Journal
GENES
Volume 9, Issue 4, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/genes9040177
Keywords
osmotic stress; high salinity; growth temperature extremes; enzymes; crystal structures; gene expression; genomics; chemical chaperones; biotechnology
Categories
Funding
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) [SFB 987]
- LOEWE-Center for Synthetic Microbiology
- International Max Planck Research School on Environmental, Cellular and Molecular Microbiology (IMPRS-Mic Marburg)
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Fluctuations in environmental osmolarity are ubiquitous stress factors in many natural habitats of microorganisms, as they inevitably trigger osmotically instigated fluxes of water across the semi-permeable cytoplasmic membrane. Under hyperosmotic conditions, many microorganisms fend off the detrimental effects of water efflux and the ensuing dehydration of the cytoplasm and drop in turgor through the accumulation of a restricted class of organic osmolytes, the compatible solutes. Ectoine and its derivative 5-hydroxyectoine are prominent members of these compounds and are synthesized widely by members of the Bacteria and a few Archaea and Eukarya in response to high salinity/osmolarity and/or growth temperature extremes. Ectoines have excellent function-preserving properties, attributes that have led to their description as chemical chaperones and fostered the development of an industrial-scale biotechnological production process for their exploitation in biotechnology, skin care, and medicine. We review, here, the current knowledge on the biochemistry of the ectoine/hydroxyectoine biosynthetic enzymes and the available crystal structures of some of them, explore the genetics of the underlying biosynthetic genes and their transcriptional regulation, and present an extensive phylogenomic analysis of the ectoine/hydroxyectoine biosynthetic genes. In addition, we address the biochemistry, phylogenomics, and genetic regulation for the alternative use of ectoines as nutrients.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available