Publications

Genes for selenium dependent and independent formate dehydrogenase in the gut microbial communities of three lower, wood-feeding termites and a wood-feeding roach

X. Zhang, E.G. Matson, J.R. Leadbetter

Journal Article

The bacterial Wood-Ljungdahl pathway for CO2-reductive acetogenesis is important for the nutritional mutualism occurring between wood-feeding insects and their hindgut microbiota. A key step in this pathway is the reduction of CO2 to formate, catalysed by the enzyme formate dehydrogenase (FDH). Putative selenocysteine- (Sec) and cysteine- (Cys)…

Genetic, structural, and functional diversity of low and high-affinity siderophores in strains of nitrogen fixing: Azotobacter chroococcum

X. Zhang, O. Baars, F.M.M. Morel

Journal Article

To increase iron (Fe) bioavailability in surface soils, microbes secrete siderophores, chelators with widely varying Fe affinities. Strains of the soil bacterium Azotobacter chroococcum (AC), plant-growth promoting rhizobacteria used as agricultural inoculants, require high Fe concentrations for aerobic respiration and nitrogen fixation. Recently,…

Genome-Resolved Metagenomics Informs the Functional Ecology of Uncultured Acidobacteria in Redox Oscillated Sphagnum Peat

L. *Reji, X. Zhang

Journal Article

Understanding microbial niche differentiation along ecological and geochemical gradients is critical for assessing the mechanisms of ecosystem response to hydrologic variation and other aspects of global change. The lineage-specific biogeochemical roles of the widespread phylum Acidobacteria in hydrologically sensitive ecosystems, such as…

Genome-wide effects of selenium and translational uncoupling on transcription in the termite gut symbiont Treponema primitia

E.G. Matson, A.Z. Rosenthal, X. Zhang, J.R. Leadbetter

Journal Article

When prokaryotic cells acquire mutations, encounter translation-inhibiting substances, or experience adverse environmental conditions that limit their ability to synthesize proteins, transcription can become uncoupled from translation. Such uncoupling is known to suppress transcription of protein-encoding genes in bacteria. Here we show that the…

A genomic view of environmental and life history controls on microbial nitrogen acquisition strategies

Linta Reji, Romain Darnajoux, Xinning Zhang

Journal Article

Abstract Microorganisms have evolved diverse strategies to acquire the vital element nitrogen (N) from the environment. Ecological and physiological controls on the distribution of these strategies among microbes remain unclear. In this study, we examine the distribution of 10 major N acquisition strategies in taxonomically and metabolically…

Global Nitrogen Cycle: Critical Enzymes, Organisms, and Processes for Nitrogen Budgets and Dynamics

X. Zhang, B.B. Ward, D.M. Sigman

Journal Article

Nitrogen (N) is used in many of life s fundamental biomolecules, and it is also a participant in environmental redox chemistry. Biogeochemical processes control the amount and form of N available to organisms ("fixed"N). These interacting processes result in N acting as the proximate limiting nutrient in most surface environments. Here, we review…

Publications

Publications List