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The reduction of tetrazolium salts to coloured formazans is often used as an indicator of cell metabolism during microbiology studies, although the reduction mechanisms have never clearly been established in bacteria. The objective of the present study was to identify the reduction mechanisms of tetrazolium violet (TV) in Lactococcus lactis using a mutagenesis approach, under two experimental conditions generally applied in microbiology: a plate test with growing cells, and a liquid test with non-growing (resting) cells. The results showed that in both tests, TV reduction resulted from electron transfer from an intracellular donor (mainly NADH) to TV via the electron transport chain (ETC), but the reduction sites in the ETC depended on experimental conditions. Using the plate test, menaquinones were essential for TV reduction and membrane NADH dehydrogenases (NoxA and/or NoxB) were partly involved in electron transfer to menaquinones. In this case, TV reduction mainly occurred outside the cells and in the outer part of the plasma membrane. During the liquid test, TV was directly reduced by NoxA and/or NoxB, probably in the inner part of the membrane, where NoxA and NoxB are localized. In this case, reduction was directly related to the intracellular NADH pool. Based on these findings, new applications for TV tests are proposed, such as NADH pool determination with the liquid test and the screening of mutants affected in menaquinone biosynthesis with the plate test. Preliminary results using other tetrazolium salts in the plate test showed that the reduction sites depended on the salt, suggesting that similar studies should be carried out with other tetrazolium salts so that the outcome of each test can be interpreted correctly.

In the context of developing ecofriendly chemistry, artificial enzymes are now considered as promising tools for synthesis. They are prepared in particular with the aim to catalyze reactions that are rarely, if ever, catalyzed by natural enzymes. We discovered that 1‐aminocyclopropane carboxylic acid oxidase reconstituted with CuII served as an efficient artificial Diels–Alderase. The kinetic parameters of the catalysis of the cycloaddition of cyclopentadiene and 2‐azachalcone were determined (KM=230 μm, kapp=3 h−1), which gave access to reaction conditions that provided quantitative yield and >99 % ee of the (1S,2R,3R,4R) product isomer. This unprecedented performance was rationalized by molecular modeling as only one docking pose of 2‐azachalcone was possible in the active site of the enzyme and this was the one that leads to the (1S,2R,3R,4R) product isomer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was conducted to examine the effect of inactivation of genes encoding NADH oxidases (naxE and ahpF) and components of the electron transport chain (ETC) (menC and noxAB) on the ability of Lactococcus lactis to decrease the redox potential of ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) skim milk during growth under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The results revealed that ETC plays a significant role in the reduction of oxidizing compounds other than oxygen and is also responsible for the decrease in the milk redox potential when the oxygen concentration reaches zero or under anaerobic conditions.

Dietary interventions might prevent or reverse age-related declines in health through modification of the activity and composition of the intestinal microbiota. As a first step toward more comprehensive evaluations of single dietary components on healthy aging, 16 S r RNA gene amplicon sequencing was applied to determine the structure of the bacterial communities in the ceca of 20-month-old healthy mice fed energy-controlled diets containing 0, 18, or 36% type 2 resistant starch ( RS) from high-amylose maize ( HAM- RS2). The cecal microbiota of mice fed a diet depleted in RS and containing the readily digestible carbohydrate amylopectin were dominated by bacteria in the Firmicutes phylum and contained low levels of Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria. In contrast, mice fed diets containing HAM- RS2 were colonized by higher levels of Bacteroidetes and Bifidobacterium, Akkermansia, and Allobaculum species in proportions that were dependent on the concentration of the dietary fiber. The proportions of Bifidobacterium and Akkermansia were positively correlated with mouse feeding responses, gut weight, and expression levels of proglucagon, the precursor of the gut anti-obesity/diabetic hormone GLP-1. This study showed that aging mice harbor a distinct microbiota, which can be modulated by RS and enriched for bacteria that are associated with improved health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1-Aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic oxidase (ACCO) is a non-heme iron(II)-containing enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of the phytohormone ethylene, which regulates fruit ripening and flowering in plants. The active conformation of ACCO, and in particular that of the C-terminal part, remains unclear and open and closed conformations have been proposed. In this work, a combined experimental and computational study to understand the conformation and dynamics of the C-terminal part is reported. Site-directed spin-labeling coupled to electron paramagnetic resonance (SDSL-EPR) spectroscopy was used. Mutagenesis experiments were performed to generate active enzymes bearing two paramagnetic labels (nitroxide radicals) anchored on cysteine residues, one in the main core and one in the C-terminal part. Inter-spin distance distributions were measured by pulsed EPR spectroscopy and compared with the results of molecular dynamics simulations. The results reveal the existence of a flexibility of the C-terminal part. This flexibility generates several conformations of the C-terminal part of ACCO that correspond neither to the existing crystal structures nor to the modelled structures. This highly dynamic region of ACCO raises questions on its exact function during enzymatic activity., (© 2019 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

In the context of developing ecofriendly chemistry, artificial enzymes are now considered as promising tools for synthesis. They are prepared in particular with the aim to catalyze reactions that are rarely, if ever, catalyzed by natural enzymes. We discovered that 1-aminocyclopropane carboxylic acid oxidase reconstituted with Cu II served as an efficient artificial Diels-Alderase. The kinetic parameters of the catalysis of the cycloaddition of cyclopentadiene and 2-azachalcone were determined (K M =230 μm, k app =3 h -1 ), which gave access to reaction conditions that provided quantitative yield and >99 % ee of the (1S,2R,3R,4R) product isomer. This unprecedented performance was rationalized by molecular modeling as only one docking pose of 2-azachalcone was possible in the active site of the enzyme and this was the one that leads to the (1S,2R,3R,4R) product isomer., (© 2019 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)