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Microorganisms degrade crude oil: bacteria
Bacteria degrade crude oil more quickly when working in multi-species consortiums.
"The data reported here supported the premise that faster rate of degradation of HCs is achieved by the action of assemblages of pure strains of microorganisms with overall broad enzymatic capabilities rather than by a single versatile organisms." (Adebusoye et al. 2007:1158)
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License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
Source | http://www.asknature.org/strategy/9b790ca8fabf7da14ca0b0cddc2d4ca2 |
Enzymes detoxify mercury compounds: bacteria
The enzymatic system of aerobic bacteria detoxifies mercury compounds such as methyl-mercury via the enzymes organomercurial lyase (MerB) and mercuric ion reductase.
"Mercury is well known for its toxicity to living organisms. Inorganic mercuric compounds (HgX2) and organomercurials (R-Hg-X), in which the Hg is formally in the +2 oxidation state, are primarily responsible for the toxicity…Elemental mercury itself (Hg0) has little affinity for cellular ligands and is toxic only if it becomes oxidized to the +2 state in the cell…aerobic bacteria have evolved the ingenious strategy of eliminating mercuric and organomercurial compounds from their environment through reduction of Hg2+ to Hg0. To accomplish this, they couple the activity of two enzymes: organomercurial lyase (MerB) and mercuric ion reductase." (Miller 2007:537)
"Accumulation of extremely toxic methylmercury in the environment—particularly in fish—has triggered an effort by scientists to unravel the process by which a set of bacterial enzymes capture and then detoxify the compound. In a new development, Jonathan G. Melnick and Gerard Parkin of Columbia University report a synthetic mercury complex that provides insight into how one of these enzymes catalyzes cleavage of the Hg-C bond (Science 2007, 317, 225). The finding is expected to boost efforts to genetically modify plants to sequester HgCH3+ for environmental cleanup. In nature, microbes synthesize HgCH3+ from naturally occurring Hg2+, as well as from mercury released in the emissions of coal-fired power plants. Organomercury compounds are toxic because the metal has a high affinity for sulfur, in particular the sulfur of thiol (-SH) groups in cysteine units of proteins. Once the mercury binds, the normal function of the proteins is disrupted. Bacteria resistant to HgCH3+ toxicity produce an enzyme named MerB, which has three cysteine residues in its active site that are known to be crucial for cleaving the Hg-C bond. But the exact way in which MerB coordinates to HgCH3+ and the 'intimate details of the reaction mechanism' have been a mystery, Parkin says. (A second enzyme, MerA, reduces the resulting Hg2+ to less toxic elemental mercury.) Melnick and Parkin thus set out to decipher the mechanism of action of MerB. Melnick and Parkin 'provide an elegant atomic-level description for the facile cleavage of a carbon-mercury bond,' notes James G. Omichinski of the University of Montreal in a Science commentary. Their observations provide valuable insight into the basic mechanism of MerB's activity, he adds. Considerable work remains to be done, but understanding this mechanism 'is essential to efforts to reengineer MerB to improve its catalytic efficiency for the bioremediation of methylmercury,' Omichinski writes." (Ritter 2007:10)
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License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
Source | http://www.asknature.org/strategy/1ee340b8e77682d012ce1f61ab65df68 |
Microbes make natural polyester: bacteria
Bacteria manufacture biogedradable polyester by stringing together soluble monomers.
"Bacteria make PHB [polyhydroxybutyrate] and other polyesters the same way nature makes starch: by stringing together soluble monomers and storing the finished polymer product in water-insoluble granules. When needed, the polymer in these granules--which, in the case of PHB, can take up to a whopping 85% of the cell's dry weight--can be broken down quickly and the building blocks reused for energetic or synthetic purposes.” (Yarnell 2004:27)
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License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
Source | http://www.asknature.org/strategy/aafff01c6748d9169047522c11c0280a |
Chemicals made with natural ingredients: bacteria
Bacteria can use natural chemicals to create complex molecules, including antibiotics, with special enzymes.
"Until now, only the intricate machinery inside cells could take a mix of enzyme ingredients, blend them together and deliver a natural product with an elaborate chemical structure such as penicillin. Researchers at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and the University of Arizona have for the first time demonstrated the ability to mimic this process outside of a cell.
"A team led by Qian Cheng and Bradley Moore of Scripps was able to synthesize an antibiotic natural product created by a Hawaiian sea sediment bacterium. They did so by combining a cocktail of enzymes, the protein catalysts inside cells, in a relatively simple mixing process inside a laboratory flask…The antibiotic synthesized in Moore's laboratory, called enterocin, was assembled in approximately two hours. Such a compound would normally take months if not a year to prepare chemically." (Scripps News Service 2007)
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License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
Source | http://www.asknature.org/strategy/068ded41964dc06270d984ad436e7af9 |
Flagella aid locomotion: bacteria
The flagella of bacteria propel using a wheel and axle mechanism.
"In electron micrographs, bacterial flagella look suspiciously like rigid, rotating propellers, driven by rotary engines in the bacterial surface beneath, as in figure 22.6. In a sense, they're not engines at all, leaving that to their basal motors. The combination consists of the only true rotary engine and propulsive unit known in the living world--a proper wheel and axle mechanism (Dusenbery 1996).
"They're far more efficient, at least in terms of power relative to weight, than ordinary flagella or even muscle, but they don't scale up, and nature hasn't used them elsewhere. Or at least she hasn't manufactured them elsewhere, since some higher organisms symbiotically appropriate bacteria for use as locomotory organelles." (Vogel 2003:449)
"Eukaryotic flagella and cilia have a remarkably uniform internal 'engine' known as the '9+2' axoneme. With few exceptions, the function of cilia and flagella is to beat rhythmically and set up relative motion between themselves and the liquid that surrounds them. The molecular basis of axonemal movement is understood in considerable detail, with the exception of the mechanism that provides its rhythmical or oscillatory quality. Some kind of repetitive 'switching' event is assumed to occur; there are several proposals regarding the nature of the 'switch' and how it might operate.…
"V. CONCLUSIONS
"(1) There are at least sixteen distinct circumstances that result in changes in the frequency of flagellar oscillation.Most of them appear to operate by affecting inter-doublet sliding velocity or by modulating the elasticity of flagellar structures.
"(2) Proposed explanations for the mechanism of the oscillation are presented under six headings. All the explanations have serious limitations.
"(3) Nevertheless, a provisional synthesis can been made, drawing on key experimental results. It proposes that the direction of sliding is the primary controlling factor for flagellar oscillation.
"(4) In detail, the provisional synthesis is that oscillation emerges from an effect of the direction of passive inter-doublet sliding on (a) the force-generating cycles of dynein (perhaps the ATPase rate) and (b) dyneinto- dynein synchronisation along a doublet. Dyneins actively generate force when sliding in one direction is detected, and are inhibited from doing so by the detection of sliding in the other direction. The direction of the initial, passive sliding oscillates because it is regulated hydrodynamically by the direction of the propulsive thrust. However, a supplementary mechanism seems to exist, namely a mechanically induced reversal of sliding direction due to the recoil of elastic structures deformed in response to the preceding active sliding displacement." (Woolley 2010:453,467)
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License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
Source | http://www.asknature.org/strategy/aabc5e2f5f4ae9ed9ad315f06b14cada |
Enzyme catalyzes many reactions: plants
Many plants and microorganisms can catalyze a wide variety of organic chemical reactions via the 2OG oxygenase enzyme.
"In plants and microorganisms…2OG oxygenases catalyze a plethora of oxidative reactions, which has led to the proposal that they may be the most versatile of all oxidizing biological catalysts. Some of these reactions are chemically remarkable and indeed presently cannot be achieved through synthetic—that is, non-biological—chemistry. Oxidative reactions catalyzed by 2OG oxygenases include cyclizations, ring fragmentation, C-C bond cleavage, epimerization, desaturation and the hydroxylation of aromatic rings. The discovery that 2OG oxygenases can catalyze chlorination reactions further extends the scope of the family." (Flashman 2007:86)
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License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
Source | http://www.asknature.org/strategy/02ac87eb3abb2d5fe41d20da1fbd04af |
Transporting electrons extracellularly: sediment bacteria
Sediment bacteria may link distant chemical reactions using nanowires to transport electrons.
"Bacteria lurking in sediment at the bottom of the sea are pulling off a clever trick — using an electric current to link together the chemical reactions of oxygen in water with those of sediment nutrients deeper down.
"Lars Peter Nielsen at Aarhus University in Denmark and his colleagues suggest…that a chain of bacteria work together to transport electrons from a marine sediment to the overlying water up to two centimetres away. The electrons are produced by reactions between organic matter and hydrogen sulphide in the sediment, and transported to the sediment surface where they react with oxygen.
"This means that throughout the entire system, the top layers of sediment 'breathe' for the whole, and those at the bottom 'eat' for the whole.
"The research helps to add weight to a suggestion within the geophysics and microbiology communities that bacteria can grow tiny 'wires' and hook up to form a biogeobattery — a giant natural battery that generates electrical currents." (Sanderson 2010)
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License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
Source | http://www.asknature.org/strategy/656dd2e4715779a304c0746c87b424bc |
Communication molecules coordinate behavior: chronic wound bacteria
Pathogenic bacteria in chronic wounds communicate using signaling molecules.
"'Bacteria, often viewed as simplistic creatures, are in fact very sociable units of life,' said Alex Rickard, assistant professor of biological sciences [at Binghamton University]. 'They can physically and chemically interact with one another and are quite selective about who they hang out with. How bacteria might communicate in chronic wounds, however, was somewhat of a mystery.'
"Working with researchers and physicians at the Center for Biofilm Engineering at Montana State University and the Southwest Regional Wound Care Center in Lubbock, Texas, Rickard and a team of undergraduates were able to identify specific types of chronic wound bacteria and to test their ability to produce cell-cell signaling molecules.
"…close to 70 percent of…chronic wound strains produce a specific type of communication molecule – autoinducer-2 (AI-2). A smaller percentage – around 20 percent – produce a different type of communication molecule, called acyl-homoserine-lactones (AHLs). Scientists already know that structurally different bacterial cell-cell signaling molecules are able to mediate cell-cell communication, including AI-2 and AHLs.
"'Based on our findings, we think that most resident species – the 'good' bacteria that live on us and don't cause disease – produce AI-2, while the pathogenic species typically produce AHLs,' said Katelynn Manton, who was part of the undergraduate team and is now pursuing her doctorate. 'And it didn't seem to matter what kind of chronic wound we looked at – diabetic ulcers, vascular ulcers or environmentally induced chronic wounds. They all indicated a presence of possible AHLs or AI-2s.'…
"According to Rickard and his team, the typically pathogenic bacteria communicate in one language; the 'good' bacteria in another. The big question now is whether any of them are bilingual and can listen in on one another's 'conversations.' Being able to interpret – or perhaps even guide – these cell-cell signals could influence wound development." (Glover 2010)
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License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
Source | http://www.asknature.org/strategy/81b4e9052e257428c066ac4b014b5eb7 |
Membranes distinguish sweet from sour: colon bacilli
The membrane of colon bacilli cells find sweet-tasting chemicals and avoid bitter or sour ones via sensory proteins.
"Chemoreception occurs even in unicellular organisms…Protozoa such as amoebae and microbes such as colon bacilli show chemotaxis; they gather and escape from some chemical substances. The former is called positive chemotaxis and the latter negative chemotaxis. Colon bacilli show positive chemotaxis for amino acids tasting sweet and negative chemotaxis for chemical substances tasting strongly bitter or sour. This behavior is quite reasonable because substances tasting sweet become energy sources for living organisms whereas substances tasting strongly bitter or sour are often harmful." (Toko 2000:26)
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License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
Source | http://www.asknature.org/strategy/edd25757ba0c167ac8859b1eb3f83c99 |
Colonies self-assemble: bacteria
Bacterial colonies that form stromatolites self-assemble by making independent decisions while maintaining communication.
"Stromatolites are colonies of bacteria that self-assemble into rock formations in tidal salt flats. Each stromatolite can make independent decisions, while maintaining communication with the colony. The workload is shared among all colony individuals. Stromatolites breed rapidly, and quickly develop resistance to antibiotics and other threats by developing new genes. Ian Marshall plans to incorporate these principles into the next wave of BT network management. Like the stromatolites, each element of BT's [British Telecom] network will be able to make independent decisions, yet will remain fully communicative with neighbors. Workload--i.e., incoming calls--will be spread evenly through the network. And in a process mimicking natural selection, desirable services will be quickly distributed to BT customers, while undesirable services die out." (Courtesy of the Biomimicry Guild)
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License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
Source | http://www.asknature.org/strategy/ccce7e2ef8c3f16da4211ccdebf94469 |