Adrienne KISH

News

PhD Defense - Congratulations to the newly-minted Dr Charly Favreau, who successfully defended his PhD entitled “Physiological response of the haloarchaeal Halobacterium salinarum trapped within halite crystals: Methodological developments and ex situ molecular study”

New Article - In a collaboration between UMR METIS and Adrienne Kish at MCAM, postdoc Eve Hellequin characterized the adaptations of cell envelope membrane lipids of Gram-negative bacteria to variations in temperature and pH, focussing on 3-hydroxy fatty acids to reconstruct environmental changes in soils: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1032032/full

New Article - Hot off the presses! How can microorganisms live inside a salt crystal? Doctoral candidate Charly Favreau and our fantastic team of collaborators present key new methods for isolating proteins directly & specifically from inside halite brine inclusions (microscopic drop of brine water inside NaCl salt crystals), and reveal for the first time the changes in protein expression allowing the halophilic archaeon Halobacterium salinarum to survive the early stage after evaporation within salt crystals: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.1075274/full

Research Activities

      Beyond the boundaries of the ‘ideal’ conditions for microbial life exists a diverse group of microorganisms (mostly prokaryotic bacteria and archaea) that thrive in ‘extreme’ conditions that present serious physical and chemical challenges for the survival of living organisms (pH, temperature, hydrostatic pressure, high concentrations of salts/metals, etc). These ‘extremophiles’ possess adaptations that protect them from the cellular damages induced by the surrounding environment. We use an interdisciplinary approach to characterize the molecular mechanisms enabling the survival of such microorganisms, and identify adaptations enabling survival under a variety of stress conditions. Fundamentally, understanding these mechanisms at the cellular and molecular levels increases our understanding of global biodiversity and geo(bio)chemical cycles, provides resistant biomolecules for structural studies, and even contributes to medical research in areas like DNA damage and repair (cancer). It also helps us trace the origins of life on Earth and determine the possibility for life on other planets.

     We are currently focusing on the roles of cell surface wall components called S-layers as adaptations against abiotic stresses in the environment (metals, salts, extremes in temperatures/pH, etc). S-layers are self-assembling proteinaceous structures present as well-ordered arrays on the surface of bacterial and archaeal cells as part of the cell envelope, forming their interaction interface with the external milieu. The direct contact of the S-layer with the surrounding environment provides a context for understanding mineral / microorganism interactions. S-layer proteins form an ordered structure that can serve as a site of nucleation for bio- or organo-mineralization. Preservation of S-layers during fossilization and diagenesis provides a potential biosignature for microbial life in the fossil record. The study of S-layers has implications for the origins and evolution of life on Earth, and the potential for life on other planets such as Mars.

“The earth never tires,

The earth is rude, silent, incomprehensible at first,

Nature is rude and incomprehensible at first

Be not discouraged, keep on, there are divine things well envelop’d,

I swear to you there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell.”

            -Walt Whitman “Song of the open road”

Supervision of Early Career Researchers:

Postdoctoral Researchers

2020-2022 - Anaïs MASSÉ (ATER)

Doctoral Students

2022-2025 - Lucas BOURMANCÉ
2019-2022 - Charly FAVREAU

Diploma Students

2017-2019 - Manon VANDERVENNET (EPHE)

Research Interns (Undergraduate and Masters Students)

2022 - 2023 - ELISA RAVARO (ERASMUS+ Master thesis student researcher)
2022 - Gaëlle MARMASSE (L3), Elisa RICHARD (Reseach technician, 2nd year student), Nour BEN HAMIDA (M1 summer intern)
2021 - Louise GILLET DE CHALONGE (L3)
2019 - Charly FAVREAU (M2), Rayan ABOUD (M1)
2018 - Prithviraj DESALE (M2), Charly FAVREAU (M1), Fairouz GZARA (M1), Rey MOUROT (L3)
2017 - Archjana CHAMDRAMOHAN (M2), Rey MOUROT (L2)
2016 - Meriem DORGHAM (M2), Lea BOUTEILLE (M1), Mathilde BOUREAU (M1)
2014 - Laura BELOT (L3)

Additional Research Interests

• Origins and evolution of microbial life
• Astrobiology/Exobiology

<a rel="me" href="https://mstdn.science/@AdrienneKish">Mastodon</a>

Selection of Articles Prior to 2012

• Glamoclija M, Fogel M, Steele A, Kish A. (2012) Microbial Nitrogen and Sulfur Cycles at the Gypsum Dunes of White Sands National Monument, New Mexico. Geomicrobiology Journal. 29:8, 733-51.

• Kish A, Griffin P, Rogers K, Fogel M, Hemley R, Steele A. (2012) High-Pressure Tolerance in Halobacterium salinarum NRC-1 and Other Non-Piezophilic Prokaryotes. Extremophiles. 16(2):355-61.

• Kish A, Kirkali G, Robinson C, Rosenblatt R, Jaruga P, Dizdaroglu M, and DiRuggiero J. (2009) Salt Shield: Intracellular Salts Provide Cellular Protection against Ionizing Radiation in the Halophilic Archaeon, Halobacterium salinarum str. NRC-1. Environ Microbiol. May;11(5):1066-78.

• Whitehead K* & Kish A*, Pan M, Kaur A, Reiss DJ, King N, Hohmann L, DiRuggiero J, Baliga NS. (2006) An integrated systems approach for understanding cellular responses to gamma radiation. Mol.Syst.Biol. 2:47. (*these authors contributed equally to this work)

• Kottemann M, Kish A, Iloanusi C, Bjork S, DiRuggiero J. (2005) Physiological Responses of the Halophilic Archaeon Halobacterium sp. str. NRC1 to Desiccation and Gamma Irradiation. Extremophiles Jun,9(3):219-27.