Project description:Denitrification, a crucial biochemical pathway prevalent among haloarchaea in hypersaline ecosystems, has garnered considerable attention in recent years due to its ecological implications. Nevertheless, the underlying molecular mechanisms and genetic regulation governing this respiration/detoxification process in haloarchaea remain largely unexplored. In this study, RNA-sequencing was used to compare the transcriptomes of the haloarchaeon Haloferax mediterranei under oxic and denitrifying conditions, shedding light on the intricate metabolic alterations occurring within the cell such as the accurate control of the metal homeostasis. Furthermore, the investigation identifies several genes encoding transcriptional regulators and potential accessory proteins with putative roles in denitrification. Among these are bacterioopsin transcriptional activators, proteins harbouring a domain of unknown function (DUF2249), and a cyanoglobin. Additionally, the study delves into the genetic regulation of denitrification, finding a regulatory motif within promoter regions that activates numerous denitrification-related genes. This research serves as a starting point for future molecular biology studies in haloarchaea, offering a promising avenue to unravel the intricate mechanisms governing haloarchaeal denitrification, a pathway of paramount ecological importance.
Project description:Taxonomic outliers of Pseudomonas aeruginosa recently emerged as infectious for humans. Here we present the first analysis of a hyper-virulent isolate that cause hemorrhagic pneumonia. We demonstrated that, in two sequential clones CLJ1 and CLJ3 recovered from a patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease undergoing antibiotic therapy, insertion of a mobile genetic element into the P. aeruginosa chromosome affected major virulence-associated phenotypes and led to increased resistance to antibiotics used to treat the patient. Our work reveals insertion sequences as major players in enhancing the pathogenic potential of a P. aeruginosa taxonomic outlier by modulating both the virulence and resistance to antimicrobials. This also explains the ability of this bacterium to adapt to an infected host and cause a serious disease.