Microbial Metabolic Cooperation

微生物代谢合作

• 批准号: 1515843
• 负责人: Robert Gunsalus
• 金额: $ 90万
• 依托单位: University of California-Los Angeles
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-15 至 2019-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1515843&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Microbial; Metabolic; Cooperation

Syntrophic bacteria are a group of poorly understood microorganisms that play essential roles in the recycling of all naturally occurring organic materials in environments without oxygen (anaerobic environments). Syntrophy refers to the mutually beneficial metabolic interactions of the participating bacteria. These bacteria work as members of small microbial teams that consume decaying plant and animal material and convert it back into the starting materials needed for photosynthesis by plants and algae. The syntrophic bacteria first break down and recycle small organic molecules such as fats, amino acids and small aromatic compounds and make acetic acid (vinegar), water and hydrogen gas. These syntrophic waste products are then used by a second group of microbes called methanogens to make more water plus carbon dioxide and methane. The latter can be harvested as a renewable energy source. By cooperating, both types of microbes are able to obtain energy and grow where neither could alone. This project will use a combination of molecular and biochemical methods to study the unique metabolic skills of each microbe and how they cooperate with one another to optimally recycle waste materials in nature. This knowledge will assist others to better describe and model the use of carbon on Earth and to predict how our ever-changing environment affects the maintenance of the Earth's life forms (the biosphere). This knowledge will also improve our ability to recycle unwanted waste materials in the environment. The knowledge obtained will be used develop new web-based and team-based activities that will promote enthusiasm for microbiology to lower and upper level microbiology undergraduates, including those from institutions with a large minority enrollment.Syntrophic metabolism is a microbial process found in nearly all anaerobic ecosystems yet very little is understood about the molecular, biochemical, or physiological basis of this essential ecological process. Understanding how syntrophic consortia composed of distinct types of bacterial and archaeal species operate at the metabolic and molecular levels is critical to describe and model global carbon cycling and ecosystem function. The hypothesis to be tested states that special metabolic and sensory/regulatory systems are used by syntrophic partners to accomplish their cooperative existence. The model syntrophic co-culture, Syntrophomonas wolfei and Methanospirillum hungatei, will be used to unravel the basic principles governing syntrophic partnership formation and maintenance. A combination of high-throughput technologies including genome-wide transcript and proteomic profiling will be used to identify the metabolic and regulatory networks involved in syntrophic fatty acid catabolism and to delineate other adaptations that may be required to maintain the syntrophic lifestyle. This will reveal the pathways operative in electron flow and hydrogen and/formate production from thermodynamically difficult reactions as well as special biochemical machinery and regulatory controls needed for syntrophic cooperation. These data will provide a foundation to predict and explore related processes in other multispecies microbial communities.

互养细菌是一组知之甚少的微生物，在无氧环境（厌氧环境）中所有天然存在的有机物质的再循环中发挥重要作用。 互养是指参与细菌的互利代谢相互作用。这些细菌作为小型微生物团队的成员工作，消耗腐烂的植物和动物材料，并将其转化为植物和藻类光合作用所需的起始材料。互养细菌首先分解和回收小的有机分子，如脂肪，氨基酸和小的芳香族化合物，并产生乙酸（醋），水和氢气。这些互养废物然后被称为产甲烷菌的第二组微生物利用，以产生更多的水、二氧化碳和甲烷。后者可以作为可再生能源收获。通过合作，这两种类型的微生物都能够获得能量并在任何一种都无法单独生长的地方生长。该项目将使用分子和生物化学方法的组合来研究每种微生物的独特代谢技能，以及它们如何相互合作，以最佳方式回收自然界中的废物。 这些知识将帮助其他人更好地描述和模拟地球上碳的使用，并预测我们不断变化的环境如何影响地球生命形式（生物圈）的维持。 这些知识还将提高我们回收环境中不需要的废物的能力。所获得的知识将用于开发新的基于网络和团队的活动，这将促进对微生物学的热情，以低和高层次的微生物学本科生，包括那些从机构与大量少数民族招生。互养代谢是一种微生物过程中发现几乎所有的厌氧生态系统，但很少有人了解这个重要的生态过程的分子，生物化学或生理基础。了解由不同类型的细菌和古菌物种组成的互养财团如何在代谢和分子水平上运作，对于描述和模拟全球碳循环和生态系统功能至关重要。待检验的假设指出，特殊的代谢和感觉/调节系统的互养伙伴，以实现其合作的存在。模型互养共培养，互养单胞菌wolfei和甲烷菌hungatei，将被用来解开互养伙伴关系的形成和维持的基本原则。包括全基因组转录和蛋白质组分析在内的高通量技术的组合将用于识别参与互养脂肪酸代谢的代谢和调控网络，并描述维持互养生活方式可能需要的其他适应。这将揭示在电子流和氢和/甲酸生产的途径，以及特殊的生化机械和互养合作所需的监管控制，从复杂的反应。这些数据将为预测和探索其他多物种微生物群落的相关过程提供基础。