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Managing the cellular zinc economy: proteomics-enabled predictive understanding of zinc hierarchy


EMSL Project ID
50797

Abstract

Zinc is an essential nutrient in biology. When encountering environments with suboptimal zinc availability, organisms initiate acclimation strategies that operate to increase assimilation and release intracellular stores. In this proposal, our goal is to characterize a previously unknown coping strategy that phototrophs employ to thrive when faced with competition for this essential nutrient: zinc hierarchy. The success of this strategy is due to the dispensability of non-essential zinc-binding proteins and uncharacterized mechanisms that enable the prioritization of the limiting cofactor to essential zinc-binding proteins. Using high-quality, quantitative proteomics combined with precise control of zinc bioavailability, measurements of intracellular zinc levels, microscopy, genetics, and biochemistry, we aim to enable a predictive understanding of how phototrophs, specifically, and microbes, generally, acclimate to nutrient insufficiency in their environments. The knowledge gained will have direct impact on our genome-based understanding of natural biological processes involving microbial phototrophs, and their impact on the flux of carbon and inorganic nutrients in the environment. At the same time, this study provides a basic understanding of nutrition and acclimation strategies that underpins the sustainable (specifically low nutrient input) production of photosynthesis-based biofuels and bioproducts.

Project Details

Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
Start Date
2019-10-01
End Date
2022-04-20
Status
Closed

Team

Principal Investigator

Crysten Blaby
Institution
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Co-Investigator(s)

Daniela Strenkert
Institution
Michigan State University

Team Members

Sabeeha Merchant
Institution
University of California, Berkeley