Typologie d'actualités: CBM

Metallomics in geological time: trace element biosignatures evidence the influence of ocean chemistry on Earth’s earliest ecosystems

We used a combination of techniques: microbeam particle-induced X-ray emission spectroscopy (PIXE), carbon isotope geochemistry and electron microscopy. This has allowed us to discover trace element signatures of life in 3.33 billion-year-old rocks from South Africa. These signatures support a long-standing hypothesis that biological dependency on trace elements results from the enrichment of these elements in the metal-rich, hydrothermally influenced habitats of early life.

We approached this challenge through the biological concept of the metallome, which refers to the entirety of the inorganic species (metal and metalloid) within a cell. Although the genome and proteome do not survive fossilisation over billions of years, it is probable that metal concentrations within carbonaceous materials could do so, and indeed we found this to be the case in numerous carbon-rich microstructures from the Josefsdal Chert.

We found that a range of elements crucial to anaerobic microbes, including Fe, V, Ni, As and Co, were enriched within carbonaceous material characterised by negative carbon isotope signatures indicating biological origins.

Palaeo-metallome compositions could be used to deduce the metabolic networks of Earth’s earliest ecosystems and, potentially, as a biosignature for the evaluation of organic materials found on Mars.

The article “Metallomics in deep time and the influence of ocean chemistry on the metabolic landscapes of Earth’s earliest ecosystems” released March 18th in Scientific Reports.

Contact: keyron.hickman-lewis@cnrs.fr; frances.westall@cnrs.fr

 

DECLICS

On January 17, 2020, rich exchanges took place between the thematic group "Metal Complexes and MRI" and students of the first and final European class of the Lycée Pothier in Orleans as part of DECLICS "Dialogues Entre Chercheurs et Lycéens pour les Intéresser à la Construction des Savoirs" .

Jean-Marc Bonmatin has just been appointed from among the 23 members of the Scientific Council of ANSES

ANSES "French National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety" (about 1300 persons and 800 experts from outside) operates in diverse fields: human food and nutrition, environmental health, occupational health, animal health and welfare, animal nutrition, veterinary medicine, and plant protection products (pesticides).

The ANSES Scientific Council is independent and composed exclusively of scientists. It guarantees the quality and independence of ANSES 'expertise. It is also responsible for overseeing the evaluation process of the Agency’s research activities, which is supported in particular by a dozen of reference laboratories spread across the country.

Arrêté paru au Journal Officiel du 23 décembre 2019

Antimicrobial peptides: an atypical double-domain avian defensin, specifically found in eggs, reveals multiple roles in protection of the embryo

Read CNRS Press release

Gga-AvBD11, the avian β-defensin 11 of the common chicken Gallus gallus (Gga-AvBD11), is egg-specific, and represents the sole double-sized defensin (9.3 kDa) among the 14 AvBDs reported in the chicken species. The appearance of such a double-domain protein during evolution could be driven either by its increased biological potency compared to a single domain molecule, and/or by the necessity to acquire new functions carried only by the full-length protein. To assess the contribution of the two domains, we chemically synthesized them. We determined the 3D NMR structure each domain, and the structure of the compact full-length Gga-AvBD11, composed of two packed β-defensin domains. There is no reference for such a double-β-defensin in structural databanks. Thus, AvBD11 is the archetype of a new structural family, which we named avian-double-β-defensins (Av-DBD).
Its high sequence conservation among birds suggests its essential roles in the avian egg. In collaboration with several teams (Nouzilly and Tours, France), we showed that Gga-AvBD11 displays antimicrobial activities against Gram+ and Gram- bacterial pathogens, the avian protozoan Eimeria tenella and avian influenza virus (H1N1). It also shows cytotoxic and anti-invasive activities, suggesting that it may be involved in the (re-)modeling of embryonic tissues. Our results point to a critical importance of the cationic N-ter domain in mediating antibacterial, antiparasitic and anti-invasive activities, with the C-ter domain potentiating the two latter activities. Strikingly, antiviral activity in infected chicken cells requires the full-length protein.

The benefit for the avian species of possessing a double-sized defensin is a fascinating question. In order to better understand the structure-activity and phylogenetic relationships of AvBD11s family, we are currently studying other AvBD11 proteins (SAPhyR-11 project grant from the Région Centre Val de Loire).

This work was funded by the MUSE (Grant no. 2014-00094512) and SAPhyR-11 (Grant no. 2017-119983) project grants from the Région Centre-Val de Loire.

Structure, function, and evolution of Gga-AvBD11, the archetype of the structural avian-double-β-defensin family
Nicolas Guyot, Hervé Meudal, Sascha Trapp, Sophie Iochmann, Anne Silvestre, Guillaume Jousset, Valérie Labas, Pascale Reverdiau, Karine Loth, Virginie Hervé, Vincent Aucagne, Agnès F. Delmas, Sophie Rehault-Godbert, and Céline Landon
PNAS January 7, 2020 117 (1) 337-345; first published December 23, 2019 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1912941117