New study: Unusual quinones found in Nitrospira
A new study, supported by the FWF-funded Cluster of Excellence “Microbiomes drive Planetary Health” and the Comammox Research Platform of the University of Vienna, identifies new plastoquinone forms with essential functions in key nitrogen-cycling microbes.
Quinones are vital compounds for energy metabolisms and electron transport in most organisms. This study, led by the DOME nitrification group in collaboration with international partners from the Netherlands, Japan and the USA, reveals that complete ammonia oxidizers (comammox) and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria of the genus Nitrospira exclusively use novel, methylated plastoquinones (m-PQs).
Due to their unique electrochemical properties, these m-PQs are a molecular adaptation to bidirectional electron transport across a wide redox potential range in Nitrospira. Previously, plastoquinones were thought to occur only in plants and Cyanobacteria where they function primarily in photosynthesis. The discovery of m-PQs in non-phototrophic Nitrospira expands the known diversity and distribution of plastoquinone derivatives in living organisms.
Links
- Publication in Environmental Microbiology Reports
- FWF Cluster of Excellence “Microbiomes drive Planetary Health”