Yet another kinase (YAK) 1 is a conserved eukaryotic protein kinase coordinating growth and development. We previously isolated a mutant of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii defective in the YAK1 ortholog triacylglycerol (TAG) accumulation regulator 1 (TAR1). The mutant tar1-1 displayed higher levels of chlorophyll, starch, TAG, and biomass than the parental strain C9 (renamed as C9-3) in photoautotrophic nitrogen (N)-deficient conditions. However, we found that the parental C9-3 showed faster chlorosis upon N-deficiency than the original C9 (C9-1) freshly recovered from cryopreservation, suggesting that C9-3 had acquired particular characteristics during long-term subculturing. To exclude phenotypes dependent on a particular parental strain, we newly created tar1 mutants from two wild-types, C9-1 and CC 125. Like tar1-1, the new tar1 mutants showed higher levels of chlorophyll and TAG/starch than the parental strain. Upon removal of N, Chlamydomonas cells divide once before ceasing further division. Previously, the single division after N-removal was arrested in tar1-1 in photomixotrophic conditions, but this phenotype was not observed in photoautotrophic conditions because of the particular characteristics of the parental C9-3. However, using C9- 1 and CC-125 as parental strains, we showed that cell division after N-removal was impaired in new tar1 mutants in photoautotrophic conditions. Consistent with the view that the division under N-deficiency is necessary for gametic differentiation, new tar1 mutants showed lower mating efficiency than the parental strains. Taken together, TAR1 was suggested to promote differentiation into gametes through the regulation of cell division in response to N-deficiency.

Corynebacterium glutamicum was metabolically engineered to produce phenylalanine, a valuable aromatic amino acid that can be used as a raw material in the food and pharmaceutical industries. First, a starting phenylalanine-producer was constructed by overexpressing tryptophan-sensitive 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate-7-phosphate synthase and phenylalanine- and tyrosine-insensitive bifunctional enzyme chorismate mutase prephenate dehydratase from Escherichia coli, followed by the inactivation of enzymes responsible for the formation of dihydroxyacetone and the consumption of shikimate pathway-related compounds. Second, redirection of the carbon flow from tyrosine to phenylalanine was attempted by deleting of the tyrA gene encoding prephenate dehydrogenase, which catalyzes the committed step for tyrosine biosynthesis from prephenate. However, suppressor mutants were generated, and two mutants were isolated and examined for phenylalanine production and genome sequencing. The suppressor mutant harboring an amino acid exchange (L180R) on RNase J, which was experimentally proven to lead to a loss of function of the enzyme, showed significantly enhanced production of phenylalanine. Finally, modifications of phosphoenolpyruvate-pyruvate metabolism were investigated, revealing that the inactivation of either phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase or pyruvate carboxylase, which are enzymes of the anaplerotic pathway, is an effective means for improving phenylalanine production. The resultant strain, harboring a phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase deficiency, synthesized 50.7 mM phenylalanine from 444 mM glucose. These results not only provided new insights into the practical mutations in constructing a phenylalanine-producing C. glutamicum but also demonstrated the creation of a potential strain for the biosynthesis of phenylalanine-derived compounds represented by plant secondary metabolites.

Arctic ecosystems are affected by negative influence of climate change, pollution, and overexploitation of resources. Microorganisms playing a key role in preserving extreme econiches are poorly studied and require the use of modern methods for studying both their biodiversity and physiological activity. We applied Illumina MiSeq to the high-throughput 16S rRNA sequencing study of four Laptev Sea sediments from 64 - 185 m depth, using next generation sequencing enables rapid analysis of composition and diversity of prokaryotic communities. Although the dominant phylum in all samples was Proteobacteria, only the deepest sample contained a high number of archaeal organisms (19%) with the predominance of Methanosarcinaceace family in comparison with less 1% in the other three samples. This deepest sample had the lowest biodiversity and richness indices. Comparison of functional profiles of communities using Global Mapper tool revealed similar average abundance of infectiousness, drug resistance and environmental adaptation determinants in all samples, and high functional abundance for xenobiotic degradation in two samples. Among cultivated bacteria which could be promising producers of secreted RNase the representatives of Bacillus and Lysinibacillus genera were found. Our results contribute to improve our understanding of richness and ecological role of Laptev Sea microbiota.

Protein synthesis in Corynebacterium glutamicum is critical for applications in biotechnology and medicine. However, the use of C. glutamicum for protein production is limited by its low expression and aggregation. To overcome these limitations, a molecular chaperone plasmid system was developed in this study to improve the efficiency of recombinant protein synthesis in C. glutamicum. The effect of molecular chaperones on target protein synthesis (Single-chain variable fragment, Scfv) under three different promoter strengths was tested. In addition, the plasmid containing the molecular chaperone and target protein was verified for growth stability and plasmid stability. This expression model was further validated using two recombinant proteins, human interferon-beta (Hifn) and hirudin variant III (Rhv3). Finally, the Rhv3 protein was purified, and analysis of Rhv3 activity confirmed that the use of a molecular chaperone led to an improvement in test protein synthesis. Thus, the use of molecular chaperones is believed to will improve recombinant proteins synthesis in C. glutamicum.

Various bacteria can change to a spherical cell-wall-deficient state, called L-from, in the presence of antibiotics that inhibit cell wall synthesis. L-forms are classified into two types: unstable and stable L-forms. Unstable L-forms revert to a normal walled state in the absence of antibiotics, while stable L-forms remain in their wall-deficient state. The conversion from unstable to stable L-forms has been often observed during long-term cultivation. However, the genetic cause for this conversion is not yet fully understood. Here, we obtained stable Bacillus subtilis L-form strains from unstable L-form strains via three independent long-term culturing experiments. The whole genome sequencing of the long-cultured strains identified many mutations, and some mutations were commonly found in all three long-cultured strains. The knockout strain of one of the commonly mutated genes, tagF, in the ancestral strain lost the ability to revert to walled state (rod shape), supporting that eliminating the function of tagF gene is one of the possible methods to convert unstable L forms to a stable state.

Cobetia bacteria are considered useful hosts for industrial applications owing to their fast growth, high cell density, and halophilicity. Here, we constructed an efficient conjugation method to obtain Cobetia sp. IU180733JP01 (5-11-6-3) transformants, which can produce bioplastics from alginate or seaweed waste. Lysogeny Broth medium containing 2% NaCl was used to co-cultivate the 5-11-6-3 strain (plasmid recipient) with Escherichia coli S17-1 (plasmid donor). Transformants with the highest conjugation efficiency [(2.92 ± 1.37) × 10^-3] were obtained at a donor:recipient cell number ratio of 5:1. This is the first study reporting the creation of recombinant strains in the genus Cobetia. This method will contribute to creating a platform strain for the production of bioplastics and other useful materials from marine biomass.