How Environmental Bacteria Explore the Chemical Landscape and Invent New Reactions
Event details
| Date | 10.02.2020 |
| Hour | 12:15 |
| Speaker | Prof. Víctor de Lorenzo, Spanish National Research Council - CSIC, Madrid (E) |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
BIOENGINEERING SEMINAR
(sandwiches served)
Abstract:
The still-evolving 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT) pathway of Burkholderia cepacia R34 has been studied as a case of emergence of new metabolic capabilities in environmental bacteria. The DNT route originated from a precursor naphthalene degradation pathway and the first enzyme (DNT dioxygenase) maintains significant activity towards its earlier substrate. Inspection of in vivo reactions indicates that reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by the faulty (i.e. uncoupled) reaction of the precursor enzymes with DNT elicit genetic diversification. Artificially decreasing the intracellular pool of NAD(P)H caused DNT+ cells to acquire a high genetic-diversification regime. These observations provide a view of metabolic evolution as a sort of heterotic computing in which the problem is embodied in the physicochemical frame of the cell and the exploration of the solution space is pushed by its endogenous dynamics. On this basis, it is plausible that some members of a given microbial community are prone to innovate their metabolic capacities much faster than others while the rest may benefit from such innovation through horizontal gene transfer.
(sandwiches served)
Abstract:
The still-evolving 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT) pathway of Burkholderia cepacia R34 has been studied as a case of emergence of new metabolic capabilities in environmental bacteria. The DNT route originated from a precursor naphthalene degradation pathway and the first enzyme (DNT dioxygenase) maintains significant activity towards its earlier substrate. Inspection of in vivo reactions indicates that reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by the faulty (i.e. uncoupled) reaction of the precursor enzymes with DNT elicit genetic diversification. Artificially decreasing the intracellular pool of NAD(P)H caused DNT+ cells to acquire a high genetic-diversification regime. These observations provide a view of metabolic evolution as a sort of heterotic computing in which the problem is embodied in the physicochemical frame of the cell and the exploration of the solution space is pushed by its endogenous dynamics. On this basis, it is plausible that some members of a given microbial community are prone to innovate their metabolic capacities much faster than others while the rest may benefit from such innovation through horizontal gene transfer.
Practical information
- Informed public
- Free
Organizer
Contact
- Institute of Bioengineering (IBI), Christina Mattsson