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Czech L, Hermann L, Stöveken N, Richter AA, Höppner A, Smits SHJ, Heider J, Bremer E. Role of the Extremolytes Ectoine and Hydroxyectoine as Stress Protectants and Nutrients: Genetics, Phylogenomics, Biochemistry, and Structural Analysis. Genes (Basel) 2018; 9:genes9040177. [PMID: 29565833 PMCID: PMC5924519 DOI: 10.3390/genes9040177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 119] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2018] [Revised: 03/13/2018] [Accepted: 03/15/2018] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Czech
- Laboratory for Microbiology, Department of Biology, Philipps-University Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch Str. 8, D-35043 Marburg, Germany.
| | - Lucas Hermann
- Laboratory for Microbiology, Department of Biology, Philipps-University Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch Str. 8, D-35043 Marburg, Germany.
| | - Nadine Stöveken
- Laboratory for Microbiology, Department of Biology, Philipps-University Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch Str. 8, D-35043 Marburg, Germany.
- LOEWE-Center for Synthetic Microbiology, Philipps-University Marburg, Hans-Meerwein Str. 6, D-35043 Marburg, Germany.
| | - Alexandra A Richter
- Laboratory for Microbiology, Department of Biology, Philipps-University Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch Str. 8, D-35043 Marburg, Germany.
| | - Astrid Höppner
- Center for Structural Studies, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Universitäts Str. 1, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
| | - Sander H J Smits
- Center for Structural Studies, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Universitäts Str. 1, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
- Institute of Biochemistry, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Universitäts Str. 1, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
| | - Johann Heider
- Laboratory for Microbiology, Department of Biology, Philipps-University Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch Str. 8, D-35043 Marburg, Germany.
- LOEWE-Center for Synthetic Microbiology, Philipps-University Marburg, Hans-Meerwein Str. 6, D-35043 Marburg, Germany.
| | - Erhard Bremer
- Laboratory for Microbiology, Department of Biology, Philipps-University Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch Str. 8, D-35043 Marburg, Germany.
- LOEWE-Center for Synthetic Microbiology, Philipps-University Marburg, Hans-Meerwein Str. 6, D-35043 Marburg, Germany.
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