Best Poster Award in Bioenergetics Conference

Oeiras, 21.07.2014

A team of ITQB (Ana Raquel Ramos, Sofia S. Venceslau, Fabian Grein, Gonçalo P. Oliveira and Inês A.C. Pereira) was awarded a Best Poster prize, sponsored by the journal Biochimica et Biophysica Acta – Bioenergetics, at the 18th European BioEnergetics Conference (EBEC) that took place last week in Lisbon.

The work entitled “A novel NADH dehydrogenase family widespread in Bacteria” was developed at the Bacterial Energy Metabolism Laboratory  and reported a new protein family, the Flavin oxidoreductase (FloxABCD), which is a new NADH dehydrogenase. Together with a heterodisulfide reductase (HdrABC), this protein is likely involved in the new mechanism of flavin-based electron bifurcation. The hdr-flox gene cluster is widespread among many Bacteria, pointing for a general and important role in the bioenergetics of anaerobes. In Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough the floxABCD-hdrABC genes were shown to be involved in ethanol metabolism.

EBEC 2014 had over 400 participants and was organized by members of the Metalloproteins and Bioenergetics unit of ITQB. The session topics included: Evolution and Biogenesis of Bioenergetic Systems, Prokaryotic and Plant Bioenergetics; ATP synthases, Respiratory Complexes and Photosystems; Electron Transfer and Proton Translocation Coupling; Membrane Transporters, Ion Pumps and Channels, Mitochondrial Structure and Dynamics, Mitochondria and Signaling, Uncoupling Proteins, ROS and Aging.