Applied and Environmental Science
- Letter to the Editor | Applied and Environmental ScienceAcquired Antibiotic Resistance in Escherichia coli Exposed to Simulated Microgravity: Possible Role of Other Space Stressors and Adaptive Responses
- Research Article | Applied and Environmental ScienceTight Regulation of Extracellular Superoxide Points to Its Vital Role in the Physiology of the Globally Relevant Roseobacter Clade
Formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) through partial reduction of molecular oxygen is widely associated with stress within microbial and marine systems. Nevertheless, widespread observations of the production of the ROS superoxide by healthy and actively growing marine bacteria and phytoplankton call into question the role of superoxide in the health and physiology of marine microbes. Here, we show that superoxide is produced by...
- Research Article | Applied and Environmental ScienceMethane-Linked Mechanisms of Electron Uptake from Cathodes by Methanosarcina barkeri
Methanogenic archaea are of fundamental applied and environmental relevance. This is largely due to their activities in a wide range of anaerobic environments, generating gaseous reduced carbon that can be utilized as a fuel source. While the bioenergetics of a wide variety of methanogens have been well studied with respect to soluble substrates, a mechanistic understanding of their interaction with solid-phase redox-active compounds is...
- Research Article | Applied and Environmental ScienceLong-Term Warming in Alaska Enlarges the Diazotrophic Community in Deep Soils
With the likelihood that changes in global climate will adversely affect the soil C reservoir in the northern circumpolar permafrost zone, an understanding of the potential role of diazotrophic communities in enhancing biological N2 fixation, which constrains both plant production and microbial decomposition in tundra soils, is important in elucidating the responses of soil microbial communities to global climate change. A...
- Research Article | Applied and Environmental ScienceLarge Circular Plasmids from Groundwater Plasmidomes Span Multiple Incompatibility Groups and Are Enriched in Multimetal Resistance Genes
Plasmidomes have been typically studied in environments abundant in bacteria, and this is the first study to explore plasmids from an environment characterized by low cell density. We specifically target groundwater, a significant source of water for human/agriculture use. We used samples from a well-studied site and identified hundreds of circular plasmids, including one of the largest sizes reported in plasmidome studies. The striking...
- Research Article | Applied and Environmental ScienceFunctional Metagenomics Reveals an Overlooked Diversity and Novel Features of Soil-Derived Bacterial Phosphatases and Phytases
Phosphorus (P) is a key element involved in numerous cellular processes and essential to meet global food demand. Phosphatases play a major role in cell metabolism and contribute to control the release of P from phosphorylated organic compounds, including phytate. Apart from the relationship with pathogenesis and the enormous economic relevance, phosphatases/phytases are also important for reduction of phosphorus pollution. Almost all...
- Research Article | Applied and Environmental ScienceEngineering Clostridial Aldehyde/Alcohol Dehydrogenase for Selective Butanol Production
Renewable biofuel represents one of the answers to solving the energy crisis and climate change problems. Butanol produced naturally by clostridia has superior liquid fuel characteristics and thus has the potential to replace gasoline. Due to the lack of efficient genetic manipulation tools, however, clostridial strain improvement has been slower than improvement of other microorganisms. Furthermore, fermentation coproducing various by-...
- Editor's Pick Research Article | Applied and Environmental ScienceEvaluation of Acquired Antibiotic Resistance in Escherichia coli Exposed to Long-Term Low-Shear Modeled Microgravity and Background Antibiotic Exposure
Stress factors experienced during space include microgravity, sleep deprivation, radiation, isolation, and microbial contamination, all of which can promote immune suppression (1, 2). Under these conditions, the risk of infection from opportunistic pathogens increases significantly, particularly during long-term missions (...
- Observation | Applied and Environmental ScienceTactic Response of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 toward Insoluble Electron Acceptors
Previous hypotheses of tactic behavior of exoelectrogenic bacteria are based on techniques that do not accurately control the electrochemical potential, such as chemical-in-plug assays or microscopy tracking experiments in two-electrode cells. Here, we have revisited previous experiments and, for the first time, performed microscopy cell-tracking experiments in three-electrode electrochemical cells, with defined electrode potentials....
- Research Article | Applied and Environmental ScienceGenome-Guided Identification of Organohalide-Respiring Deltaproteobacteria from the Marine Environment
The marine environment is a major reservoir for both anthropogenic and natural organohalides, and reductive dehalogenation is thought to be an important process in the overall cycling of these compounds. Here we demonstrate that the capacity of organohalide respiration appears to be widely distributed in members of marine Deltaproteobacteria. The identification of reductive dehalogenase genes in diverse Deltaproteobacteria...