Biopolymers, such as poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (P(3HB)) are produced as a carbon store in an array of organisms and exhibit characteristics which are similar to oil-derived plastics, yet have the added advantages of biodegradability and biocompatibility. Despite these advantages, P(3HB) production is currently more expensive than the production of oil-derived plastics, and therefore, more efficien...

In biology, rapid oxidation and evolution of H(2) is catalyzed by metalloenzymes known as hydrogenases. These enzymes have unusual active sites, consisting of iron complexed by carbonyl, cyanide, and thiolate ligands, often together with nickel, and are typically inhibited or irreversibly damaged by O(2). The Knallgas bacterium Ralstonia eutropha H16 (Re) uses H(2) as an energy source with O(2)...

Hydrogenases are essential for H(2) cycling in microbial metabolism and serve as valuable blueprints for H(2)-based biotechnological applications. However, most hydrogenases are extremely oxygen sensitive and prone to inactivation by even traces of O(2). The O(2)-tolerant membrane-bound [NiFe]-hydrogenase of Ralstonia eutropha H16 is one of the few examples that can perform H(2) uptake in the p...

The NAD+-reducing soluble hydrogenase (SH) from Ralstonia eutropha H16 catalyzes the H₂-driven reduction of NAD+, as well as reverse electron transfer from NADH to H+, in the presence of O₂. It comprises six subunits, HoxHYFUI₂, and incorporates a [NiFe] H+/H₂ cycling catalytic centre, two non-covalently bound flavin mononucleotide (FMN) groups and an iron-sulfur cluster relay for electron tran...

Bacterial degradation of sulfoacetate, a widespread natural product, proceeds via sulfoacetaldehyde and requires a considerable initial energy input. Whereas the fate of sulfoacetaldehyde in Cupriavidus necator (Ralstonia eutropha) H16 is known, the pathway from sulfoacetate to sulfoacetaldehyde is not. The genome sequence of the organism enabled us to hypothesize that the inducible pathway, wh...

Functionalization of bacterial cell surfaces has the potential to introduce new activities by chemical modification. Here we show that a bacteriophage-receptor complex can be used to functionalize the surface of two Gram-negative proteobacteria, Escherichia coli and Ralstonia eutropha with CdSe/ZnS nanoparticles. This work highlights the potential for using microbe-phage interactions to generat...

We report a versatile infrared spectroscopic method for studying redox chemistry of metalloproteins, and demonstrate for the first time electrochemically-induced changes to the active site of the regulatory [NiFe]-hydrogenase from Ralstonia eutropha. A carbon particle network working electrode allows control over a wide potential window without the need for solution mediators.

Lipopolysaccharides free P[3-hydroxybutyrate (3HB)-co-3-hydroxyvalerate (3HV)] production was achieved using recombinant Corynebacterium glutamicum harboring polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biosynthetic genes from Ralstonia eutropha. Cells grown on glucose with feeding of propionate as a precursor of 3HV unit accumulated 8-47wt% of P(3HB-co-3HV). The 3HV fraction in the copolymer was varied from 0 t...