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Start of funding 01.01.2010
Role of Manganese in magnetosome biomineralization
Prof. Dr. Dirk Schüler
Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich
Prof. Dr. Dorothy Parker
University of California, San Diego
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
We will collaborate on the role of manganese in the iron metabolism of magnetotactic bacteria and explore the introduction of manganese into magnetosomes, unique prokaryotic organelles for magnetic orientation that have biotechnological applications. One of us has long experience with the isolation and cultivation of magnetotactic bacteria, the biochemistry and genetics of magnetosome biomineralization, and the biotechnological production and application of biogenic magnetic nanoparticles. The other has focused on bacterial oxidation of manganese, especially the handling and assay of trivalent manganese (MnIII), the most likely manganese adduct in magnetosomes. Using the magnetic bacterium Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense, which can be mass-cultivated and genetically manipulated in the laboratory, we will investigate whether organically-complexed MnIII can: (a) be taken into magnetotactic bacteria or incorporated into magnetosomes, (b) affect FeIII uptake or magnetosome synthesis/structure in magnetotactic bacteria, or (c) influence siderophore (iron chelator) synthesis by M. gryphiswaldense.