Inorganic Biochemistry and NMR
Organisms found in natural habitats that are capable of respiring metallic compounds have gained notoriety recently because of the novel approaches that they can provide for bioremediation of metal contaminated environments, biological electricity generation from sediment or waste water, and microbial based corrosion protection of sub-surface metallic structures.
Head of Laboratory
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Ricardo O. Louro |
Research InterestsGroup MembersSelected PublicationsBioquímica Inorgânica e RMN (PT) |
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Phone (+351) 214469309 |
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Research Interests
Organisms found in natural habitats that are capable of respiring metallic compounds have gained notoriety recently because of the novel approaches that they can provide for bioremediation of metal contaminated environments, biological electricity generation from sediment or waste water, and microbial based corrosion protection of sub-surface metallic structures.
The respiratory chains in these organisms must be able to deliver electrons to the outside of the cell wall, which requires that the proteins responsible for interacting with the solid substrate for electron transfer must be displayed at the cell surface, and participating in a novel arrangement and cellular location of the redox proteins committed to these respiratory networks. A large fraction of the proteins that have been identified as being involved in these respiratory networks are cytochromes but the structure and detailed functional mechanism of the majority of these proteins is not known. This research group is currently engaged in the study of the structural bases for coupling the reduction of exogenous solid electron acceptors to energy conservation by several metal respiring organisms. This is being pursued in the framework of three research projects funded by the FCT, collecting structural and functional information on proteins from Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, Desulfuromonas acetoxidans, Geobacter sulfurreducens, and Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough involved in the respiratory pathways of solid electron acceptors. NMR spectroscopy is the core technique used to obtain these data because in recent years the size and complexity of biological macromolecules that can be studied in detail by this technique has increased considerably. Therefore, it is uniquely suited for the collection of structural and dynamic information from the proteins under study. Lack of detailed knowledge on the energy metabolism of metal-respiring organisms has been identified as a fundamental barrier to the optimisation of applications in microbial fuel cell technology and bioremediation. Establishing of the organization of the respiratory networks and detailed function of the proteins involved will provide the intellectual foundations for the optimization of biotechnological applications of these organisms or their proteins.
Group Members
- Catarina Paquete, Post Doc
- Bruno Fonseca, Graduate
- Ivo Saraiva, Graduate
- Alexandra Alves, Graduate
- Isabel Pacheco, Technician
- Eduardo Calcada, Master student
Selected Publications
- Fonseca B.M., Saraiva I.H., Paquete C.M., Soares C.M. Pacheco I., Salgueiro C.A., Louro R.O. The tetraheme cytochrome from Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 shows thermodynamic bias for functional specificity of the hemes, J. Biol. Inorg. Chem. 14, 375-385 (2009) DOI: 10.1007/s00775-008-0455-7
- Pereira, P.M., He, Q., Valente, F.M.A., Xavier, A.V., Zhou, J., Pereira, I.A.C., Louro, R.O. Energy metabolism in Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough: insights from transcriptome analysis, Antoine van Leewenhoek. 93, 347-362 (2008)
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Pereira, P.M., He, Q., Xavier, A.V., Zhou, J. ,Pereira, I.A.C., Louro, R.O. Transcriptional response of Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough to oxidative stress mimicking environmental conditions, Arch. Microbiol. 189, 451-461 (2008)
Laboratory's Website
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Bioquímica Inorgânica e RMN (PT)
A importância dos metais no mundo vivo é patente no facto de todos os organismos conterem e usarem metais, por exemplo para biossíntese ou na respiração. Deste modo, o acesso aos metais é um factor limitante do crescimento quese manifesta em situações de interesse para o homem tão variadas como a biocorrosão de estruturas ou na capacidade de colonizar e infectar hospedeiros. A investigação realizada neste laboratório dirige- se a proteínas envolvidas em processos respiratórios anaeróbicos, incluindo interacções metal organismo, para melhor compreender estas vias metabólicas que podem dar origem a aplicações biomédicas e biotecnológicas.
