Difference between revisions of "Part:BBa K847060"

Latest revision as of 02:02, 4 October 2012

''Escherichia coli'' osmoregulatory trehalose synthesis A (otsA)

This gene encodes the first step to trehalose biosynthesis.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae, baker’s yeast, is remarkably resistant to desiccation, and it has been shown that certain osmoprotectant chemicals accumulate in these cells when they desiccate. One of these chemicals is trehalose, a disaccharide that was initially implicated in desiccation resistance because of this accumulation (Calahan, Dunham, DeSevo, and Koshland 2011). Surprisingly, attempts to understand trehalose's role and effectiveness in desiccation resistance have produced conflicting and inconsistent results (Calahan et al. 2011).

The gram-negative biocontrol agent Pantoea agglomerans was ineffective at controlling blue mold on fruits because of its low viability during the long periods of dehydration that it experienced during fruit processing (Bonaterra, Camps, and Montesinos 2005). Its effectiveness was significantly increased when it was engineered to accumulate both trehalose and glycine betaine during desiccation, and it was hypothesized that these osmoprotectants “operate through protection of membrane phospholipids by direct hydrogen bounding with phospolipid head groups maintaining the liquid crystal state and stabilising proteins by water replacement via hydrogen bounding” (Bonaterra, Camps, and Montesinos 2005).

Sequence and Features