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Functional Biocatalytic Molecules in Microbial Systems in Extreme Environments

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 May 2024) | Viewed by 2309

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Sapporo, Japan
Interests: alkaliphiles; microbial physiology; heme protein; taxonomy of extremophiles; applied microbiology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Studies on extremophiles have resulted in the discovery of useful enzymes, with special characteristics and specific functions under specific or conventional conditions. Extremophiles are resources of useful enzymes or substances that work under desirable reaction conditions. There are several successful examples of biomolecules produced from isolated microorganisms. There are cases where the microbial communities in extreme environments exhibit biocatalytic functions. The microbial communities in extremophilic environments are highly sustainable and resilient when compared to those in the conventional systems employing single microorganisms. In addition, a series of reactions and interactions among different species of microorganisms could be utilized by using complexed microbial consortia. For advanced applications of such microbial ecosystem, it is necessary to elucidate the corresponding key molecular functions of the microbiota. These analyses will expand the discoveries of new functional molecules in extremophiles. Exploration should focus not only on functional molecules from the isolates but also on the genes in the microbial community. The biological systems and proteins in extremophiles undergo systematic changes in the metabolic system and structure, respectively, for survival under adverse physicochemical conditions. There are common features among such changes among the same category of extremophiles. We can understand that the distribution of such specific features in the bacterial genomes that are available in the database. The advent of new molecular biology tools and the acquisition of enormous genetic information in the database together with the development of bioinformatic methodologies has markedly changed the landscape for discovering and understanding ecological systems in the extreme environments as well as for biological systems in the cells of individual species in extremophiles during the last decade. This will enable a more comprehensive and systematic understanding of extremophiles and the knowledge could have wider future applications.

Prof. Dr. Isao Yumoto
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • microbial ecosystem
  • functional molecules
  • extremophile
  • utilization of physicochemical conditions
  • biocatalyst

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 2528 KiB  
Article
Effect of Fermentation Scale on Microbiota Dynamics and Metabolic Functions for Indigo Reduction
by Nowshin Farjana, Hiromitsu Furukawa, Hisako Sumi and Isao Yumoto
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(19), 14696; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241914696 - 28 Sep 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1984
Abstract
During indigo dyeing fermentation, indigo reduction for the solubilization of indigo particles occurs through the action of microbiota under anaerobic alkaline conditions. The original microbiota in the raw material (sukumo: composted indigo plant) should be appropriately converged toward the extracellular electron [...] Read more.
During indigo dyeing fermentation, indigo reduction for the solubilization of indigo particles occurs through the action of microbiota under anaerobic alkaline conditions. The original microbiota in the raw material (sukumo: composted indigo plant) should be appropriately converged toward the extracellular electron transfer (EET)-occurring microbiota by adjusting environmental factors for indigo reduction. The convergence mechanisms of microbiota, microbial physiological basis for indigo reduction, and microbiota led by different velocities in the decrease in redox potential (ORP) at different fermentation scales were analyzed. A rapid ORP decrease was realized in the big batch, excluding Actinomycetota effectively and dominating Alkalibacterium, which largely contributed to the effective indigo reduction. Functional analyses of the microbiota related to strong indigo reduction on approximately day 30 indicated that the carbohydrate metabolism, prokaryotic defense system, and gene regulatory functions are important. Because the major constituent in the big batch was Alkalibacterium pelagium, we attempted to identify genes related to EET in its genome. Each set of genes for flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) transportation to modify the flavin mononucleotide (FMN)-associated family, electron transfer from NADH to the FMN-associated family, and demethylmenaquinone (DMK) synthesis were identified in the genome sequence. The correlation between indigo intensity reduction and metabolic functions suggests that V/A-type H+/Na+-transporting ATPase and NAD(P)H-producing enzymes drive membrane transportations and energization in the EET system, respectively. Full article
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