@article {750,
	title = {Simple oligomers as antimicrobial peptide mimics.},
	journal = {J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol},
	volume = {32},
	year = {2005},
	month = {2005 Jul},
	pages = {296-300},
	abstract = {New approaches to antibiotic design are desperately needed. The design of simple oligomers that capture the shape and biological function of natural antimicrobial peptides could prove to be versatile and highly successful. We discuss the use of aromatic backbones to design facially amphiphilic (FA) beta-sheet like structures which are potently antimicrobial. These oligomers capture the physiochemical properties of peptides like the Magainins and Defensins, which fold into specific conformations that are amphiphilic resulting in antimicrobial activity. However, natural peptides are expensive to prepare and difficult to produce on large scale. The design of polymers and oligomers that mimic the complex structures and remarkable biological properties of proteins is an important endeavor and provides attractive alternatives to the difficult synthesis of natural peptides. We therefore have designed a series of FA oligomers that are easy to prepare from inexpensive monomers. They adopt structures very reminiscent of amphiphilic beta-sheets and have significant activity with minimal inhibitory concentrations at 6 h in the low microgram per ml range (muM to nM). They are active against a broad spectrum of bacteria including gram-positive and gram-negative as well as antibiotic resistant strains.},
	keywords = {Amides, Anti-Bacterial Agents, Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides, Drug Resistance, Bacterial, Gram-Negative Bacteria, Gram-Positive Bacteria, Inhibitory Concentration 50, Peptides, Protein Conformation},
	issn = {1367-5435},
	doi = {10.1007/s10295-005-0219-0},
	author = {Rennie, Jason and Arnt, Lachelle and Tang, Haizhong and N{\"u}sslein, Klaus and Tew, Gregory N}
}
@article {398,
	title = {Proteolytic degradation of Escherichia coli transcription activators SoxS and MarA as the mechanism for reversing the induction of the superoxide (SoxRS) and multiple antibiotic resistance (Mar) regulons.},
	journal = {Mol Microbiol},
	volume = {51},
	year = {2004},
	month = {2004 Mar},
	pages = {1801-16},
	abstract = {In Escherichia coli, the SoxRS regulon confers resistance to redox-cycling compounds, and the Mar regulon provides a defence against multiple antibiotics. The response regulators, SoxS and MarA, are synthesized de novo in response to their inducing signals and directly activate transcription of a common set of target genes. Although the mechanisms of transcription activation by SoxS and MarA have been well studied, little is known about how the systems are shut-off once the inducing stress has subsided, except that de novo synthesis of the regulators is known to cease almost immediately. Here, we induced the SoxRS regulon and determined that, upon removal of the inducer, expression of the regulon{\textquoteright}s genes quickly returns to the preinduced level. This rapid shut-off indicates that the system is reset by an active process. We found that SoxS is unstable and infer that SoxS degradation is responsible for the rapid return of the system to the ground state upon removal of the inducing signal. We also found that MarA is unstable and that the instability of both proteins is intrinsic and unregulated. We used null mutations of protease genes to identify the proteases involved in the degradation of SoxS and MarA. Among single protease mutations, only lon mutations increased the half-life of SoxS and MarA. In addition, SoxS appeared to be nearly completely stable in a lon ftsH double mutant. Using hexahistidine tags placed at the respective ends of the activators, we found that access to the amino-terminus is essential for the proteolytic degradation.},
	keywords = {Base Sequence, Blotting, Western, DNA Primers, DNA-Binding Proteins, Drug Resistance, Bacterial, Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial, Endopeptidases, Escherichia coli, Escherichia coli Proteins, Genes, Bacterial, Half-Life, Hydrolysis, Kinetics, Mutation, Oxidation-Reduction, Promoter Regions, Genetic, Regulon, Trans-Activators, Transcription, Genetic},
	issn = {0950-382X},
	author = {Griffith, Kevin L and Shah, Ishita M and Wolf, Richard E}
}
@article {569,
	title = {Thermophily in the Geobacteraceae: Geothermobacter ehrlichii gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel thermophilic member of the Geobacteraceae from the "Bag City" hydrothermal vent.},
	journal = {Appl Environ Microbiol},
	volume = {69},
	year = {2003},
	month = {2003 May},
	pages = {2985-93},
	abstract = {Little is known about the microbiology of the "Bag City" hydrothermal vent, which is part of a new eruption site on the Juan de Fuca Ridge and which is notable for its accumulation of polysaccharide on the sediment surface. A pure culture, designated strain SS015, was recovered from a vent fluid sample from the Bag City site through serial dilution in liquid medium with malate as the electron donor and Fe(III) oxide as the electron acceptor and then isolation of single colonies on solid Fe(III) oxide medium. The cells were gram-negative rods, about 0.5 micro m by 1.2 to 1.5 micro m, and motile and contained c-type cytochromes. Analysis of the 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequence of strain SS015 placed it in the family Geobacteraceae in the delta subclass of the Proteobacteria. Unlike previously described members of the Geobacteraceae, which are mesophiles, strain SS015 was a thermophile and grew at temperatures of between 35 and 65 degrees C, with an optimum temperature of 55 degrees C. Like many previously described members of the Geobacteraceae, strain SS015 grew with organic acids as the electron donors and Fe(III) or nitrate as the electron acceptor, with nitrate being reduced to ammonia. Strain SS015 was unique among the Geobacteraceae in its ability to use sugars, starch, or amino acids as electron donors for Fe(III) reduction. Under stress conditions, strain SS015 produced copious quantities of extracellular polysaccharide, providing a model for the microbial production of the polysaccharide accumulation at the Bag City site. The 16S rDNA sequence of strain SS015 was less than 94\% similar to the sequences of previously described members of the Geobacteraceae; this fact, coupled with its unique physiological properties, suggests that strain SS015 represents a new genus in the family Geobacteraceae. The name Geothermobacter ehrlichii gen. nov., sp. nov., is proposed (ATCC BAA-635 and DSM 15274). Although strains of Geobacteraceae are known to be the predominant Fe(III)-reducing microorganisms in a variety of Fe(III)-reducing environments at moderate temperatures, strain SS015 represents the first described thermophilic member of the Geobacteraceae and thus extends the known environmental range of this family to hydrothermal environments.},
	keywords = {Base Composition, Cytochromes, Deltaproteobacteria, DNA, Bacterial, DNA, Ribosomal, Drug Resistance, Bacterial, Ecosystem, Electron Transport, Geologic Sediments, Hot Temperature, Hydrogen-Ion Concentration, Iron, Microscopy, Electron, Molecular Sequence Data, Oxidation-Reduction, Pacific Ocean, Phylogeny, Seawater, Sodium Chloride, Species Specificity},
	issn = {0099-2240},
	author = {Kashefi, Kazem and Holmes, Dawn E and Baross, John A and Lovley, Derek R}
}
