Methanogenesis, the biological production of methane, plays a pivotal role in the global carbon cycle and contributes significantly to global warming. The majority of methane in nature is derived from acetate. Here we report the complete genome sequence of an acetate-utilizing methanogen, Methanosarcina acetivorans C2A. Methanosarcineae are the most metabolically diverse methanogens, thrive in a broad range of environments, and are unique among the Archaea in forming complex multicellular structures. This diversity is reflected in the genome of M. acetivorans.
A highly efficient method of transposon mutagenesis was developed for genetic analysis of Xanthobacter autotrophicus Py2. The method makes use of a transposon delivery vector that encodes a hyperactive Tn 5 transposase that is 1,000-fold more active than the wild-type transposase. In this construct, the transposase is expressed from the promoter of the tetA gene of plasmid RP4, which is functional in a wide variety of organisms. The transposon itself contains a kanamycin resistance gene as a selectable marker and the origin of replication from plasmid R6K to facilitate subsequent cloning of the resulting insertion site. To test the effectiveness of this method, mutants unable to produce the characteristic yellow pigment (zeaxanthin dirhamnoside) of X. autotrophicus Py2 were isolated and analyzed. Transposon insertions were obtained at high frequency: approximately 1 x 10(-3) per recipient cell. Among these, pigment mutants were observed at a frequency of approximately 10(-3). Such mutants were found to have transposon insertions in genes homologous to known carotenoid biosynthetic genes previously characterized in other pigmented bacteria. Mutants were also isolated in Pseudomonas stutzeri and in an Alcaligenes faecalis, demonstrating the effectiveness of the method in diverse Proteobacteria. Preliminary results from other laboratories have confirmed the effectiveness of this method in additional phylogenetically diverse species.
Mixed plastics waste represents an abundant and largely untapped feedstock for the production of valuable products. The chemical diversity and complexity of these materials, however, present major barriers to realizing this opportunity. In this work, we show that metal-catalyzed autoxidation depolymerizes comingled polymers into a mixture of oxygenated small molecules that are advantaged substrates for biological conversion. We engineer a robust soil bacterium,
Pseudomonas putida
, to funnel these oxygenated compounds into a single exemplary chemical product, either β-ketoadipate or polyhydroxyalkanoates. This hybrid process establishes a strategy for the selective conversion of mixed plastics waste into useful chemical products.
Summary A highly efficient method for chromosomal integration of cloned DNA into Methanosarcina spp. was developed utilizing the site-specific recombination system from the Streptomyces phage φC31. Host strains expressing the φC31 integrase gene and carrying an appropriate recombination site can be transformed with non-replicating plasmids carrying the complementary recombination site at efficiencies similar to those obtained with self-replicating vectors. We have also constructed a series of hybrid promoters that combine the highly expressed M. barkeri PmcrB promoter with binding sites for the tetracycline-responsive, bacterial TetR protein. These promoters are tightly regulated by the presence or absence of tetracycline in strains that express the tetR gene. The hybrid promoters can be used in genetic experiments to test gene essentiality by placing a gene of interest under their control. Thus, growth of strains with tetR-regulated essential genes becomes tetracycline-dependent. A series of plasmid vectors that utilize the site-specific recombination system for construction of reporter gene fusions and for tetracycline regulated expression of cloned genes are reported. These vectors were used to test the efficiency of translation at a variety of start codons. Fusions using an ATG start site were the most active, whereas those using GTG and TTG were approximately one half or one fourth as active, respectively. The CTG fusion was 95% less active than the ATG fusion.
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