Michaela A. TerAvest

OxyR regulates the oxidative stress response in Zymomonas mobilis during oxic growth and anoxic biofuel fermentation

This study shows that OxyR regulates oxidative stress in Zymomonas mobilis during oxic growth and anoxic fermentation, with its absence impairing growth and ethanol production in hydrolysate.

Multi-lab, Multi-enzyme Study Demonstrates the Versatility of Bacterial Microcompartment Shells as a Modular Platform for Confined Biocatalysis

This paper demonstrates a modular platform for enzyme encapsulation using bacterial microcompartment shells, showing successful activity and stability for multiple enzymes.

Encapsulation in a bacterial microcompartment shell improves thermal stability of a glycolytic enzyme

This study shows that encapsulating the enzyme TPI in HO BMC shells improves its thermal stability up to 62°C.

A small number of point mutations confer formate tolerance in Shewanella oneidensis

This paper identifies two point mutations that confer formate tolerance in Shewanella oneidensis, enabling its use in microbial electrosynthesis systems.

Controlled enzyme cargo loading in engineered bacterial microcompartment shells

The paper studies non-native cargo loading into HO shell variants and finds that activity depends on cargo amount, not shell permeability, with simpler variants showing robust assembly.

Structure Characterization of Bacterial Microcompartment Shells via X-ray Scattering and Coordinate Modeling: Evidence for adventitious capture of cytoplasmic proteins

The paper uses SAXS and PDDF to analyze BMC shell structures and enzyme encapsulation in Haliangium ochraceum BMCs expressed in E. coli, showing cytoplasmic protein capture during assembly.

Electrochemical cofactor recycling of bacterial microcompartments

The paper identifies a new function of an enzyme in bacterial microcompartments, proposing NAD+ regeneration and a role for the shell in redox separation.

The Genetics of Aerotolerant Growth in a Naturally Reduced Genome Alphaproteobacterium

This study identifies conditionally essential genes in Zymomonas mobilis for aerobic and anaerobic growth using CRISPRi-seq, revealing roles of DNA repair and respiratory complexes in energy coupling and isoprenoid biosynthesis.

Reversing an extracellular electron transfer pathway for electrode-driven NADH generation

The paper engineers an inward electron transfer pathway in Shewanella oneidensis to generate NADH using electrode-driven electrons and a light-driven proton pump.

Current production as a rapid response expression reporter under micro-oxic and anoxic conditions

This study demonstrates that current production can serve as a rapid and efficient reporter for gene expression in Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 under micro-oxic and anoxic conditions, comparable to fluorescent proteins.