The Rnf complex is a respiratory enzyme that catalyzes oxidation of reduced ferredoxin to the reduction of NAD, and the negative free energy change of this reaction is used to generate a transmembrane ion gradient. In one class of anaerobic, acetogenic bacteria the Rnf complex is believed to be essential for energy conservation and autotrophic growth. We describe here a methodology for markerless mutagenesis in the model bacterium of this class, , which enabled us to delete the genes and to test their role. The mutant did not grow on H+CO, neither did it produce acetate or ATP from H+CO, and ferredoxin:NAD oxidoreductase activity as well as Na translocation was also completely lost, supporting the hypothesis that the Rnf complex is the only respiratory enzyme in this metabolism. Unexpectedly, the mutant also did not grow on low energy substrates such as ethanol or lactate. Oxidation of these substrates is not coupled to the reduction of ferredoxin but only of NAD, and we speculated that the growth phenotype is caused by a loss of reduced ferredoxin, indispensable for biosynthesis and CO reduction. The electron bifurcating hydrogenase of reduces ferredoxin and indeed, addition of H to the cultures restored growth on ethanol and lactate. This is consistent with the hypothesis that endergonic reduction of ferredoxin with NADH is driven by reverse electron transport catalyzed by the Rnf complex which renders the Rnf complex essential also for growth on low energy substrates. Ferredoxin and NAD are key electron-carriers in anaerobic bacteria, but energetically they are not equivalent since the redox-potential of ferredoxin is lower than that of the NADH/NAD couple. We describe by mutant studies in that the main function of Rnf is to energeticallylink cellular pools of ferredoxin and NAD When ferredoxin>NADH, exergonic electron flow from ferredoxin to NAD generates a chemiosmotic potential. This is essential for energy conservation during autotrophic growth. When NADH>ferredoxin, the Rnf works in reverse. This reaction is essential for growth on low energy substrates to provide reduced ferredoxin, indispensable for biosynthesis and CO reduction. Our studies put a new perspective on the cellular function of the membrane-bound, ion-translocating Rnf complex widespread in bacteria.

SummaryThe legume genus Mimosa has > 500 species, with two major centres of diversity, Brazil (c. 350 spp.) and Mexico (c. 100 spp.). In Brazil most species are nodulated by Burkholderia. Here we asked whether this is also true of native and endemic Mexican species.We have tested this apparent affinity for betaproteobacteria by examining the symbionts of native and endemic species of Mimosa in Mexico, especially from the central highlands where Mimosa spp. have diversified. Nodules were tested for betaproteobacteria using in situ immunolocalization. Rhizobia isolated from the nodules were genetically characterized and tested for their ability to nodulate Mimosa spp.Immunological analysis of 25 host taxa suggested that most (including all the highland endemics) were not nodulated by betaproteobacteria. Phylogenetic analyses of 16S rRNA, recA, nodA, nodC and nifH genes from 87 strains isolated from 20 taxa confirmed that the endemic Mexican Mimosa species favoured alphaproteobacteria in the genera Rhizobium and Ensifer: this was confirmed by nodulation tests.Host phylogeny, geographic isolation and coevolution with symbionts derived from very different soils have potentially contributed to the striking difference in the choice of symbiotic partners by Mexican and Brazilian Mimosa species.

The regulatory bodies request full sequence data assessment both for innovator and biosimilar monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Full sequence coverage is typically used to verify the integrity of the analytical data obtained following the combination of multiple LC-MS/MS datasets from orthogonal protease digests (so called “bottom-up” approaches). Top-down or middle-down mass spectrometric approaches have the potential to minimize artifacts, reduce overall analysis time and provide orthogonality to this traditional approach. In this work we report a new combined approach involving middle-up LC-QTOF and middle-down LC-MALDI in-source decay (ISD) mass spectrometry. This was applied to cetuximab, panitumumab and natalizumab, selected as representative US Food and Drug Administration- and European Medicines Agency-approved mAbs. The goal was to unambiguously confirm their reference sequences and examine the general applicability of this approach. Furthermore, a new measure for assessing the integrity and validity of results from middle-down approaches is introduced – the “Sequence Validation Percentage.” Full sequence data assessment of the 3 antibodies was achieved enabling all 3 sequences to be fully validated by a combination of middle-up molecular weight determination and middle-down protein sequencing. Three errors in the reference amino acid sequence of natalizumab, causing a cumulative mass shift of only −2 Da in the natalizumab Fd domain, were corrected as a result of this work.

Glycosylation is a topic of intense current interest in the development of biopharmaceuticals because it is related to drug safety and efficacy. This work describes results of an interlaboratory study on the glycosylation of the Primary Sample (PS) of NISTmAb, a monoclonal antibody reference material. Seventy-six laboratories from industry, university, research, government, and hospital sectors in Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia submitted a total of 103 reports on glycan distributions. The principal objective of this study was to report and compare results for the full range of analytical methods presently used in the glycosylation analysis of mAbs. Therefore, participation was unrestricted, with laboratories choosing their own measurement techniques. Protein glycosylation was determined in various ways, including at the level of intact mAb, protein fragments, glycopeptides, or released glycans, using a wide variety of methods for derivatization, separation, identification, and quantification. Consequently, the diversity of results was enormous, with the number of glycan compositions identified by each laboratory ranging from 4 to 48. In total, one hundred sixteen glycan compositions were reported, of which 57 compositions could be assigned consensus abundance values. These consensus medians provide community-derived values for NISTmAb PS. Agreement with the consensus medians did not depend on the specific method or laboratory type. The study provides a view of the current state-of-the-art for biologic glycosylation measurement and suggests a clear need for harmonization of glycosylation analysis methods.

Interspecies hydrogen transfer in anoxic ecosystems is essential for the complete microbial breakdown of organic matter to methane. Acetogenic bacteria are key players in anaerobic food webs and have been considered as prime candidates for hydrogen cycling. We have tested this hypothesis by mutational analysis of the hydrogenase in the model acetogen Acetobacterium woodii. Hydrogenase-deletion mutants no longer grew on H 2 + CO 2 or organic substrates such as fructose, lactate, or ethanol. Heterotrophic growth could be restored by addition of molecular hydrogen to the culture, indicating that hydrogen is an intermediate in heterotrophic growth. Indeed, hydrogen production from fructose was detected in a stirredtank reactor. The mutant grew well on organic substrates plus caffeate, an alternative electron acceptor that does not require molecular hydrogen but NADH as reductant. These data are consistent with the notion that molecular hydrogen is produced from organic substrates and then used as reductant for CO 2 reduction. Surprisingly, hydrogen cycling in A. woodii is different from the known modes of interspecies or intraspecies hydrogen cycling. Our data are consistent with a novel type of hydrogen cycling that connects an oxidative and reductive metabolic module in one bacterial cell, "intracellular syntrophy."

Acetogenic bacteria compete in an energy-limited environment by coupling different metabolic routes to their central metabolism of CO fixation. The underlying regulatory mechanisms are often still not understood. In this work, we analysed how lactate metabolism is regulated in the model acetogen Acetobacterium woodii. Construction of a ΔlctCDEF mutant and growth analyses demonstrated that the genes are essential for growth on lactate. Subsequent bridging PCR and quantitative PCR analyses revealed that the lctBCDEF genes form an operon that was expressed only during lactate metabolism. The lctA gene was cloned, expressed in Escherichia coli and purified. LctA bound to the intergenic DNA region between lctA and the lct operon in electromobility shift assays, and binding was revoked in the presence of lactate. Further restriction site protection analyses consolidated the lactate-dependent binding of LctA and identified the binding site within the DNA. Cells grew mixotrophically on lactate and another energy source and showed no diauxic growth. From these data, we conclude that the catabolic lactate metabolism is encoded by the lct operon and its expression is negatively regulated by the DNA-binding repressor LctA.

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