Selected Publications

Structural basis for a bacterial Pip system plant effector recognition protein (2021)

Authors: Shukun Luo, Bruna G Coutinho, Prikshat Dadhwal, Yasuhiro Oda, Jiahong Ren, Amy L Schaefer, E Peter Greenberg, Caroline S Harwood, Liang Tong
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.
PubMed Link: View on PubMed

Non-growing Rhodopseudomonas palustris increases the hydrogen gas yield from acetate by shifting from the glyoxylate shunt to the tricarboxylic acid cycle (2014)

Authors: McKinlay JB, Y. Oda, M. Ruhl, AL Posto, U. Sauer and CS Harwood.
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)

Authors: Fixen KR, A. W. Baker, E. A. Stojković, J. T Beatty, and CS Harwood
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)

Authors: Huangyutitham, V., Z, T, Guvener, and C. S. Harwood.
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)

Authors: Baraquet, C. and C. S. Harwood. 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)

Authors: O’Connor, J., N. Kuwada, V. Huangyutitham, P. Wiggins, and C. S. Harwood.
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)

Authors: Lindemann, A., G. Pessi, A. L. Schaefer, M. E. Mattmann, Q.H. Christensen, A. Kessler, H. Hennecke, H. E. Blackwell, E. P. Greenberg and C. S. Harwood. 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)

Authors: McKinlay, J. B. and C. S. Harwood.
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
PubMed Link: View on PubMed

FixK, a global regulator of microaerobic growth, controls photosynthesis in Rhodopseudomonas palustris (2010)

Authors: Rey, F. and C. S. Harwood. 2010.
Citation: Mol. Microbiol. 75:1007-1020.
Comment: A new regulator for photosynthesis.
PubMed Link: View on PubMed

Identification of FleQ from Pseudomonas aeruginosa as a c-di-GMP-responsive transcription factor (2008)

Authors: Hickman, J. W. and C. S. Harwood. 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)

Authors: Schaefer, A. L., E. P. Greenberg, C. M. Oliver, Y. Oda, J. J. Huang, G. Bittan-Banin, C. M. Peres, S. Schmidt, K. Juhaszova, J. R. Sufrin and C. S. Harwood.
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)

Authors: Oda Y., F. W. Larimer, P. S. Chain, S. Malfatti, M. V. Shin, L. M., Vergez, L. Hauser, M. L. Land, S. Braatsch, J. T. Beatty, D. A. Pelletier, A. L. Schaefer and C. S. Harwood.
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)

Authors: Gosse, J. L., B. J. Engel, F. Rey, C. S. Harwood, L. E. Scriven and M. C. Flickinger
Citation: Biotechnology Prog. 23:124-130.
Comment: Solar panels of bacteria that generate hydrogen gas.

Redirection of metabolism for biological hydrogen production (2007)

Authors: Rey, F. E., E. K. Heiniger and C. S. Harwood.
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)

Authors: Alvarez-Ortega, C. and C. S. Harwood.
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)

Authors: Güvener, Z.T. and C. S. Harwood. 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)

Authors: Oda, Y., S. K. Samanta, F. Rey, L. Wu, X.-D. Liu, T.-F. Yan, J. Zhou, and C. S. Harwood.
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)

Authors: Hickman J.W., D. F. Tifrea and C. S. Harwood.
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)

Authors: Larimer, F. W., P. Chain, J. Lamerdin, S. Stilwagen Malfatti, L. Do, M. Land, L. Hauser, D. A. Pelletier, J. T. Beatty, A. S. Lang, F. R. Tabita, J. L. Gibson, T. E. Hanson, C. Bobst, J. Torres Y Torres, C. Peres, F. Harrison, J. Gibson and C. S. Harwood.
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)

Authors: Parales, R. E., J. L. Ditty and C. S. Harwood.
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)

Authors: Egland, P. G., D. A. Pelletier, M. Dispensa, J. Gibson, and C. S. Harwood.
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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