Temporal and Fluoride Control of Secondary Metabolism Regulates Cellular Organofluorine Biosynthesis

Elucidating mechanisms of natural organofluorine biosynthesis is essential for a basic understanding of fluorine biochemistry in living systems as well as for expanding biological methods for fluorine incorporation into small molecules of interest. To meet this goal we have combined massively parallel sequencing technologies, genetic knockout, and <i>in vitro</i> biochemical approaches to investigate the fluoride response of the only known genetic host of an organofluorine-producing pathway, <i>Streptomyces cattleya</i>. Interestingly, we have discovered that the major mode of <i>S. cattleya</i>’s resistance to the fluorinated toxin it produces, fluoroacetate, may be due to temporal control of production rather than the ability of the host’s metabolic machinery to discriminate between fluorinated and non-fluorinated molecules. Indeed, neither the acetate kinase/phosphotransacetylase acetate assimilation pathway nor the TCA cycle enzymes (citrate synthase and aconitase) exclude fluorinated substrates based on <i>in vitro</i> biochemical characterization. Furthermore, disruption of the fluoroacetate resistance gene encoding a fluoroacetyl-CoA thioesterase (FlK) does not appear to lead to an observable growth defect related to organofluorine production. By showing that a switch in central metabolism can mediate and control molecular fluorine incorporation, our findings reveal a new potential strategy toward diversifying simple fluorinated building blocks into more complex products

SOA Formation Potential of Emissions from Soil and Leaf Litter

Soil and leaf litter are significant global sources of small oxidized volatile organic compounds, VOCs (e.g., methanol and acetaldehyde). They may also be significant sources of larger VOCs that could act as precursors to secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation. To investigate this, soil and leaf litter samples were collected from the University of Idaho Experimental Forest and transported to the laboratory. There, the VOC emissions were characterized and used to drive SOA formation via dark, ozone-initiated reactions. Monoterpenes dominated the emission profile with emission rates as high as 228 μg-C m^–2 h^–1. The composition of the SOA produced was similar to biogenic SOA formed from oxidation of ponderosa pine emissions and α-pinene. Measured soil and litter monoterpene emission rates were compared with modeled canopy emissions. Results suggest surface soil and litter monoterpene emissions could range from 12 to 136% of canopy emissions in spring and fall. Thus, emissions from leaf litter may potentially extend the biogenic emissions season, contributing to significant organic aerosol formation in the spring and fall when reduced solar radiation and temperatures reduce emissions from living vegetation