scholarly journals Autotrophic and mixotrophic metabolism of an anammox bacterium revealed by in vivo13C and 2H metabolic network mapping

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher E. Lawson ◽  
Guylaine H.L. Nuijten ◽  
Rob M. de Graaf ◽  
Tyler B. Jacobson ◽  
Martin Pabst ◽  
...  

AbstractAnaerobic ammonium-oxidizing (anammox) bacteria mediate a key step in the biogeochemical nitrogen cycle and have been applied worldwide for the energy-efficient removal of nitrogen from wastewater. However, outside their core energy metabolism, little is known about the metabolic networks driving anammox bacterial anabolism and mixotrophy beyond genome-based predictions. Here, we experimentally resolved the central carbon metabolism of the anammox bacterium Candidatus ‘Kuenenia stuttgartiensis’ using time-series 13C and 2H isotope tracing, metabolomics, and isotopically nonstationary metabolic flux analysis (INST-MFA). Our findings confirm predicted metabolic pathways used for CO2 fixation, central metabolism, and amino acid biosynthesis in K. stuttgartiensis, and reveal several instances where genomic predictions are not supported by in vivo metabolic fluxes. This includes the use of an oxidative tricarboxylic acid cycle, despite the genome not encoding a known citrate synthase. We also demonstrate that K. stuttgartiensis is able to directly assimilate extracellular formate via the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway instead of oxidizing it completely to CO2 followed by reassimilation. In contrast, our data suggests that K. stuttgartiensis is not capable of using acetate as a carbon or energy source in situ and that acetate oxidation occurred via the metabolic activity of a low-abundance microorganism in the bioreactor’s side population. Together, these findings provide a foundation for understanding the carbon metabolism of anammox bacteria at a systems-level and will inform future studies aimed at elucidating factors governing their function and niche differentiation in natural and engineered ecosystems.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher E. Lawson ◽  
Guylaine H. L. Nuijten ◽  
Rob M. de Graaf ◽  
Tyler B. Jacobson ◽  
Martin Pabst ◽  
...  

Abstract Anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing (anammox) bacteria mediate a key step in the biogeochemical nitrogen cycle and have been applied worldwide for the energy-efficient removal of nitrogen from wastewater. However, outside their core energy metabolism, little is known about the metabolic networks driving anammox bacterial anabolism and use of different carbon and energy substrates beyond genome-based predictions. Here, we experimentally resolved the central carbon metabolism of the anammox bacterium Candidatus ‘Kuenenia stuttgartiensis’ using time-series 13C and 2H isotope tracing, metabolomics, and isotopically nonstationary metabolic flux analysis. Our findings confirm predicted metabolic pathways used for CO2 fixation, central metabolism, and amino acid biosynthesis in K. stuttgartiensis, and reveal several instances where genomic predictions are not supported by in vivo metabolic fluxes. This includes the use of the oxidative branch of an incomplete tricarboxylic acid cycle for alpha-ketoglutarate biosynthesis, despite the genome not having an annotated citrate synthase. We also demonstrate that K. stuttgartiensis is able to directly assimilate extracellular formate via the Wood–Ljungdahl pathway instead of oxidizing it completely to CO2 followed by reassimilation. In contrast, our data suggest that K. stuttgartiensis is not capable of using acetate as a carbon or energy source in situ and that acetate oxidation occurred via the metabolic activity of a low-abundance microorganism in the bioreactor’s side population. Together, these findings provide a foundation for understanding the carbon metabolism of anammox bacteria at a systems-level and will inform future studies aimed at elucidating factors governing their function and niche differentiation in natural and engineered ecosystems.


2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (10) ◽  
pp. 1701-1714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Lai ◽  
Bernard Lanz ◽  
Carole Poitry-Yamate ◽  
Jackeline F Romero ◽  
Corina M Berset ◽  
...  

In vivo 13C magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) enables the investigation of cerebral metabolic compartmentation while, e.g. infusing 13C-labeled glucose. Metabolic flux analysis of 13C turnover previously yielded quantitative information of glutamate and glutamine metabolism in humans and rats, while the application to in vivo mouse brain remains exceedingly challenging. In the present study, 13C direct detection at 14.1 T provided highly resolved in vivo spectra of the mouse brain while infusing [1,6-13C2]glucose for up to 5 h. 13C incorporation to glutamate and glutamine C4, C3, and C2 and aspartate C3 were detected dynamically and fitted to a two-compartment model: flux estimation of neuron-glial metabolism included tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA) flux in astrocytes (Vg = 0.16 ± 0.03 µmol/g/min) and neurons (VTCAn = 0.56 ± 0.03 µmol/g/min), pyruvate carboxylase activity (VPC = 0.041 ± 0.003 µmol/g/min) and neurotransmission rate (VNT = 0.084 ± 0.008 µmol/g/min), resulting in a cerebral metabolic rate of glucose (CMRglc) of 0.38 ± 0.02 µmol/g/min, in excellent agreement with that determined with concomitant 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18FDG PET).We conclude that modeling of neuron-glial metabolism in vivo is accessible in the mouse brain from 13C direct detection with an unprecedented spatial resolution under [1,6-13C2]glucose infusion.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (31) ◽  
pp. eabh2433
Author(s):  
Carolin C. M. Schulte ◽  
Khushboo Borah ◽  
Rachel M. Wheatley ◽  
Jason J. Terpolilli ◽  
Gerhard Saalbach ◽  
...  

Rhizobia induce nodule formation on legume roots and differentiate into bacteroids, which catabolize plant-derived dicarboxylates to reduce atmospheric N2 into ammonia. Despite the agricultural importance of this symbiosis, the mechanisms that govern carbon and nitrogen allocation in bacteroids and promote ammonia secretion to the plant are largely unknown. Using a metabolic model derived from genome-scale datasets, we show that carbon polymer synthesis and alanine secretion by bacteroids facilitate redox balance in microaerobic nodules. Catabolism of dicarboxylates induces not only a higher oxygen demand but also a higher NADH/NAD+ ratio than sugars. Modeling and 13C metabolic flux analysis indicate that oxygen limitation restricts the decarboxylating arm of the tricarboxylic acid cycle, which limits ammonia assimilation into glutamate. By tightly controlling oxygen supply and providing dicarboxylates as the energy and electron source donors for N2 fixation, legumes promote ammonia secretion by bacteroids. This is a defining feature of rhizobium-legume symbioses.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joy Omini ◽  
Izabela Wojciechowska ◽  
Aleksandra Skirycz ◽  
Hideaki Moriyama ◽  
Toshihiro Obata

Mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase (MDH)-citrate synthase (CS) multi-enzyme complex is a part of the Krebs tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle 'metabolon' which is enzyme machinery catalyzing sequential reactions without diffusion of reaction intermediates into a bulk matrix. This complex is assumed to be a dynamic structure involved in the regulation of the cycle by enhancing metabolic flux. Microscale Thermophoresis analysis of the porcine heart MDH-CS complex revealed that substrates of the MDH and CS reactions, NAD+ and acetyl-CoA, enhance complex association while products of the reactions, NADH and citrate, weaken the affinity of the complex. Oxaloacetate enhanced the interaction only when it was presented together with acetyl-CoA. Structural modeling using published CS structures suggested that the binding of these substrates can stabilize the closed format of CS which favors the MDH-CS association. Two other TCA cycle intermediates, ATP, and low pH also enhanced the association of the complex. These results suggest that dynamic formation of the MDH-CS multi-enzyme complex is modulated by metabolic factors responding to respiratory metabolism, and it may function in the feedback regulation of the cycle and adjacent metabolic pathways.


2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (11) ◽  
pp. 2369-2381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor Florez-Sarasa ◽  
Toshihiro Obata ◽  
N�stor Fern�ndez Del-Saz ◽  
Jean-Philippe Reichheld ◽  
Etienne H Meyer ◽  
...  

Abstract The alternative oxidase (AOX) constitutes a nonphosphorylating pathway of electron transport in the mitochondrial respiratory chain that provides flexibility to energy and carbon primary metabolism. Its activity is regulated in vitro by the mitochondrial thioredoxin (TRX) system which reduces conserved cysteines residues of AOX. However, in vivo evidence for redox regulation of the AOX activity is still scarce. In the present study, the redox state, protein levels and in vivo activity of the AOX in parallel to photosynthetic parameters were determined in Arabidopsis knockout mutants lacking mitochondrial trxo1 under moderate (ML) and high light (HL) conditions, known to induce in vivo AOX activity. In addition, 13C- and 14C-labeling experiments together with metabolite profiling were performed to better understand the metabolic coordination between energy and carbon metabolism in the trxo1 mutants. Our results show that the in vivo AOX activity is higher in the trxo1 mutants at ML while the AOX redox state is apparently unaltered. These results suggest that mitochondrial thiol redox systems are responsible for maintaining AOX in its reduced form rather than regulating its activity in vivo. Moreover, the negative regulation of the tricarboxylic acid cycle by the TRX system is coordinated with the increased input of electrons into the AOX pathway. Under HL conditions, while AOX and photosynthesis displayed similar patterns in the mutants, photorespiration is restricted at the level of glycine decarboxylation most likely as a consequence of redox imbalance.


2019 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 301-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tyler B. Jacobson ◽  
Paul A. Adamczyk ◽  
David M. Stevenson ◽  
Matthew Regner ◽  
John Ralph ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 252-259
Author(s):  
Zhitao Mao ◽  
Hongwu Ma

Background:Constraint-based metabolic network models have been widely used in phenotypic prediction and metabolic engineering design. In recent years, researchers have attempted to improve prediction accuracy by integrating regulatory information and multiple types of “omics” data into this constraint-based model. The transcriptome is the most commonly used data type in integration, and a large number of FBA (flux balance analysis)-based integrated algorithms have been developed.Methods and Results:We mapped the Kcat values to the tree structure of GO terms and found that the Kcat values under the same GO term have a higher similarity. Based on this observation, we developed a new method, called iMTBGO, to predict metabolic flux distributions by constraining reaction boundaries based on gene expression ratios normalized by marker genes under the same GO term. We applied this method to previously published data and compared the prediction results with other metabolic flux analysis methods which also utilize gene expression data. The prediction errors of iMTBGO for both growth rates and fluxes in the central metabolic pathways were smaller than those of earlier published methods.Conclusion:Considering the fact that reaction rates are not only determined by genes/expression levels, but also by the specific activities of enzymes, the iMTBGO method allows us to make more precise predictions of metabolic fluxes by using expression values normalized based on GO.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Salinas ◽  
Brendan M. Mumey ◽  
Ronald K. June

AbstractChondrocytes use the pathways of central metabolism to synthesize molecular building blocks and energy for cartilage homeostasis. An interesting feature of the in vivo chondrocyte environment is the cyclical loading generated in various activities (e.g. walking). However, it is unknown if central metabolism is altered by mechanical loading. We hypothesized that physiological dynamic compression alters central metabolism in chondrocytes to promote production of amino acid precursors for matrix synthesis. We measured the expression of central metabolites (e.g. glucose, its derivatives, and relevant co-factors) for primary human osteoarthritic chondrocytes in response to 0-30 minutes of compression. To analyze the data, we used principal components analysis and ANOVA simultaneous components analysis, as well as metabolic flux analysis. Compression induced metabolic responses consistent with our hypothesis. Additionally, these data show that chondrocyte samples from different patient donors exhibit different sensitivity to compression. Most important, we find that grade IV osteoarthritic chondrocytes are capable of synthesizing non-essential amino acids and precursors in response to mechanical loading. These results suggest that further advances in metabolic engineering of chondrocyte mechanotransduction may yield novel translational strategies for cartilage repair.


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