Issue 6, 2014

Perspective: what is known, and not known, about the connections between alkane oxidation and metal uptake in alkanotrophs in the marine environment

Abstract

Should iron and copper be added to the environment to stimulate the natural bioremediation of marine oil spills? The key enzymes that catalyze the oxidation of alkanes require either iron or copper, and the concentration of these ions in seawater is vanishingly low. Nevertheless, the dependence of alkane oxidation activity on external metal concentrations remains unclear. This perspective will summarize what is known about the co-regulation of alkane oxidation and metal acquisition and pose a series of critical questions to which, for the most part, we do not yet have answers. The paucity of answers points to the need for additional studies to illuminate the cellular biology connecting microbial growth on alkanes to the acquisition of metal ions.

Graphical abstract: Perspective: what is known, and not known, about the connections between alkane oxidation and metal uptake in alkanotrophs in the marine environment

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Perspective
Submitted
11 Feb 2014
Accepted
31 Mar 2014
First published
31 Mar 2014

Metallomics, 2014,6, 1121-1125

Author version available

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