scholarly journals Experimental Study of Interactions between Purple and Green Sulfur Bacteria in Sandy Sediments Exposed to Illumination Deprived of Near-Infrared Wavelengths

2002 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 2972-2981 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid Massé ◽  
Olivier Pringault ◽  
Rutger de Wit

ABSTRACT Sedimentary biofilms of the green sulfur bacterium Prosthecochloris aestuarii strain CE 2404, the purple sulfur bacterium Thiocapsa roseopersicina strain 5811, and a mixed culture of both were cultured in fine sand (100- to 300-μm grain size) within counter gradients of oxygen and sulfide. The artificial sediments were exposed to illumination deprived of near-infrared light (NIR) by filtering out the wavelengths longer than 700 nm to simulate the critical light conditions in submerged aquatic sediments. A 16 h of visible light-8 h of dark regimen was used. We studied the effects of these light conditions on the metabolisms of and interactions between both species by comparing the single species biofilms with the mixed biofilm. The photosynthesis rates of P. aestuarii were shown to be highly limited by the imposed light conditions, because the sulfide photooxidation rates were strongly stimulated when NIR was added. T. roseopersicina performed both aerobic chemosynthesis and photosynthesis, but the photosynthesis rates were low and poorly stimulated by the addition of NIR. This species decreased the penetration depth of oxygen in the sediment by about 1 mm by actively respiring oxygen. This way, the strict anaerobe P. aestuarii was able to grow closer to the surface in the mixed culture. As a result, P. aestuarii benefited from the presence of T. roseopersicina in the mixed culture, which was reflected by an increase in the biomass. In contrast, the density of the latter species was almost completely unaffected by the interaction. Both species coexisted in a layer of the same depth in the mixed culture, and the ecological and evolutionary implications of coexistence are discussed.

2004 ◽  
Vol 186 (9) ◽  
pp. 2558-2566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia A. Maresca ◽  
Aline Gomez Maqueo Chew ◽  
Marta Ros Ponsatí ◽  
Niels-Ulrik Frigaard ◽  
John G. Ormerod ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Bacteriochlorophylls (BChls) c and d, two of the major light-harvesting pigments in photosynthetic green sulfur bacteria, differ only by the presence of a methyl group at the C-20 methine bridge position in BChl c. A gene potentially encoding the C-20 methyltransferase, bchU, was identified by comparative analysis of the Chlorobium tepidum and Chloroflexus aurantiacus genome sequences. Homologs of this gene were amplified and sequenced from Chlorobium phaeobacteroides strain 1549, Chlorobium vibrioforme strain 8327d, and C. vibrioforme strain 8327c, which produce BChls e, d, and c, respectively. A single nucleotide insertion in the bchU gene of C. vibrioforme strain 8327d was found to cause a premature, in-frame stop codon and thus the formation of a truncated, nonfunctional gene product. The spontaneous mutant of this strain that produces BChl c (strain 8327c) has a second frameshift mutation that restores the correct reading frame in bchU. The bchU gene was inactivated in C. tepidum, a BChl c-producing species, and the resulting mutant produced only BChl d. Growth rate measurements showed that BChl c- and d-producing strains of the same organism (C. tepidum or C. vibrioforme) have similar growth rates at high and intermediate light intensities but that strains producing BChl c grow faster than those with BChl d at low light intensities. Thus, the bchU gene encodes the C-20 methyltransferase for BChl c biosynthesis in Chlorobium species, and methylation at the C-20 position to produce BChl c rather than BChl d confers a significant competitive advantage to green sulfur bacteria living at limiting red and near-infrared light intensities.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra Pjevac ◽  
Stefan Dyksma ◽  
Tobias Goldhammer ◽  
Izabela Mujakić ◽  
Michal Koblížek ◽  
...  

AbstractSulfide-driven anoxygenic photosynthesis is an ancient microbial metabolism that contributes significantly to inorganic carbon fixation in stratified, sulfidic water bodies. Methods commonly applied to quantify inorganic carbon fixation by anoxygenic phototrophs, however, cannot resolve the contributions of distinct microbial populations to the overall process. We implemented a straightforward workflow, consisting of radioisotope labeling and flow cytometric cell sorting based on the distinct autofluorescence of bacterial photo pigments, to discriminate and quantify contributions of co-occurring anoxygenic phototrophic populations toin situinorganic carbon fixation in environmental samples. This allowed us to assign 89.3 ±7.6% of daytime inorganic carbon fixation by anoxygenic phototrophs in Lake Rogoznica (Croatia) to an abundant chemocline-dwelling population of green sulfur bacteria (dominated byChlorobium phaeobacteroides), whereas the co-occurring purple sulfur bacteria (Halochromatiumsp.) contributed only 1.8 ±1.4%. Furthermore, we obtained two metagenome assembled genomes of green sulfur bacteria and one of a purple sulfur bacterium which provides the first genomic insights into the genusHalochromatium, confirming its high metabolic flexibility and physiological potential for mixo-and heterotrophic growth.


2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 2657-2667
Author(s):  
Felipe Montecinos-Franjola ◽  
John Y. Lin ◽  
Erik A. Rodriguez

Noninvasive fluorescent imaging requires far-red and near-infrared fluorescent proteins for deeper imaging. Near-infrared light penetrates biological tissue with blood vessels due to low absorbance, scattering, and reflection of light and has a greater signal-to-noise due to less autofluorescence. Far-red and near-infrared fluorescent proteins absorb light >600 nm to expand the color palette for imaging multiple biosensors and noninvasive in vivo imaging. The ideal fluorescent proteins are bright, photobleach minimally, express well in the desired cells, do not oligomerize, and generate or incorporate exogenous fluorophores efficiently. Coral-derived red fluorescent proteins require oxygen for fluorophore formation and release two hydrogen peroxide molecules. New fluorescent proteins based on phytochrome and phycobiliproteins use biliverdin IXα as fluorophores, do not require oxygen for maturation to image anaerobic organisms and tumor core, and do not generate hydrogen peroxide. The small Ultra-Red Fluorescent Protein (smURFP) was evolved from a cyanobacterial phycobiliprotein to covalently attach biliverdin as an exogenous fluorophore. The small Ultra-Red Fluorescent Protein is biophysically as bright as the enhanced green fluorescent protein, is exceptionally photostable, used for biosensor development, and visible in living mice. Novel applications of smURFP include in vitro protein diagnostics with attomolar (10−18 M) sensitivity, encapsulation in viral particles, and fluorescent protein nanoparticles. However, the availability of biliverdin limits the fluorescence of biliverdin-attaching fluorescent proteins; hence, extra biliverdin is needed to enhance brightness. New methods for improved biliverdin bioavailability are necessary to develop improved bright far-red and near-infrared fluorescent proteins for noninvasive imaging in vivo.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Stafford ◽  
Dowon Ahn ◽  
Emily Raulerson ◽  
Kun-You Chung ◽  
Kaihong Sun ◽  
...  

Driving rapid polymerizations with visible to near-infrared (NIR) light will enable nascent technologies in the emerging fields of bio- and composite-printing. However, current photopolymerization strategies are limited by long reaction times, high light intensities, and/or large catalyst loadings. Improving efficiency remains elusive without a comprehensive, mechanistic evaluation of photocatalysis to better understand how composition relates to polymerization metrics. With this objective in mind, a series of methine- and aza-bridged boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY) derivatives were synthesized and systematically characterized to elucidate key structure-property relationships that facilitate efficient photopolymerization driven by visible to NIR light. For both BODIPY scaffolds, halogenation was shown as a general method to increase polymerization rate, quantitatively characterized using a custom real-time infrared spectroscopy setup. Furthermore, a combination of steady-state emission quenching experiments, electronic structure calculations, and ultrafast transient absorption revealed that efficient intersystem crossing to the lowest excited triplet state upon halogenation was a key mechanistic step to achieving rapid photopolymerization reactions. Unprecedented polymerization rates were achieved with extremely low light intensities (< 1 mW/cm<sup>2</sup>) and catalyst loadings (< 50 μM), exemplified by reaction completion within 60 seconds of irradiation using green, red, and NIR light-emitting diodes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (11) ◽  
pp. 110906
Author(s):  
Juan Shen ◽  
Yong Ren ◽  
Xinxin Zhu ◽  
Min Mao ◽  
Quan Zhou ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Xiaowei Luan ◽  
Yongchun Pan ◽  
Yanfeng Gao ◽  
Yujun Song

Light has witnessed the history of mankind and even the universe. It is of great significances to the life of human society, contributing to energy, agriculture, communication, and much more....


1998 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 395-395
Author(s):  
S. Nishida ◽  
T. Tanabé ◽  
S. Matsumoto ◽  
T. Onaka ◽  
Y. Nakada ◽  
...  

A systematic near-infrared survey was made for globular clusters in the Magellanic Clouds. Two infrared stars were discovered in NGC419 (SMC) and NGC1783 (LMC). NGC419 and NGC1783 are well-studied rich globular clusters whose turn-off masses and ages are estimated MTO ~ 2.0 Mʘ and т ~1.2 Gyr for NGC419, and MT0 ~ 2.0 Mʘ and т ʘ 0.9 Gyr for NGC1783, respectively. The periods of the infrared light variations were determined to be 540 dfor NGC419IR1 and to be 480 d for NGC1783IR1, respectively. Comparison of the measurements with the period—if magnitude relation for carbon Miras in the LMC by Groenewegen and Whitelock(1996) revealed that the Kmagnitudes of the infrared stars were fainter by about 0.3 — 0.8 magnitude than those predicted by the P — K relation. This deviation can be explained if the infrared stars are surrounded by thick dust shells and are obscured even in the K band. The positions of NGC419IR1and NGC1783IR1 on the P — K diagram suggest that AGB stars with the main sequence masses of about 2 Mʘ start their heavy mass-loss when P ʘ 500 d.


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