Nodule-forming bacteria play crucial roles in plant health and nutrition by providing fixed nitrogen to leguminous plants. Despite the importance of this relationship, how nodule-forming bacteria are ...

Efforts towards microbial conversion of lignin to value-added products face many challenges because lignin's methoxylated aromatic monomers release toxic C1 byproducts such as formaldehyde. The abilit...

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ASM's statement on the recent Executive Orders and compulsory and voluntary federal agency staff reductions.

Teams with innovative ideas to reduce electronics waste compete to win prizes.

Metal ions are essential for all life. In microbial cells, potassium (K+) is the most abundant cation and plays a key role in maintaining osmotic balance. Magnesium (Mg2+) is the dominant divalent cation and is required for nucleic acid structure and as an enzyme cofactor. Microbes typically require the transition metals manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn), although the precise set of metal ions needed to sustain life is variable. Intracellular metal pools can be conceptualized as a chemically complex mixture of rapidly exchanging (labile) ions, complemented by those reservoirs that exchange slowly relative to cell metabolism (sequestered). Labile metal pools are buffered by transient interactions with anionic metabolites and macromolecules, with the ribosome playing a major role. Sequestered metal pools include many metalloproteins, cofactors, and storage depots, with some pools redeployed upon metal depletion. Here, I review the size, composition, and dynamics of intracellular metal pools and highlight the major gaps in understanding.

Cell physiology requires innumerable metalloenzymes supported by the selective import of metal ions. Within the crowded cytosol, most enzymes acquire their cognate cofactors from a buffered labile poo...

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