Jeffrey A. Gralnick
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Credentials
PhD

Professor
Biography

Research Summary

Microbial Physiology and Synthetic Biology in Environmental Bacteria

Our lab is interested in understanding the physiology of Shewanella, a species of gram-negative bacteria found throughout the world in aquatic environments. This group has the greatest diversity of compounds it can ‘breathe’ of any organisms studied to date. The act of respiring these compounds can impact geochemical gradients of compounds like sulfur, iron and manganese. The molecular mechanism that enables S. oneidensis to carry out these reactions and how these systems are regulated is a main focus of research in my laboratory. By understanding the mechanistic details of these processes we can begin to rationally engineer S. oneidensis (and its relatives) for biotechnological applications, ranging from bioremediation to energy generation to biocatalysis.

Publications

"Summers, Z.M., J.A. Gralnick and D.R. Bond. 2013. Cultivation of an obligate Fe(II)-oxidizing lithoautotrophic bacterium using electrodes. mBio. 4(1) e00420-12.Kotloski, N.J. and J.A. Gralnick. 2013. Flavin electron shuttles dominate extracellular electron transfer by Shewanella oneidensis. mBio. 4(1) e00553-12. Kane, A.L., D.R. Bond and J.A. Gralnick. 2013. Electrochemical analysis ofShewanella oneidensis engineered to bind gold electrodes. ACS Synth Biol. 2(2):93-101.  Brutinel, E.D. and J.A. Gralnick. 2012. Preferential utilization of D-lactate byShewanella oneidensis. Appl Environ Microbiol. 78(23)8474-6.Brutinel, E.D. and J.A. Gralnick. 2012. Anomalies of the anaerobic TCA cycle inShewanella oneidensis revealed by Tn-seq. Mol Microbiol. 86(2):273-83.Coursolle, D. and J.A. Gralnick. 2012. Reconstruction of extracellular respiratory pathways for iron(III) reduction in Shewanella oneidensis strain MR-1. Front Microbiol. 3:56.Brutinel, E. D. and J.A. Gralnick. 2012. Shuttling Happens: soluble flavin mediators of extracellular electron transfer in Shewanella. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 93(1):41-8. "