Research projects of current students
- Carlotta Debnar-Daumler
- Start date: October 2009
- Nationality: German
- Bachelor thesis:
"Analysis of the Tetrachloroethene-dechlorinating Microbial Community in Anoxic Sediments from the River Elbe" (2007) AG Friedrich, Project Group Molecular Geobiology, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany
- Master thesis:
"Anaerobic Degradation of Phenylalanine in Aromatoleum aromaticum Strain EbN1 – Oxidation of Phenylacetaldehyde to Phenylacetate" (2009) AG Heider, Laboratory for Microbial Biochemistry, Philipps-University Marburg, Germany
- Research group:
AG Heider, Laboratory for Microbial Biochemistry, Philipps-University Marburg, Germany
- Research project description:
My research focuses on molybdo- and tungstoenzymes in the anaerobic metabolism of prokaryotes. During my doctoral thesis I study the phenylacetaldehyde ferredoxin oxidoreductase (AOR) from the mesophilic denitrifying bacterium Aromatoleum aromaticum strain EbN1. This enzyme catalyses the oxidation of phenylacetaldehyde to phenylacetate in the anaerobic degradation pathway of the aromatic amino acid phenylalanine. AORs are mostly known from thermophilic and hyperthermophilic archaea and contain a tungsten cofactor. Until now, the specificity of the annotated pathway of molybdenum-cofactor biosynthesis in A. aromaticum for either molybdenum or tungsten cannot be predicted, although a number of molybdenum-containing enzymes is known. Bioinformatic evaluation of the genome of A. aromaticum indicates the existence of a potential tungsten-specific cofactor biosynthesis pathway. AOR will be characterized via native purification, biophysical characterization and crystallization. For research on the molybdenum and tungsten integration systems also genetic tools are used.
