6). MlrA binds a 33-bp-long palindromic sequence (see Fig. 3), which is much longer than the hitherto identified binding sequences by E. coli transcription factors (Ishihama, 2010) and probably induces

DNA underwinding as in the case of MerR. DNA curvature induced by MlrA should influence not only the activity of neighbouring DNA such as binding affinity to positive factors, IHF, OmpR and RstA, RG7422 and/or to negative fractors, H-NS and CpxR, but also the mode of the molecular interplay between csgD promoter-bound transcription factors. The metal response regulator MerR interacts and binds heavy metals using its C-terminal domain. The C-terminal domain MlrA, however, exhibits little similarity to the MerR family regulators, indicating that MlrA interacts with an as yet

unidentified effector using the C-terminal domain. Identification of the putative effector affecting MlrA activity is also important for detailed understanding of the regulatory role of MlrA in activation of the csgD promoter. This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Area System Cell Engineering by Multi-Scale Manipulation (17076016) to A.I., Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) (21241047) and (B) (18310133) to A.I., and Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows (218850) to H.O. from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. We also acknowledge the support from Project of Micro-Nano Technology Research Center MAPK inhibitor of Hosei University. H.O. is a recipient of a JSPS Post-doctoral Fellowship. Table S1.Escherichia coli strains used. Table S2. Primers used. Please note: Wiley-Blackwell is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting materials supplied by the

authors. Any queries (other than missing material) ifenprodil should be directed to the corresponding author for the article. ”
“Isothermal calorimetry measures the heat flow of biological processes, which is proportional to the rate at which a given chemical or physical process takes place. Modern isothermal microcalorimeters make measurements of less than a microwatt of heat flow possible. As a result, as few as 10 000–100 000 active bacterial cells in culture are sufficient to produce a real-time signal dynamically related to the number of cells present and their activity. Specimens containing bacteria need little preparation, and isothermal microcalorimetry (IMC) is a nondestructive method. After IMC measurements, the undisturbed samples can be evaluated by any other means desired. In this review, we present a basic description of microcalorimetry and examples of microbiological applications of IMC for medical and environmental microbiology. In both fields, IMC has been used to quantify microbial activity over periods of hours or even days.