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Adv Microb Physiol 2022 ;80:ix

Adv Microb Physiol 2022 9;80:85-155. Epub 2022 Apr 9.

Instituto Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Oeiras, Portugal. Electronic address:

Bacterial pathogens have sophisticated systems that allow them to survive in hosts in which innate immunity is the frontline of defense. One of the substances produced by infected hosts is nitric oxide (NO) that together with its derived species leads to the so-called nitrosative stress, which has antimicrobial properties. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on targets and protective systems that bacteria have to survive host-generated nitrosative stress. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2022 18;80:35-83. Epub 2022 Feb 18.

Department of Infection, Immunity & Cardiovascular Disease, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom. Electronic address:

Neisseria gonorrhoeae is an obligate human pathogen that is the cause of the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhoea. Recently, there has been a surge in gonorrhoea cases that has been exacerbated by the rapid rise in gonococcal multidrug resistance to all useful antimicrobials resulting in this organism becoming a significant public health burden. Therefore, there is a clear and present need to understand the organism's biology through its physiology and pathogenesis to help develop new intervention strategies. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2022 18;80:203-236. Epub 2022 Mar 18.

Department of Biology, Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada. Electronic address:

Streptomyces are soil- and marine-dwelling microbes that need to survive dramatic fluctuations in nutrient levels and environmental conditions. Here, we explore the advances made in understanding how Streptomyces bacteria can thrive in their natural environments. We examine their classical developmental cycle, and the intricate regulatory cascades that govern it. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2022 18;80:157-201. Epub 2022 Feb 18.

Department of Microbiology, Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

Methane (CH) is a potent greenhouse gas significantly contributing to the climate warming we are currently facing. Microorganisms play an important role in the global CH cycle that is controlled by the balance between anaerobic production via methanogenesis and CH removal via methanotrophic oxidation. Research in recent decades advanced our understanding of CH oxidation, which until 1976 was believed to be a strictly aerobic process. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2022 18;80:1-33. Epub 2022 Feb 18.

Unité Pathogenèse de Helicobacter, CNRS UMR6047, Département de Microbiologie, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France. Electronic address:

Metal acquisition and intracellular trafficking are crucial for all cells and metal ions have been recognized as virulence determinants in bacterial pathogens. Nickel is required for the pathogenicity of H. pylori. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2021 ;79:xiii

Adv Microb Physiol 2021 13;79:89-132. Epub 2021 Aug 13.

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, United States. Electronic address:

Iron is an essential micronutrient for all bacteria but presents a significant challenge given its limited bioavailability. Furthermore, iron's toxicity combined with the need to maintain iron levels within a narrow physiological range requires integrated systems to sense, regulate and transport a variety of iron complexes. Most bacteria encode systems to chelate and transport ferric iron (Fe) via siderophore receptor mediated uptake or via cytoplasmic energy dependent transport systems. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2021 16;79:25-88. Epub 2021 Nov 16.

Department of Biochemistry (Hopkins Building), University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom. Electronic address:

Toward the end of August 2000, the 6.3 Mbp whole genome sequence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain PAO1 was published. With 5570 open reading frames (ORFs), PAO1 had the largest microbial genome sequenced up to that point in time-including a large proportion of metabolic, transport and antimicrobial resistance genes supporting its ability to colonize diverse environments. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2021 18;79:163-240. Epub 2021 Nov 18.

Retired: formerly Hannah Research Institute, Ayr, Scotland.

Publications abound on the physiology, biochemistry and molecular biology of "anaerobic" protozoal parasites as usually grown under "anaerobic" culture conditions. The media routinely used are poised at low redox potentials using techniques that remove O to "undetectable" levels in sealed containers. However there is growing understanding that these culture conditions do not faithfully resemble the O environments these organisms inhabit. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2021 13;79:133-162. Epub 2021 Aug 13.

Microbiology & Ryan Institute, School of Natural Sciences, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland. Electronic address:

All living cells strive to allocate cellular resources in a way that promotes maximal evolutionary fitness. While there are many competing demands for resources the main decision making process centres on whether to proceed with growth and reproduction or to "hunker down" and invest in protection and survival (or to strike an optimal balance between these two processes). The transcriptional programme active at any given time largely determines which of these competing processes is dominant. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2021 28;79:1-23. Epub 2021 Oct 28.

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States. Electronic address:

Methanogens are a component of anaerobic microbial consortia decomposing biomass to CO and CH that is an essential link in the global carbon cycle. One of two major pathways of methanogenesis involves reduction of the methyl group of acetate to CH with electrons from oxidation of the carbonyl group while the other involves reduction of CO to CH with electrons from H or formate. Pioneering investigations of the CO reduction pathway by Ralph S. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2021 2;78:317-390. Epub 2021 Mar 2.

Electrobiomaterials Institute, Key Laboratory for Anisotropy and Texture of Materials (Ministry of Education), Northeastern University, Shenyang, China; Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, United States. Electronic address:

Microbially catalyzed corrosion of metals is a substantial economic concern. Aerobic microbes primarily enhance Fe oxidation through indirect mechanisms and their impact appears to be limited compared to anaerobic microbes. Several anaerobic mechanisms are known to accelerate Fe oxidation. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2021 7;78:259-315. Epub 2021 Jun 7.

Department of Soil Microbiology and Symbiotic Systems, Estación Experimental del Zaidín, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Granada, Spain. Electronic address:

Nitric oxide (NO) is a reactive gaseous molecule that has several functions in biological systems depending on its concentration. At low concentrations, NO acts as a signaling molecule, while at high concentrations, it becomes very toxic due to its ability to react with multiple cellular targets. Soil bacteria, commonly known as rhizobia, have the capacity to establish a N-fixing symbiosis with legumes inducing the formation of nodules in their roots. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2021 22;78:217-257. Epub 2021 Jan 22.

Institute for Glycomics, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia. Electronic address:

Streptococcus suis is a major cause of respiratory tract and invasive infections in pigs and is responsible for a substantial disease burden in the pig industry. S. suis is also a significant cause of bacterial meningitis in humans, particularly in South East Asia. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2021 25;78:179-216. Epub 2021 Jan 25.

Institute for Glycomics, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia. Electronic address:

Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, the causative agent of porcine pleuropneumonia, is responsible for high economic losses in swine herds across the globe. Pleuropneumonia is characterized by severe respiratory distress and high mortality. The knowledge about the interaction between bacterium and host within the porcine respiratory tract has improved significantly in recent years. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2021 16;78:1-177. Epub 2021 Apr 16.

Department of Biochemistry and Systems Biology, Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative, Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom; The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark. Electronic address:

Textbooks of biochemistry will explain that the otherwise endergonic reactions of ATP synthesis can be driven by the exergonic reactions of respiratory electron transport, and that these two half-reactions are catalyzed by protein complexes embedded in the same, closed membrane. These views are correct. The textbooks also state that, according to the chemiosmotic coupling hypothesis, a (or the) kinetically and thermodynamically competent intermediate linking the two half-reactions is the electrochemical difference of protons that is in equilibrium with that between the two bulk phases that the coupling membrane serves to separate. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2020 5;76:81-127. Epub 2020 Feb 5.

Department of Plant Pathology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, United States; RAW Molecular Systems (RMS) LLC, Spokane, WA, United States; Australian Centre for Astrobiology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Absorbance measurements on intact chemolithotrophic microorganisms that respire aerobically on soluble iron are described that used a novel integrating cavity absorption meter to eliminate the effects of light scattering on the experimental results. Steady state kinetic measurements on ferric iron production by intact cells revealed that the Michaelis Menten equation described the initial rates of product formation for at least 8 different chemolithotrophic microorganisms in 6 phyla distributed equally among the archaea and the Gram negative and Gram positive eubacteria. Cell-monitored turnover measurements during aerobic respiration on soluble iron by the same 12 intact microorganisms revealed six different patterns of iron-dependent absorbance changes, suggesting that there may be at least six different sets of prosthetic groups and biomolecules that can accomplish aerobic respiration on soluble iron. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2020 17;76:41-79. Epub 2020 Feb 17.

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense M, Denmark.

Advances in optical microscopy are continually narrowing the chasm in our appreciation of biological organization between the molecular and cellular levels, but many practical problems are still limiting. Observation is always limited by the rapid dynamics of ultrastructural modifications of intracellular components, and often by cell motility: imaging of the unicellular protist parasite of ornamental fish, Spironucleus vortens, has proved challenging. Autofluorescence of nicotinamide nucleotides and flavins in the 400-580 nm region of the visible spectrum, is the most useful indicator of cellular redox state and hence vitality. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2020 11;76:129-186. Epub 2020 Feb 11.

Biocatalysis & Synthetic Biology Team, CSIRO Land & Water, Black Mountain Science and Innovation Park, Canberra, ACT, Australia; Synthetic Biology Future Science Platform, CSIRO Land & Water, Black Mountain Science and Innovation Park, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

The synthetic s-triazines are abundant, nitrogen-rich, heteroaromatic compounds used in a multitude of applications including, herbicides, plastics and polymers, and explosives. Their presence in the environment has led to the evolution of bacterial catabolic pathways in bacteria that allow use of these anthropogenic chemicals as a nitrogen source that supports growth. Herbicidal s-triazines have been used since the mid-twentieth century and are among the most heavily used herbicides in the world, despite being withdrawn from use in some areas due to concern about their safety and environmental impact. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2020 16;76:1-39. Epub 2020 Apr 16.

Stress Adaptation and Metabolism Unit, Department of Microbiology, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France; ERL CNRS 6002, CNRS, Paris, France.

Iron sulfur (Fe-S) clusters rank among the most ancient and conserved prosthetic groups. Fe-S clusters containing proteins are present in most, if not all, organisms. Fe-S clusters containing proteins are involved in a wide range of cellular processes, from gene regulation to central metabolism, via gene expression, RNA modification or bioenergetics. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2020 1;77:89-138. Epub 2020 Oct 1.

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Kroto Research Institute, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom. Electronic address:

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a natural polymer produced by the acetic acid producing bacterium and has gathered much interest over the last decade for its biomedical and biotechnological applications. Unlike the plant derived cellulose nanofibres, which require pretreatment to deconstruct the recalcitrant lignocellulosic network, BC are 100% pure, and are extruded by cells as nanofibrils. Moreover, these nanofibrils can be converted to macrofibers that possess excellent material properties, surpassing even the strength of steel, and can be used as substitutes for fossil fuel derived synthetic fibers. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2020 22;77:37-88. Epub 2020 Oct 22.

Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems, Magdeburg, Germany.

Zymomonas mobilis is an α-proteobacterium that interests the biofuel industry due to its perfect ethanol fermentation yields. From its first description as a bacterial isolate in fermented alcoholic beverages to date, Z. mobilis has been rigorously studied in directions basic and applied. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2020 20;77:139-185. Epub 2020 Oct 20.

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand; Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.

Wherever thermodynamics allows, microbial life has evolved to transform and harness energy. Microbial life thus abounds in the most unexpected places, enabled by profound metabolic diversity. Within this diversity, energy is transformed primarily through variations on a few core mechanisms. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2020 14;77:1-35. Epub 2020 Sep 14.

Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom.

Microbubbles have been involved in industrial processing since the 1970s with the introduction of dissolved air flotation into common practice. The turn of the century saw microbubbles become regularly used in medical imaging. But in bioprocessing, only this decade has seen rapid advances in R&D, with some bioprocesses, particularly in wastewater treatment, adopted at full industrial scale, and others at pilot scale, such as anaerobic digestion and fermentation, which is full industrial scale for many biomanufacturing and pharmaceutical processes. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2019 10;75:69-135. Epub 2019 Oct 10.

Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Oeiras, Portugal.

Multihaem cytochromes c are widespread in nature where they perform numerous roles in diverse anaerobic metabolic pathways. This is achieved in two ways: multihaem cytochromes c display a remarkable diversity of ways to organize multiple hemes within the protein frame; and the hemes possess an intrinsic reactive versatility derived from diverse spin, redox and coordination states. Here we provide a brief survey of multihaem cytochromes c that have been characterized in the context of their metabolic role. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2019 12;75:53-67. Epub 2019 Jul 12.

Department of Organic and Inorganic Chemistry, Federal University of Ceara, Center for Sciences, Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil.

The Escherichia coli operon dosCP, also called yddV-yddU, co-expresses two heme proteins, DosC and DosP, both of which are direct oxygen sensors but paradoxically have opposite effects on the levels of the second messenger c-di-GMP. DosC is a diguanylate cyclase that synthesizes c-di-GMP from GTP, whereas DosP is a phosphodiesterase that linearizes c-di-GMP to pGpG. Both proteins are associated with the large degradosome enzyme complex that regulates many bacterial genes post-transcriptionally by processing or degrading the corresponding RNAs. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2019 10;75:325-389. Epub 2019 Oct 10.

Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.

Rhizobia are α- and β-proteobacteria that form a symbiotic partnership with legumes, fixing atmospheric dinitrogen to ammonia and providing it to the plant. Oxygen regulation is key in this symbiosis. Fixation is performed by an oxygen-intolerant nitrogenase enzyme but requires respiration to meet its high energy demands. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2019 5;75:279-323. Epub 2019 Jul 5.

Department of Microbiology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States.

Bacillus subtilis Spx is the prototype for a large family of redox-responsive transcription factors found in many bacteria, most notably those from the phylum Firmicutes. Unusually for a transcription factor, B. subtilis Spx protein modulates gene expression by binding as a monomer to the αCTD domain of RNA polymerase (RNAP), and only interacts with DNA during subsequent promoter engagement. Read More

Adv Microb Physiol 2019 23;75:233-277. Epub 2019 Aug 23.

Institut für Mikrobiologie & Biotechnologie, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany.

Persulfide groups participate in a wide array of biochemical pathways and are chemically very versatile. The TusA protein has been identified as a central element supplying and transferring sulfur as persulfide to a number of important biosynthetic pathways, like molybdenum cofactor biosynthesis or thiomodifications in nucleosides of tRNAs. In recent years, it has furthermore become obvious that this protein is indispensable for the oxidation of sulfur compounds in the cytoplasm. Read More