Metabolic perturbations in mutants of glucose transporters and their applications in metabolite production in Escherichia coli

Background: Most microorganisms have evolved to maximize growth rate, with rapid consumption of carbon sources from the surroundings. However, fast growing phenotypes usually feature secretion of organic compounds. For example, E. coli mainly produced acetate in fast growing condition such as glucose rich and aerobic condition, which is troublesome for metabolic engineering because acetate causes acidification of surroundings, growth inhibition and decline of production yield. The overflow metabolism can be alleviated by reducing glucose uptake rate. Results: As glucose transporters or their subunits were knocked out in E. coli, the growth and glucose uptake rates decreased and biomass yield was improved. Alteration of intracellular metabolism caused by the mutations was investigated with transcriptome analysis and C-13 metabolic flux analysis (C-13 MFA). Various transcriptional and metabolic perturbations were identified in the sugar transporter mutants. Transcription of genes related to glycolysis, chemotaxis, and flagella synthesis was downregulated, and that of gluconeogenesis, Krebs cycle, alternative transporters, quorum sensing, and stress induced proteins was upregulated in the sugar transporter mutants. The specific production yields of value-added compounds (enhanced green fluorescent protein, gamma-aminobutyrate, lycopene) were improved significantly in the sugar transporter mutants. Conclusions: The elimination of sugar transporter resulted in alteration of global gene expression and redirection of carbon flux distribution, which was purposed to increase energy yield and recycle carbon sources. When the pathways for several valuable compounds were introduced to mutant strains, specific yield of them were highly improved. These results showed that controlling the sugar uptake rate is a good strategy for ameliorating metabolite production.11Ysciescopu

Melting of Charge/Orbital Ordered States in Nd1/2_{1/2}Sr1/2_{1/2}MnO3_3: Temperature and Magnetic Field Dependent Optical Studies

We investigated the temperature ($T=$ 15 $\sim$ 290 K) and the magnetic field ($H=$ 0 $\sim$ 17 T) dependent optical conductivity spectra of a charge/orbital ordered manganite, Nd$_{1/2}$Sr$_{1/2}$MnO$_3$. With variation of $T$ and $H$, large spectral weight changes were observed up to 4.0 eV. These spectral weight changes could be explained using the polaron picture. Interestingly, our results suggested that some local ordered state might remain above the charge ordering temperature, and that the charge/orbital melted state at a high magnetic field (i.e. at $H=$ 17 T and $$ 4.2 K) should be a three dimensional ferromagnetic metal. We also investigated the first order phase transition from the charge/orbital ordered state to ferromagnetic metallic state using the $T$- and $H$% -dependent dielectric constants $\epsilon_1$. In the charge/orbital ordered insulating state, $\epsilon_1$ was positive and $d\epsilon_1/d\omega \approx 0$. With increasing $T$ and $H$, $\epsilon_1$ was increased up to the insulator-metal phase boundaries. And then, $\epsilon_1$ abruptly changed into negative and $d\epsilon_1/d\omega >0$, which was consistent with typical responses of a metal. Through the analysis of $\epsilon_1$ using an effective medium approximation, we found that the melting of charge/orbital ordered states should occur through the percolation of ferromagnetic metal domains.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev.

Swell prediction for the East Korean coast

Long-period abnormally high swell waves have been generated in the East Sea near Hokkaido, Japan, in winter during the atmospheric depression. These waves, named Yorimawari in Japanese, occasionally attack the coasts of both Korea and Japan. Waves significantly higher than normal years were recorded along the east Korean coast in 2006. In 2008, the swell caused considerable damages in Toyama and the Niigata coastal area of Japan and in Anmok east coast of Korea. This paper attempts to hindcast these events using unstructured grid wave model UnSwan with input of high resolution reanalysis wind data from ECMWF. Wave heights and periods are found to be fairly well reproduced comparing with the observed values in the south of the East/Japan Sea, although the long period wave with small amplitude is hardly reproduced

Dimensional Crossover driven by Magnetic Ordering in Optical Conductivity of Pr_{1/2}Sr_{1/2}MnO_3

We investigated optical properties of Pr_{0.5}Sr_{0.5}MnO_3, which has the A-type antiferromagnetic ordering at a low temperature. We found that T- dependence of spectral weight transfer shows a clear correlation with the magnetic phase transition. In comparison with the optical conductivity results of Nd_{0.5}Sr_{0.5}MnO_3, which has the CE-type antiferromagnetic charge ordering, we showed that optical properties of Pr_{0.5}Sr_{0.5}MnO_3 near the Neel temperature could be explained by a crossover from 3D to 2D metals. Details of spectral weight changes are consistent with the polaron picture.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PRL at June

Optical Investigations of Charge Gap in Orbital Ordered La1/2Sr3/2MnO4

Temperature and polarization dependent electronic structure of La1/2Sr3/2MnO4 were investigated by optical conductivity analyses. With decreasing temperature, for E//ab, a broad mid-infrared (MIR) peak of La1/2Sr3/2MnO4 becomes narrower and moves to the higher frequency, while that of Nd1/2Sr3/2MnO4 nearly temperature independent. We showed that the MIR peak in La1/2Sr3/2MnO4 originates from orbital ordering associated with CE-type magnetic ordering and that the Jahn-Teller distortion has a significant influence on the width and the position of the MIR peak.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Polaronic Signatures in Mid-Infrared Spectra: Prediction for LaMnO3 and CaMnO3

Hole-doped LaMnO3 and electron-doped CaMnO3 form self-trapped electronic states. The spectra of these states have been calculated using a two orbital (Mn eg Jahn-Teller) model, from which the non-adiabatic optical conductivity spectra are obtained. In both cases the optical spectrum contains weight in the gap region, whose observation will indicate the self-trapped nature of the carrier states. The predicted spectra are proportional to the concentration of the doped carriers in the dilute regime, with coefficients calculated with no further model parameters.Comment: 6 pages with 3 figures imbedde

Phenoconversion from probable rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder to mild cognitive impairment to dementia in a population-based sample

© 2017 The Authors Introduction Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is strongly associated with synucleinopathies. In 2012, we reported an increased risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Parkinson disease (PD) in cognitively normal Olmsted County, Minnesota, residents, aged 70 to 89 years with probable RBD. Here, we examine their progression to dementia and other neurodegenerative phenotypes. Methods Fifteen participants with RBD who were diagnosed with either MCI or PD were longitudinally followed, and their subsequent clinical courses were reviewed. Results Over 6.4 ± 2.9 years, six of the 14 participants with MCI developed additional neurodegenerative signs, five of whom had Lewy body disease features. Four of them progressed to dementia at a mean age 84.8 ± 4.9 years, three of whom met the criteria for probable dementia with Lewy bodies. One subject with PD developed MCI, but not dementia. Discussion Our findings from the population-based sample of Olmsted County, Minnesota, residents suggest that a substantial number of RBD patients tend to develop overt synucleinopathy features over time, and RBD patients who develop MCI and subsequent dementia have clinical features most consistent with dementia with Lewy bodies