College of Agriculture

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As the foundation of the land grant mission at Montana State University, the College of Agriculture and the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station provide instruction in traditional and innovative degree programs and conduct research on old and new challenges for Montana’s agricultural community. This integration creates opportunities for students and faculty to excel through hands-on learning, to serve through campus and community engagement, to explore unique solutions to distinct and interesting questions and to connect Montanans with the global community through research discoveries and outreach.

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    Two functionally distinct NADP(+)-dependent ferredoxin oxidoreductases maintain the primary redox balance of Pyrococcus furiosus
    (2017-07) Nguyen, Diep M. N.; Schut, Gerrit J.; Zadvornyy, Oleg A.; Tokmina-Lukaszewska, Monika; Poudel, Saroj; Lipscomb, Gina L.; Adams, Leslie A.; Dinsmore, Jessica T.; Nixon, William J.; Boyd, Eric S.; Bothner, Brian; Peters, John W.; Adams, Michael W. W.
    Electron bifurcation has recently gained acceptance as the third mechanism of energy conservation in which energy is conserved through the coupling of exergonic and endergonic reactions. A structure-based mechanism of bifurcation has been elucidated recently for the flavin-based enzyme NADH-dependent ferredoxin NADP+ oxidoreductase I (NfnI) from the hyperthermophillic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus. NfnI is thought to be involved in maintaining the cellular redox balance, producing NADPH for biosynthesis by recycling the two other primary redox carriers, NADH and ferredoxin. The P. furiosus genome encodes an NfnI paralog termed NfnII, and the two are differentially expressed depending on the growth conditions. In this study, we show that deletion of the genes encoding either NfnI or NfnII affects the cellular concentrations of NAD(P)H and particularly NADPH. This results in a moderate to severe growth phenotype in deletion mutants, demonstrating a key role for each enzyme in maintaining redox homeostasis. Despite their similarity in primary sequence and cofactor content, crystallographic, kinetic, and mass spectrometry analyses reveal that there are fundamental structural differences between the two enzymes and NfnII does not catalyze the NfnI bifurcating reaction. Instead it exhibits non-bifurcating ferredoxin NADP oxidoreductase-type activity. NfnII is therefore proposed to be a bifunctional enzyme and to also catalyze a bifurcating reaction, although its third substrate, in addition to ferredoxin and NADP(H), is as yet unknown.
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    Growth of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in acetate-free medium when co-cultured with alginate-encapsulated, acetate-producing strains ofSynechococcus sp. PCC 7002
    (2014-10) Therien, Jesse B.; Zadvornyy, Oleg A.; Posewitz, Matthew C.; Bryant, Donald A.; Peters, John W.
    Background: The model alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii requires acetate as a co-substrate for optimal production of lipids, and the addition of acetate to culture media has practical and economic implications for algal biofuel production. Here we demonstrate the growth of C. reinhardtii on acetate provided by mutant strains of the cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002. Results: Optimal growth conditions for co-cultivation of C. reinhardtii with wild-type and mutant strains of Synechococcus sp. 7002 were established. In co-culture, acetate produced by a glycogen synthase knockout mutant of Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 was able to support the growth of a lipid-accumulating mutant strain of C. reinhardtii defective in starch production. Encapsulation of Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 using an alginate matrix was successfully employed in co-cultures to limit growth and maintain the stability. Conclusions: The ability of immobilized strains of the cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 to produce acetate at a level adequate to support the growth of lipid-accumulating strains of C. reinhartdii offers a potentially practical, photosynthetic alternative to providing exogenous acetate into growth media.
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