Brouwer Eva-Maria

University of Rostock · Abteilung Pflanzenphysiologie (PUR)

Future sustainable energy production can be achieved using mass cultures of photoautotrophic microorganisms such as cyanobacteria, which are engineered to synthesize valuable products directly from CO 2 and sunlight. For example, strains of the model organism Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 have been generated to produce ethanol. Here, we performed a st...

Porins are essential for the viability of Gram-negative bacteria. They ensure the uptake of nutrients, can be involved in the maintenance of outer membrane integrity and define the antibiotic or drug resistance of organisms. The function and structure of porins in proteobacteria is well described, while their function in photoautotrophic cyanobacte...

The availability of inorganic carbon (Ci), the substrate for cyanobacterial photosynthetic carbon assimilation, changed in long‐term and short‐term timescales. Therefore, cyanobacteria evolved an efficient carbon‐concentrating mechanism (CCM) to respond to fluctuating Ci concentrations. The CCM includes different Ci uptake systems and the carboxyso...

The introduction of alternative CO 2-fixing pathways in photoautotrophic organism may improve the efficiency of biological carbon fixation such as minimizing the carbon loss due to photorespiration. Here, we analyzed the effects of creating a formate entry point into the primary metabolism of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. The forma...

β‐barrel shaped outer membrane proteins (OMPs) ensure regulated exchange of molecules across the cell‐wall of Gram‐negative bacteria. They are synthesized in the cytoplasm and translocated across the plasma membrane via the SEC translocon. In the periplasm several proteins participate in the transfer of OMPs to the outer membrane localized complex...

Many proteins of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria and of the outer envelope of the endosymbiotically derived organelles mitochondria and plastids have a β-barrel fold. Their insertion is assisted by membrane proteins of the Omp85-TpsB superfamily. These proteins are composed of a C-terminal β-barrel and a different number of N-terminal...

Central components of the outer membrane are lipopolysaccharides (LPS), which consist of Lipid A, the core polysaccharide, and the O antigen. The synthesis of LPS is initiated at the cytosolic face of the cytoplasmic membrane. The subsequent transport to and across the outer membrane involves multiple lipopolysaccharide transport (Lpt) proteins. Am...

Omp85 proteins contain a C-terminal transmembrane beta-barrel and a soluble N terminus with a varying number of polypeptide-transport-associated (POTRA) domains.1 N-terminal POTRA domains (P1 and P2) of Omp85 from the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 might have functions in substrate recognition and heterooligomerization.2 P3 is implied in regu...