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Botryococcus braunii has long been known as a prodigious producer of liquid hydrocarbon oils that can be converted into combustion engine fuels. This draft genome for the B race of B. braunii will allow researchers to unravel important hydrocarbon biosynthetic pathways and identify possible regulatory networks controlling this unusual metabolism.

Choline geranate (also described as Choline And GEranic acid, or CAGE) has been developed as a novel biocompatible antiseptic material capable of penetrating skin and aiding the transdermal delivery of co-administered antibiotics. The antibacterial properties of CAGE were analyzed against 24 and 72 hour old biofilms of 11 clinically isolated ESKAPE pathogens (defined as Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumanii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter sp, respectively), including multidrug resistant (MDR) isolates. CAGE was observed to eradicate in vitro biofilms at concentrations as low as 3.56 mM (0.156% v:v) in as little as 2 hours, which represents both an improved potency and rate of biofilm eradication relative to that reported for most common standard-of-care topical antiseptics in current use. In vitro time-kill studies on 24 hour old Staphylococcus aureus biofilms indicate that CAGE exerts its antibacterial effect upon contact and a 0.1% v:v solution reduced biofilm viability by over three orders of magnitude (a 3log10 reduction) in 15 minutes. Furthermore, disruption of the protective layer of exopolymeric substances in mature biofilms of Staphylococcus aureus by CAGE (0.1% v:v) was observed in 120 minutes. Insight into the mechanism of action of CAGE was provided with molecular modeling studies alongside in vitro antibiofilm assays. The geranate ion and geranic acid components of CAGE are predicted to act in concert to integrate into bacterial membranes, affect membrane thinning and perturb membrane homeostasis. Taken together, our results show that CAGE demonstrates all properties required of an effective topical antiseptic and the data also provides insight into how its observed antibiofilm properties may manifest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fosmidomycin is a time-dependent nanomolar inhibitor of methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) synthase, which is the enzyme that catalyzes the first committed step in the MEP pathway to isoprenoids. Importantly, fosmidomycin is one of only a few MEP pathway-specific inhibitors that exhibits antimicrobial activity. Most inhibitors identified to date only exhibit activity against isolated pathway enzymes. The MEP pathway is the sole route to isoprenoids in many bacteria, yet has no human homologs. The development of inhibitors of this pathway holds promise as novel antimicrobial agents. Similarly, analyses of the bacterial response toward MEP pathway inhibitors provides valuable information toward the understanding of how emergent resistance may ultimately develop to this class of antibiotics. We have examined the transcriptional response of Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium LT2 to sub-inhibitory concentrations of fosmidomycin via cDNA microarray and RT-PCR. Within the regulated genes identified by microarray were a number of genes encoding enzymes associated with the mediation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Regulation of a panel of genes implicated in the response of cells to oxidative stress (including genes for catalases, superoxide dismutases, and alkylhydrogen peroxide reductases) was investigated and mild upregulation in some members was observed as a function of fosmidomycin exposure over time. The extent of regulation of these genes was similar to that observed for comparable exposures to kanamycin, but differed significantly from tetracycline. Furthermore, S. typhimurium exposed to sub-inhibitory concentrations of fosmidomycin displayed an increased sensitivity to exogenous H2O2 relative to either untreated controls or kanamycin-treated cells. Our results suggest that endogenous oxidative stress is one consequence of exposures to fosmidomycin, likely through the temporal depletion of intracellular isoprenoids themselves, rather than other mechanisms that have been proposed to facilitate ROS accumulation in bacteria (e.g. cell death processes or the ability of the antibiotic to redox cycle). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fosmidomycin is a time-dependent nanomolar inhibitor of methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) synthase, which is the enzyme that catalyzes the first committed step in the MEP pathway to isoprenoids. Importantly, fosmidomycin is one of only a few MEP pathway-specific inhibitors that exhibits antimicrobial activity. Most inhibitors identified to date only exhibit activity against isolated pathway enzymes. The MEP pathway is the sole route to isoprenoids in many bacteria, yet has no human homologs. The development of inhibitors of this pathway holds promise as novel antimicrobial agents. Similarly, analyses of the bacterial response toward MEP pathway inhibitors provides valuable information toward the understanding of how emergent resistance may ultimately develop to this class of antibiotics. We have examined the transcriptional response of Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium LT2 to sub-inhibitory concentrations of fosmidomycin via cDNA microarray and RT-PCR. Within the regulated genes identified by microarray were a number of genes encoding enzymes associated with the mediation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Regulation of a panel of genes implicated in the response of cells to oxidative stress (including genes for catalases, superoxide dismutases, and alkylhydrogen peroxide reductases) was investigated and mild upregulation in some members was observed as a function of fosmidomycin exposure over time. The extent of regulation of these genes was similar to that observed for comparable exposures to kanamycin, but differed significantly from tetracycline. Furthermore, S. typhimurium exposed to sub-inhibitory concentrations of fosmidomycin displayed an increased sensitivity to exogenous H2O2 relative to either untreated controls or kanamycin-treated cells. Our results suggest that endogenous oxidative stress is one consequence of exposures to fosmidomycin, likely through the temporal depletion of intracellular isoprenoids themselves, rather than other mechanisms that have been proposed to facilitate ROS accumulation in bacteria (e.g. cell death processes or the ability of the antibiotic to redox cycle). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]