Jain, Kanika Wood, Elizabeth A Romero, Zachary J Cox, Michael M
Published in
Molecular microbiology
Most, but not all, homologous genetic recombination in bacteria is mediated by the RecA recombinase. The mechanistic origin of RecA-independent recombination has remained enigmatic. Here, we demonstrate that the RarA protein makes a major enzymatic contribution to RecA-independent recombination. In particular, RarA makes substantial contributions t...
Starwalt-Lee, Ruth El-Naggar, Mohamed Y Bond, Daniel R Gralnick, Jeffrey A
Published in
Molecular microbiology
Shewanella oneidensis is a dissimilatory metal reducing bacterium and model for extracellular electron transfer (EET), a respiratory mechanism in which electrons are transferred out of the cell. In the last 10 years, migration to insoluble electron acceptors for EET has been shown to be nonrandom and tactic, seemingly in the absence of molecular or...
Kammel, Michelle Hunger, Doreen Sawers, Robert Gary
Published in
Molecular microbiology
FocA belongs to the pentameric FNT (formate-nitrite transporter) superfamily of anion channels, translocating formate bidirectionally across the cytoplasmic membrane of Escherichia coli and other microorganisms. While the membrane-integral core of FocA shares considerable amino acid sequence conservation with other FNT family members, the soluble c...
Normant, Vincent Brault, Ariane Avino, Mariano Mourer, Thierry Vahsen, Tobias Beaudoin, Jude Labbé, Simon
Published in
Molecular microbiology
Str3 is a transmembrane protein that mediates low-affinity heme uptake in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Under iron-limiting conditions, Str3 remains at the cell surface in the presence of increasing hemin concentrations. Using a proximity-dependent biotinylation approach coupled to mass spectrometry and coimmunoprecipitation assays, we report that the...
Umrekar, Trishant R Cohen, Eli Drobnič, Tina Gonzalez-Rodriguez, Nayim Beeby, Morgan
Published in
Molecular microbiology
"CryoEM" has come of age, enabling considerable structural insights into many facets of molecular biology. Here, we present a primer for microbiologists to understand the capabilities and limitations of two complementary cryoEM techniques for studying bacterial secretion systems. The first, single particle analysis, determines the structures of pur...
Sekiya, Hiroshi Tamai, Eiji Kawasaki, Jurina Murakami, Kaho Kamitori, Shigehiro
Published in
Molecular microbiology
Autolysin is a lytic enzyme that hydrolyzes peptidoglycans of the bacterial cell wall, with a catalytic domain and cell wall-binding (CWB) domains, to be involved in different physiological functions that require bacterial cell wall remodeling. We identified a novel autolysin, Acd24020, from Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile (C. difficile), wi...
Cid, Nicolas G Puca, Gervasio Nudel, Clara B Nusblat, Alejandro D
Published in
Molecular microbiology
Sphingolipids are bioactive lipids present in all eukaryotes. Tetrahymena thermophila is a ciliate that displays remarkable sphingolipid moieties, that is, the unusual phosphonate-linked headgroup ceramides, present in membranes. To date, no identification has been made in this organism of the functions or related genes implicated in sphingolipid m...
Christensen, David G Marsden, Anne E Hodge-Hanson, Kelsey Essock-Burns, Tara Visick, Karen L
Published in
Molecular microbiology
Efficient symbiotic colonization of the squid Euprymna scolopes by the bacterium Vibrio fischeri depends on bacterial biofilm formation on the surface of the squid's light organ. Subsequently, the bacteria disperse from the biofilm via an unknown mechanism and enter through pores to reach the interior colonization sites. Here, we identify a homolog...
Mossanen-Parsi, Amir Parisi, Daniele Browne-Marke, Natasha Bharudin, Izwan Connell, Sean R Mayans, Olga Fucini, Paola Morozov, Igor Y Caddick, Mark X
Published in
Molecular microbiology
The role of post-transcriptional RNA modification is of growing interest. One example is the addition of non-templated uridine residues to the 3' end of transcripts. In mammalian systems, uridylation is integral to cell cycle control of histone mRNA levels. This regulatory mechanism is dependent on the nonsense-mediated decay (NMD) component, Upf1,...
Schneider, Carmen Konjik, Valentino Kißling, Lena Mack, Matthias
Published in
Molecular microbiology
The bacterium Streptomyces davaonensis produces the antibiotic roseoflavin, which is a riboflavin (vitamin B2 ) analog. The key enzyme of roseoflavin biosynthesis is the 8-demethyl-8-amino-riboflavin-5'-phosphate (AFP) synthase RosB which synthesizes AFP from riboflavin-5'-phosphate. AFP is not a substrate for the last enzyme of roseoflavin biosynt...