Transferable denitrification capability of thermus thermophilus

Laboratory-adapted strains of Thermus spp. have been shown to require oxygen for growth, including the model strains T. thermophilus HB27 and HB8. In contrast, many isolates of this species that have not been intensively grown under laboratory conditions keep the capability to grow anaerobically with one or more electron acceptors. The use of nitrogen oxides, especially nitrate, as electron acceptors is one of the most widespread capabilities among these facultative strains. In this process, nitrate is reduced to nitrite by a reductase (Nar) that also functions as electron transporter toward nitrite and nitric oxide reductases when nitrate is scarce, effectively replacing respiratory complex III. In many T. thermophilus denitrificant strains, most electrons for Nar are provided by a new class of NADH dehydrogenase (Nrc). The ability to reduce nitrite to NO and subsequently to N2O by the corresponding Nir and Nor reductases is also strain specific. The genes encoding the capabilities for nitrate (nar) and nitrite (nir and nor) respiration are easily transferred between T. thermophilus strains by natural competence or by a conjugation-like process and may be easily lost upon continuous growth under aerobic conditions. The reason for this instability is apparently related to the fact that these metabolic capabilities are encoded in gene cluster islands, which are delimited by insertion sequences and integrated within highly variable regions of easily transferable extrachromosomal elements. Together with the chromosomal genes, these plasmid-associated genetic islands constitute the extended pangenome of T. thermophilus that provides this species with an enhanced capability to adapt to changing environments. © 2014, American Society for Microbiology.Spanish Ministry of Science. An institutional grant from Fundación Ramón ArecesPeer Reviewe

Unconventional lateral gene transfer in extreme thermophilic bacteria.

Conjugation and natural competence are two major mechanisms that explain the acquisition of foreign genes throughout bacterial evolution. In recent decades, several studies in model organisms have revealed in great detail the steps involved in such processes. The findings support the idea that the major basis of these mechanisms is essentially similar in all bacteria. However, recent work has pinpointed the existence of new, evolutionarily different processes underlying lateral gene transfer. In Thermus thermophilus HB27, at least 16 proteins are required for the activity of one of the most efficient natural competence systems known so far. Many of those proteins have no similarities to proteins involved in natural competence in other well-known models. This unusual competence system is conserved, in association with the chromosome, in all other Thermus spp. genomes so far available, it being functional even in strains from isolated environments, such as deep mines. Conjugation is also possible among Thermus spp. Homologues to proteins implicated in conjugation in model bacteria are encoded in the genome of a recently sequenced strain of Thermus thermophilus and shared by other members of the genus. Nevertheless, processive DNA transfer in the absence of a functional natural competence system in strains in which no conjugation homologous genes can be found hints at the existence of an additional and unconventional conjugation mechanism in these bacteria. [Int Microbiol 2011; 14(4):187-199]Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. An institutional grant from Ramon Areces Foundation to CBMSO is acknowledgedPeer Reviewe

Recent Advances in Photocatalytic Functionalization of Quinoxalin-2-ones

Quinoxalin‐2(1H)‐one is an important class of nitrogen heterocycle in medicinal and pharmaceutical industry, which became a synthetic target in organic chemistry in recent years. This review covers the recent advances in the functionalization of this particular nitrogen heterocycle through photocatalysis

Asymmetric Oxidative Mannich Reactions

The asymmetric Mannich reaction is one of the most straightforward methodologies for the enantioselective synthesis of chiral amines. In general, asymmetric Mannich reactions involve the use of imines as electrophiles. However, in recent years, several asymmetric oxidative Mannich reactions have been reported using amines as electrophiles. This review provides an overview of these recent publications, including the different oxidants used and the scope and limitations of the different catalytic systems

Deletion of the primase-polymerases encoding gene, located in a mobile element in Thermus thermophilus HB27, leads to loss of function mutation of addAB genes

DNA primase-polymerases (Ppol) have been shown to play active roles in DNA repair and damage tolerance, both in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. The ancestral thermophilic bacterium Thermus thermophilus strain HB27 encodes a Ppol protein among the genes present in mobile element ICETh2, absent in other T. thermophilus strains. Using different strategies we ablated the function of Ppol in HB27 cells, either by knocking out the gene through insertional mutagenesis, markerless deletion or through abolition of its catalytic activity. Whole genome sequencing of this diverse collection of Ppol mutants showed spontaneous loss of function mutation in the helicase-nuclease AddAB in every ppol mutant isolated. Given that AddAB is a major player in recombinational repair in many prokaryotes, with similar activity to the proteobacterial RecBCD complex, we have performed a detailed characterization of the ppol mutants in combination with addAB mutants. The results show that knockout addAB mutants are more sensitive to DNA damage agents than the wild type, and present a dramatic three orders of magnitude increase in natural transformation efficiencies with both plasmid and lineal DNA, whereas ppol mutants show defects in plasmid stability. Interestingly, DNA-integrity comet assays showed that the genome of all the ppol and/or addAB mutants was severely affected by widespread fragmentation, however, this did not translate in neat loss of viability of the strains. All these data support that Ppol appears to keep in balance the activity of AddAB as a part of the DNA housekeeping maintenance in T. thermophilus HB27, thus, playing a key role in its genome stabilityThis work was supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation PID2019-109073RB-I00. CV was a holder of a competitive FPI contract. An institutional grant from Fundación Ramón Areces to the CBMSO was also acknowledge

Photocatalytic Giese Addition of 1,4-Dihydroquinoxalin-2-ones to Electron-Poor Alkenes Using Visible Light

The visible-light photoredox-catalyzed coupling of 1,4-dihydroquinoxalin-2-ones and Michael acceptors was achieved using Ru(bpy)3Cl2 as the photocatalyst and (PhO)2PO2H as an additive. The optimized reaction conditions provide a good yield for the radical conjugate addition products (44 examples) with a wide range of structurally different Michael acceptors. A gram scale reaction using sunlight irradiation is also described. Furthermore, several transformations were carried out with the Giese addition products

Catalytic Nucleophilic and Electrophilic Functionalization of Dihydroquinoxalin-2-ones

The functionalization at the C-3 position of 3,4-dihydroquinoxalin-2-one core has been significantly targeted over the last years. Several nucleophilic, electrophilic as well as radical catalytic functionalization of these nitrogen heterocycles have been reported. Usually, the more convenient methods are the direct photoredox functionalizations which use mild, green and sustainable conditions

A modular vector toolkit with a tailored set of thermosensors to regulate gene expression in thermus thermophilus

The Supporting Information is available free of charge on the ACS Publications website at DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.9b02107Modular plasmid architectures have shown to be a very useful resource to standardize, build, share, and compare biological parts and functional vectors, and are being applied in an increasing number of microorganisms. Here, we present a modular plasmid toolkit for Thermus thermophilus, a species considered as a workhorse for biotechnology and a model for high-temperature biology. Apart from integrating improved versions of already existing parts, we have characterized specific promoters and developed a thermosensor-based palette that restricts the expression to Thermus and, at the same time, controls protein expression in this organism in a temperature-dependent mannerThis work was supported by the European Union grant H2020-BIOTEC-2014-2015/H2020-LEIT-BIO-2015-1 and grant BIO2016-77031R from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU). An institutional grant to CBMSO from Fundación Ramón Areces and an FPI contract to C.V. from the MCIU are also acknowledge

Copper-Catalyzed Aerobic Oxidative Alkynylation of 3,4-Dihydroquinoxalin-2-ones

Herein, we described a ligand-free copper-catalyzed aerobic oxidative functionalization of 3,4-dihydroquinoxalin-2(1H)-ones with terminal alkynes using visible-light and oxygen as terminal oxidant to give 3-ethynyl-3,4-dihydroquinoxalin-2(1H)-one, cyclic propargylic amines, in moderate to good yields. Moreover, we demonstrate the versatility of the 3-ethynyl-3,4-dihydroquinoxalin-2(1H)-ones obtained by preparing several 3,4-dihydroquinoxalin-2-one derivatives

9,10-Phenanthrenedione as Visible-Light Photoredox Catalyst: A Green Methodology for the Functionalization of 3,4-Dihydro-1,4-Benzoxazin-2- Ones through a Friedel-Crafts Reaction

A visible-light photoredox functionalization of 3,4-dihydro-1,4-benzoxazin-2-ones through a Friedel-Crafts reaction with indoles using an inexpensive organophotoredox catalyst is described. The reaction uses a dual catalytic system that is formed by a photocatalyst simple and cheap, 9,10-phenanthrenedione, and a Lewis acid, Zn(OTf)2. 5W white LEDs are used as visible-light source and oxygen from air as a terminal oxidant, obtaining the corresponding products with good yields. The reaction can be extended to other electron-rich arenes. Our methodology represents one of the most valuable and sustainable approach for the functionalization of 3,4-dihydro-1,4-benzoxazin-2-ones, as compared to the reported procedures. Furthermore, several transformations were carried out, such as the synthesis of the natural product cephalandole A and a tryptophol derivative