new insights into photosynthesis, sulphur assimilation and carbon metabolism under sulphur starvation towards hydrogen production. For instance, while a general trend towards repression of transcripts encoding photosynthetic genes was observed, the abundance of Lhcbm9 (encoding a major light harvesting polypeptide) and LhcSR1 (encoding a chlorophyll binding protein) was strongly elevated throughout the experiment, suggesting remodeling of the photosystem II light harvesting complex as well as an important function of Lhcbm9 under sulphur starvation. This study presents the first global transcriptional analysis of C. reinhardtii during hydrogen production using five major time points at Peak Oxygen, Mid Oxygen, Zero Oxygen, Mid Hydrogen and Peak Hydrogen. Keywords: Time course, sulfur deprivation, hydrogen production.
Project description:E. coli TG1 with pBS(Kan)Synhox can produce more hydrogen than TG1/pBS(Kan). To reveal the difference of metabolic activity (gene expression) between these strains in producing hydrogen, the differential gene expression analyses were performed. All samples cultured in complex medium with fructose containg 5 mM IPTG. Keywords: hydrogen production