Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Photosynthesis | The Heliobacteria

Other · · Encyclopedia of Biological Chemistry III
 [1];  [2]
  1. Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States); Abbott Diagnostics, IL (United States)
  2. Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)

The heliobacteria are the only phototrophs in the Gram-positive group of bacteria. They are strict anaerobes that grow in a primarily fermentative mode in the dark. In the light, they use a homodimeric Type I photochemical reaction center to drive cyclic electron transport. They are unique in using the pigment bacteriochlorophyll g. All heliobacteria are unable to fix CO2 but able to fix N2. Their core metabolism includes a complete TCA cycle with several reversible enzymes in common with the reverse (reductive) TCA cycle, but they lack an (ATP) citrate lyase that would allow CO2 fixation. There are now several sequenced genomes available for different heliobacterial species, allowing hypotheses to be made concerning their metabolic potential. Here, techniques to introduce replicating plasmids into Heliobacterium modesticaldum, as well as leveraging its endogenous CRISPR/Cas system to edit its chromosome, have recently been pioneered, contributing to making this species a model system for this family.

Research Organization:
Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences & Biosciences Division
DOE Contract Number:
SC0010575
OSTI ID:
1841957
Journal Information:
Encyclopedia of Biological Chemistry III, Vol. 2
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (84)

An updated evolutionary classification of CRISPR–Cas systems journal September 2015
Cloning of chlorophyllase, the key enzyme in chlorophyll degradation: Finding of a lipase motif and the induction by methyl jasmonate journal December 1999
Energy and Electron Transfer upon Selective Femtosecond Excitation of Pigments in Membranes of Heliobacillus mobilis journal January 1996
Identification and Characterization of PshB, the Dicluster Ferredoxin that Harbors the Terminal Electron Acceptors F A and F B in Heliobacterium modesticaldum , journal March 2007
Modulation of the fluorescence yield in heliobacterial cells by induction of charge recombination in the photosynthetic reaction center journal December 2013
Metabolic engineering of Clostridium acetobutylicum for the industrial production of 1,3-propanediol from glycerol journal September 2005
Electron transfer in the heliobacterial reaction center: evidence against a quinone-type electron acceptor functioning analogous to A1 in photosystem I journal March 1998
Reduced sulphur sources favour Hg II reduction during anoxygenic photosynthesis by Heliobacteria journal September 2019
Heliobacteria Reveal Fermentation As a Key Pathway for Mercury Reduction in Anoxic Environments journal February 2018
Reaction center photochemistry of Heliobacterium chlorum journal December 1990
Origin and early evolution of photosynthesis journal August 1992
Structure of a symmetric photosynthetic reaction center–photosystem journal July 2017
Gram-positive bacteria: possible photosynthetic ancestry journal November 1984
Molecular mechanisms of CRISPR-mediated microbial immunity journal August 2013
Phylum BXIII. Firmicutes book January 2001
Fatty acid and lipopolysaccharide analyses of three Heliobacterium spp journal June 1990
Identification of 81-hydroxychlorophyll a as a functional reaction center pigment in heliobacteria journal July 1991
Heliorestis daurensis , gen. nov. sp. nov., an alkaliphilic rod-to-coiled-shaped phototrophic heliobacterium from a Siberian soda lake journal August 1999
Prokaryotic Heme Biosynthesis: Multiple Pathways to a Common Essential Product journal January 2017
The 18 kDa Cytochrome c 553 from Heliobacterium gestii :  Gene Sequence and Characterization of the Mature Protein journal June 1998
Cyclic Electron Transfer in Heliobacillus mobilis Involving a Menaquinol-Oxidizing Cytochrome bc Complex and an RCI-Type Reaction Center journal April 1997
Resolution and Reconstitution of a Bound Fe−S Protein from the Photosynthetic Reaction Center of Heliobacterium modesticaldum journal July 2005
Light-Induced Electron Spin-Polarized (ESP) EPR Signal of the P800 + Menaquinone Radical Pair State in Oriented Membranes of Heliobacterium modesticaldum : Role/Location of Menaquinone in the Homodimeric Type I Reaction Center journal February 2018
Development of an electrotransformation protocol for genetic manipulation of Clostridium pasteurianum journal January 2013
Light-driven quinone reduction in heliobacterial membranes journal March 2018
Identification and characterization of PshBII, a second FA/FB-containing polypeptide in the photosynthetic reaction center of Heliobacterium modesticaldum journal May 2010
Pheophytin Pheophorbide Hydrolase (Pheophytinase) Is Involved in Chlorophyll Breakdown during Leaf Senescence in Arabidopsis journal March 2009
Genome-wide Transcriptional Response during the Shift to N2-fixing Conditions in Heliobacterium modesticaldum journal January 2018
Harnessing heterologous and endogenous CRISPR-Cas machineries for efficient markerless genome editing in Clostridium journal May 2016
Isolation of a photoactive photosynthetic reaction center-core antenna complex from Heliobacillus mobilis journal December 1989
Electron donation from membrane-bound cytochrome c to the photosynthetic reaction center in whole cells and isolated membranes of Heliobacterium gestii journal February 2002
Thermodynamics of the Electron Acceptors in Heliobacterium modesticaldum : An Exemplar of an Early Homodimeric Type I Photosynthetic Reaction Center journal April 2016
Distinctive properties of bacilliform photosynthetic heliobacteria journal March 1988
Heliobacterium sulfidophilum sp. nov. andHeliobacterium undosum sp. nov.: Sulfideoxidizing heliobacteria from thermal sulfidic springs journal May 2000
Insight into the haem d 1 biosynthesis pathway in heliobacteria through bioinformatics analysis journal October 2007
Heliophilum fasciatum gen. nov. sp. nov. and Heliobacterium gestii sp. nov.: endospore-forming heliobacteria from rice field soils journal April 1996
Structure of the complex I-like molecule NDH of oxygenic photosynthesis journal February 2019
Evidence for an alternative nitrogenase in Heliobacterium gestii journal December 1992
Evolution of photosynthetic reaction centers: insights from the structure of the heliobacterial reaction center journal March 2018
Genetic and biochemical analyses of the biosynthesis of the yellow carotenoid 4,4'-diaponeurosporene of Staphylococcus aureus. journal December 1994
New Insights into Type II NAD(P)H:Quinone Oxidoreductases journal December 2004
Noncanonical coproporphyrin-dependent bacterial heme biosynthesis pathway that does not use protoporphyrin journal February 2015
Determination of Stereochemistry of Bacteriochlorophyll gF and 81-Hydroxy-chlorophyll aF from Heliobacterium modesticaldum¶ journal January 2005
Properties and Evolutionary Implications of the Heliobacterial Genome book March 2013
Temporal and spectral characterization of the photosynthetic reaction center from Heliobacterium modesticaldum journal June 2013
Heliobacterial Rieske/cytb complex journal January 2010
Arabidopsis STAY-GREEN , Mendel’s Green Cotyledon Gene, Encodes Magnesium-Dechelatase journal September 2016
Analysis of the Complete Genome of the Alkaliphilic and Phototrophic Firmicute Heliorestis convoluta Strain HHT journal February 2020
Secondary Electron Transfer Processes in Membranes of Heliobacillus mobilis journal October 1995
Purification and biochemical characterization of the ATP synthase from Heliobacterium modesticaldum journal October 2015
Photosynthetic reaction centres: variations on a common structural theme? journal January 1991
An enzyme and13C-NMR study of carbon metabolism in heliobacteria journal July 1994
Bacteriochlorophyll g epimer as a possible reaction center component of heliobacteria journal March 1991
A unique photosynthetic reaction center from Heliobacterium chlorum journal March 1985
Nitrate reduction to ammonia by enteric bacteria: redundancy, or a strategy for survival during oxygen starvation? journal February 1996
Rhizospheric metagenome of the terrestrial mangrove fern Acrostichum from Indian Sunderbans journal December 2017
Metagenomics of Atacama Lithobiontic Extremophile Life Unveils Highlights on Fungal Communities, Biogeochemical Cycles and Carbohydrate-Active Enzymes journal November 2019
Bacteriochlorophyll g. A new bacteriochlorophyll from Heliobacterium chlorum journal October 1983
Heliobacterium chlorum, an anoxygenic brownish-green photosynthetic bacterium containing a ?new? form of bacteriochlorophyll journal October 1983
The Effect of Bacteriochlorophyll g Oxidation on Energy and Electron Transfer in Reaction Centers from Heliobacterium modesticaldum journal April 2015
Heliobacterium modesticaldum, sp. nov., a thermophilic heliobacterium of hot springs and volcanic soils journal April 1995
The respiratory complex I of bacteria, archaea and eukarya and its module common with membrane-bound multisubunit hydrogenases journal August 2000
Taxonomy, phylogeny, and ecology of the heliobacteria journal January 2010
Single core polypeptide in the reaction center of the photosynthetic bacterium Heliobacillus mobilis: structural implications and relations to other photosystems. journal August 1993
Gram-positive cell wall structure of the A3γ type in heliobacteria journal September 1994
Carbon Flow of Heliobacteria Is Related More to Clostridia than to the Green Sulfur Bacteria journal August 2010
Thermodynamic properties of the photochemical reaction center of Heliobacterium chlorum journal December 1985
The FX iron–sulfur cluster serves as the terminal bound electron acceptor in heliobacterial reaction centers journal February 2012
Energy metabolism of Heliobacterium modesticaldum during phototrophic and chemotrophic growth journal January 2010
Chemotrophic growth of heliobacteria in darkness journal January 1994
Time-resolved spectroscopy of energy and electron transfer processes in the photosynthetic bacterium Heliobacillus mobilis journal February 1994
Membrane-Bound c-Type Cytochromes in Heliobacillus mobilis. In Vivo Study of the Hemes Involved in Electron Donation to the Photosynthetic Reaction Center journal September 1995
Expression and characterization of cytochrome c 553 from Heliobacterium modesticaldum journal February 2014
Expression and characterization of the diheme cytochrome c subunit of the cytochrome bc complex in Heliobacterium modesticaldum journal January 2012
Heliobacillus mobilis , a peritrichously flagellated anoxyphototroph containing bacteriochlorophyll g journal April 1987
Insights into heliobacterial photosynthesis and physiology from the genome of Heliobacterium modesticaldum journal February 2010
Improvement of bacterial transformation efficiency using plasmid artificial modification journal November 2008
Expression and purification of affinity-tagged variants of the photochemical reaction center from Heliobacterium modesticaldum journal September 2019
Engineered biosynthesis of bacteriochlorophyll gF in Rhodobacter sphaeroides journal July 2018
Rhodobacter sphaeroides mutants overexpressing chlorophyllide a oxidoreductase of Blastochloris viridis elucidate functions of enzymes in late bacteriochlorophyll biosynthetic pathways journal May 2015
Molecular mechanisms of CRISPR–Cas spacer acquisition journal August 2018
An Electron Spin-Polarized Signal of the P800 + A 1 (Q) State in the Homodimeric Reaction Center Core Complex of Heliobacterium modesticaldum journal April 2008
Evolution of heliobacteria: Implications for photosynthetic reaction center complexes journal July 1994
Electron transfer in menaquinone-depleted membranes of Heliobacterium chlorum journal April 1993