Selected Publications
Structural basis for a bacterial Pip system plant effector recognition protein (2021)
Citation: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 118:e2019462118
Comment: We solved crystal structures of one component of the transporter required for HEHEAA in Pseudomnas GM79. We discovered that a close homolog of this transporter protein cannot bind HEHEAA, implying there are other effector compound(s) for the widespread PipR signaling system family.
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Non-growing Rhodopseudomonas palustris increases the hydrogen gas yield from acetate by shifting from the glyoxylate shunt to the tricarboxylic acid cycle (2014)
Citation: J Biol Chem. 289:1960-70.
Comment: Bacteria need to shift their flow of metabolism when they are starving. This can be captured as bioenergy-rich products.
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Apo-bacteriophytochromes modulate bacterial photosynthesis in response to low light (2014)
Citation: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 111:e237
Comment: Light-sensing proteins can have other functions.
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Subcellular clustering of the phosphorylated WspR response regulator protein stimulates its diguanylate cyclase activity (2013)
Citation: mBIO. May 7;4(3). doi:pii: e00242-13. 10.1128/mBio.00242-13.
Comment: A new level of regulation by a response-regulator protein.
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Cyclic diguanosine monophosphate represses bacterial flagella synthesis by interacting with the Walker A motif of the enhancer binding protein FleQ (2013)
Citation: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 110:18478-18483. PMID: 24167275.
Comment: Shows where the binding site for c-di-GMP may be located on a family of transcriptional regulators.
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Surface sensing and lateral subcellular localization of WspA, the receptor in a chemosensory-like system leading to c-di-GMP production (2012)
Citation: Mol. Microbiol. Sep 7. doi: 10.1111/mmi.12013.
Comment: Touch sensors are distributed all over a bacterial cell surface.
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Quorum sensing in the soybean root-nodulating bacterium Bradyrhizobium japonicum: identification of isovaleryl-homoserine lactone, an unusual branched-chain signal (2011)
Citation: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 108:16750-16770.
Comment: B. japonicum is an agriculturally important bacteria, whose quorum signal had previously escaped detection.
Carbon dioxide fixation as a central redox cofactor recycling mechanism in bacteria (2010)
Citation: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 107:11669-11675.
Comment: Shows that carbon dioxide fixation has an electron-accepting role separate from its better-known role in biomass generation
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FixK, a global regulator of microaerobic growth, controls photosynthesis in Rhodopseudomonas palustris (2010)
Citation: Mol. Microbiol. 75:1007-1020.
Comment: A new regulator for photosynthesis.
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Identification of FleQ from Pseudomonas aeruginosa as a c-di-GMP-responsive transcription factor (2008)
Citation: Mol. Microbiol. 69:376-389.
Comment: The first description of a transcriptional regulator as a c-di-GMP receptor.
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A new class of homoserine lactone quorum-sensing signals. (2008)
Citation: Nature 454:595-599.
Comment: A non-fatty acid HSL that is comprised of an aromatic compoundattached to an HSL group.
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Multiple genome sequences reveal adaptations of a phototrophic bacterium to sediment microenvironments. (2008)
Citation: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 105:18543-18548.
Comment: Evidence that a species evolves to occupy microniches that are in close physical proximity.
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Hydrogen production by nano-porous laxtex coating of non-growing Rhodopseudomonas palustris CGA009. (2007)
Citation: Biotechnology Prog. 23:124-130.
Comment: Solar panels of bacteria that generate hydrogen gas.
Redirection of metabolism for biological hydrogen production (2007)
Citation: Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 73:1665-1671.
Comment: Mutant strains that generate hydrogen gas, a biofuel, at all times.
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Responses of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to low oxygen indicate that growth in the cystic fibrosis lung is by aerobic respiration (2007)
Citation: Mol. Microbiol.65:153-165.
Comment: Presents a new way of thinking about how P. aeruginosa manages to thrive in CF lungs.
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Subcellular location characteristics of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa GGDEF protein, WspR, indicate that it produces cyclic-di-GMP in response to growth on surfaces (2007)
Citation: Mol. Microbiol. 66:1459-147.
Comment: Evidence that c-di-GMP is produced a discreet subcellular sites.
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Functional genomic analysis of three nitrogenase isozymes in Rhodopseudomonas palustris (2005)
Citation: J. Bacteriol. 187:7784-7794.
Comment: Systems approach to show that three alternative sets of genes mediate hydrogen gas production.
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A chemosensory system that regulates biofilm formation through modulation of cyclic diguanylate levels (2005)
Citation: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA.102:14422-14427.
Comment: A first demonstration that c-di-GMP is essential for biofilm formation.
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The genome sequence of the metabolically versatile photosynthetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris (2004)
Citation: Nature Biotech. 22:55-61.
Comment: How a genome sequence can inform about the physiology of an organism.
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Toluene-degrading bacteria are chemotactic towards the environmental pollutants benzene, toluene, and trichloroethylene (2000)
Citation: Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 66:4098-104.
Comment: These responses likely enhance biodegradation of pollutants.
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A cluster of bacterial genes for anaerobic benzene ring biodegradation (1997)
Citation: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94:6484-6489.
Comment: First description of a central metabolic pathway for ring reduction and fission that operates without oxygen.
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