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Aspartate in the intestine: dual service as anaerobic electron acceptor and nitrogen source
Author(s) -
Conway Tyrrell
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
environmental microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.954
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1462-2920
pISSN - 1462-2912
DOI - 10.1111/1462-2920.15525
Subject(s) - biology , anaerobic exercise , electron acceptor , aspartic acid , anaerobic respiration , nitrogen , biochemistry , escherichia coli , microbiology and biotechnology , amino acid , chemistry , physiology , organic chemistry , gene
Summary Fumarate was previously known to serve as an anaerobic electron acceptor by E . coli when colonizing the mammalian intestine, but the source of that fumarate was elusive. In this issue, Unden and coworkers demonstrate that l ‐aspartic acid is the source of fumarate that drives anaerobic respiration by colonized E . coli (Schubert et al ., 2021). Moreover, Schubert et al ., establish that E . coli is able to grow anaerobically by using aspartate as a sole source of nitrogen. These groundbreaking findings indicate that a single amino acid – aspartate – supports anaerobic respiration and acquisition of nitrogen by E . coli in the intestine.