Those that are tuning in might want to check out the new manuscript on the role of FNR (fumarate-nitrate regulatory) in Shewanella oneidensis MR-1. The paper combines, genetics, transcriptome analysis, and physiology to characterize an fnr deletion strain in MR-1. The Shewanella folks don’t call the Shewanella FNR, FNR. They call it EtrA, electron transport regulator. I guess the latter might be a better name but it does present a lot of confusion in the crowd of folks interested in regulation of anaerobic metabolism. Basically EtrA is FNR. Nevertheless, the paper presents a nice concise analysis of transcriptome changes in the fnr/etrA regulator mutant. The interesting thing about fnr/etrA is that Shewanella can do pretty well without it, although the strain does lag a bit in its growth on nitrate and some other terminal electron acceptors. It’s not dead anaerobically like a crp mutant. That is interesting too because crp and fnr are in the same protein family. The difference is that FNR has a redox active FeS cluster and CRP binds cyclic AMP. Anyway, here is the Pubmed link to the new paper:
April 6, 2011
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