8 documents found, page 1 of 1
Microbial production of single cell oil from biowaste-derived volatile fatty ac...
Fernandes, Ticiana; Parpot, Pier; Soares-Silva, Isabel; Sousa, Maria João; Franco-Duarte, RicardoEfforts to achieve a circular economy emphasize waste minimization while maximizing its value through recycling and reuse. Volatile Fatty Acids (VFAs), derived from organic waste streams, hold biotechnological potential as raw materials for producing value-added compounds offering sustainable alternatives to traditional petroleum-based approaches. The phenotypic and genomic plasticity of non-Saccharomyces yeast...
Impact of educational gardens and workshop activities on 8th-Grade student’s pe...
Azevedo, Herlander; Soares-Silva, Isabel; Fonseca, Fernando; Alves, Paulo; Silva, Duarte; Azevedo, Maria-ManuelEducational gardens can be a significant resource in the promotion of environmental education, engaging both the school population and the general public. The main goal of the present study was to implement and assess a hands-on interventional program to promote knowledge and awareness of plant-related topics at a basic school level. We report on a hands-on educational project implemented with 8th-grade Portugu...
New insights into the acetate uptake transporter (AceTr) family: Unveiling amin...
Rendulic, Toni; Alves, João; Azevedo-Silva, João; Soares-Silva, Isabel; Casal, MargaridaAiming at improving the transport of biotechnologically relevant carboxylic acids in engineered microbial cell factories, the focus of this work was to study plasma membrane transporters belonging to the Acetate Uptake Transporter (AceTr) family. Ato1 and SatP, members of this family from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Escherichia coli, respectively, are the main acetate transporters in these species. The analysi...
Peritoneal microbiome in end-stage renal disease patients and the impact of per...
Simões-Silva, Liliana; Araujo, Ricardo; Pestana, Manuel; Soares-Silva, Isabel; Sampaio-Maia, BeneditaFactors influencing the occurrence of peritoneal dialysis (PD)-related infections are still far from fully understood. Recent studies described the existence of specific microbiomes in body sites previously considered microbiome-free, unravelling new microbial pathways in the human body. In the present study, we analyzed the peritoneum of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) patients to determine if they harbored a ...
Carboxylic acid transporters in Candida pathogenesis
Alves, Rosana; Sousa-Silva, M.; Vieira, Daniel; Soares, Pedro; Chebaro, Yasmin; Lorenz, Michael C.; Casal, Margarida; Soares-Silva, IsabelOpportunistic pathogens such as Candida species can use carboxylic acids, like acetate and lactate, to survive and successfully thrive in different environmental niches. These nonfermentable substrates are frequently the major carbon sources present in certain human body sites, and their efficient uptake by regulated plasma membrane transporters plays a critical role in such nutrient-limited conditions. Here, w...
The acetate uptake transporter family motif "NPAPLGL(M/S)" is essential for sub...
Ribas, David; Soares-Silva, Isabel; Vieira, Daniel; Sousa-Silva, M.; Sa-Pessoa, Joana; Azevedo-Silva, Joao; Viegas, Sandra CristinaOrganic acids are recognized as one of the most prevalent compounds in ecosystems, thus the transport and assimilation of these molecules represent an adaptive advantage for organisms. The AceTr family members are associated with the active transport of organic acids, namely acetate and succinate. The phylogenetic analysis shows this family is dispersed in the tree of life. However, in eukaryotes, it is almost ...
Exploring the function and structure of the acetate transporter family
Azevedo-Silva, João; Ribas, David; Castagnoli, Davide; Sa-Pessoa, Joana; Athayde, Diogo; Soares-Silva, Isabel; Archer, Margarida; Casal, MargaridaThe AceTr transporter family is a group of Acetate Transporters with six predicted transmembrane segments. It has homologues in fungi, bacteria, archaea and protozoa. As acetate transporters, these proteins play a crucial role on cell metabolism being involved in the capacity of cells to adapt to nutrient availability. As these membrane transporters also transport other substrates, they may be an important asse...
Yeast as a tool to express sugar acid transporters with biotechnological interest
Ribas, David Manuel Nogueira; Pessoa, Joana Sá; Soares-Silva, Isabel; Paiva, Sandra; Nygard, Yvonne; Ruohonen, Laura; Penttila, Merja; Casal, MargaridaSugar acids can be used as platform chemicals to generate primary building blocks of industrially relevant products. Microbial production of these organic compounds at high yields requires the engineering of the enzymatic machinery and the presence of plasma membrane transporters able to export them outside the cells. In this study, several yeast carboxylic acid transporters belonging to the Jen family were scr...