Authors are grateful to David Graham Straker for English revision. This study was supported by CAPES, CNPq, and FAPERJ. P.R.G.d.F.-J. and C.M.C.C.-P. contributed equally to this work. “
“The bacterium Chloroflexus aurantiacus excreted significant amounts of acetate during photohetero trophic growth on glucose and in resting cell suspensions.

Up to 1.5 mol acetate per mol glucose were formed. In acetate-forming Selleck PS-341 cells, the activities of phosphotransacetylase and acetate kinase, usually involved in acetate formation in Bacteria, could not be detected; instead, the cells contained an acetyl-CoA synthetase (ADP-forming) (ACD) (acetyl-CoA + ADP + Pi  acetate + ATP + CoA), an enzyme so far reported in prokaryotes to be specific for acetate-forming Archaea. ACD, which was induced 10-fold during growth on glucose, was purified and the encoding gene was identified as Caur_3920. The recombinant enzyme, a homotetrameric 300-kDa protein composed of 75-kDa subunits, was characterized as functional ACD. Substrate specificities and kinetic constants for acetyl-CoA/acetate and other acyl-CoA esters/acids were determined, showing similarity of the C. aurantiacus ACD to archaeal ACD I isoenzymes, which are involved in acetate formation from sugars. This is the first report of a functional ACD involved in acetate formation in the domain of Bacteria. “
“cAMP

receptor protein (CRP) is the best characterized INCB018424 mouse global regulator of Escherichia coli. After genomic SELEX screening, a total of minimum 378 promoters have been identified as its regulation targets on the E. coli genome. Among a number of promoters carrying two CRP-binding sites, several promoters carry two CRP-binding sites, one upstream but another downstream of transcription initiation sites. The regulatory role of downstream CRP site remains unsolved. Using the pck gene encoding phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase as a model promoter, we analyzed the role of CRP-associated downstream of the transcription initiation site. Gel

shift assay and AFM observation indicate that CRP binds to both the promoter-distal site (CRP box-1) at −90.5 and the site (CRP box-2) MG-132 research buy at +13.5 downstream of transcription initiation site. The binding affinity is higher for CRP box-1. Roles of two CRP sites were examined using in vitro transcription assay and in vivo reporter assay. In both cases, transcription repression was observed in the presence of high concentrations of CRP. Taken together, we propose that cAMP-CRP associated at downstream CRP box-2 plays as a repressor for pck transcription only in the presence of high levels of cAMP-CRP. “
“A Nostoc sp. PCC 7120 iron bioreporter containing iron-regulated schizokinen transporter gene alr0397 promoter fused to the luxAB genes was examined to optimize its response to bioavailable iron.