Regulation of extracellular vesicles for protein secretion in Aspergillus nidulans
This study reveals that Aspergillus nidulans boosts extracellular vesicle production when ER-trafficked enzymes are induced, uncovering how fungi remodel their secretome through vesicle-mediated secretion to adapt to changing environments and biofilm formation.
Transcriptomic response to different heme sources in Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes
This study uncovers how the Chagas disease parasite adapts to changes in heme, an essential molecule for its survival, providing transcriptional clues to heme metabolism and identifying a previously unreported heme-binding protein in T. cruzi.
Luminal acetylation of microtubules is not essential for Plasmodium berghei and Toxoplasma gondii survival
Acetylation of α-tubulin at lysine 40 is not essential for cytoskeletal stability in Plasmodium berghei or Toxoplasma gondii, suggesting redundancy and plasticity in microtubule regulation in these parasites.
The dual-site agonist for human M2 muscarinic receptors Iper-8-naphtalimide induces mitochondrial dysfunction in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
S. cerevisiae is a model to study human GPCRs. N-8-Iper, active against glioblastoma via M2 receptor, causes mitochondrial damage in yeast by binding Ste2, highlighting evolutionary conservation of GPCRs.
Integrative Omics reveals changes in the cellular landscape of peroxisome-deficient pex3 yeast cells
To uncover the consequences of peroxisome deficiency, we compared Saccharomyces cerevisiae wild-type with pex3 cells, which lack peroxisomes, employing quantitative proteomics and transcriptomics technologies.
Regulation of extracellular vesicles for protein secretion in Aspergillus nidulans
Rebekkah E. Pope1, Patrick Ballmann2, Lisa Whitworth3 and Rolf A. Prade1,*
This study reveals that Aspergillus nidulans boosts extracellular vesicle production when ER-trafficked enzymes are induced, uncovering how fungi remodel their secretome through vesicle-mediated secretion to adapt to changing environments and biofilm formation.
Transcriptomic response to different heme sources in Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes
Evelyn Tevere1,a, María G. Mediavilla1,a, Cecilia B. Di Capua1, Marcelo L. Merli1, Carlos Robello2,3, Luisa Berná2,4 and Julia A. Cricco
This study uncovers how the Chagas disease parasite adapts to changes in heme, an essential molecule for its survival, providing transcriptional clues to heme metabolism and identifying a previously unreported heme-binding protein in T. cruzi.
Sir2 regulates selective autophagy in stationary-phase yeast cells
Ji-In Ryua, Juhye Junga, and Jeong-Yoon Kim
This study establishes Sir2 as a previously unrecognized regulator of selective autophagy during the stationary phase and highlight how cells dynamically control organelle degradation.
Fat storage-inducing transmembrane (FIT or FITM) proteins are related to lipid phosphatase/phosphotransferase enzymes
Matthew J Hayes1, Vineet Choudhary2, Namrata Ojha2, John JH Shin3, Gil-Soo Han4, George M. Carman4, Christopher JR Loewen3, William A Prinz2 and Timothy P Levine1
Fat storage-inducing transmembrane (FIT or FITM) proteins have been implicated in the partitioning of triacylglycerol to lipid droplets and the budding of lipid droplets from the ER. Saccharomyces cerevisiae has two FITM homologues and the presented results suggest that Scs3p and Yft2p as well as FITMs in general are lipid phosphatase/phosphotransferase (LPT) enzymes involved in an as yet unknown critical step in phospholipid metabolism.
Yeast quiescence exit swiftness is influenced by cell volume and chronological age
Damien Laporte1, Laure Jimenez1, Laëtitia Gouleme1, Isabelle Sagot1
Quiescence exit swiftness is crucial not only for micro-organisms in competition for an environmental niche, such as yeast, but also for the maintenance of tissue homeostasis in multicellular species. Here, Laporte et al. explore the effect of replicative and chronological age on Saccharomyces cerevisiae quiescence exit efficiency. Overall, their data illustrate that the quiescent state is a continuum evolving with time, early and deep quiescence being distinguishable by the cell’s proficiency to re-enter the proliferation cycle.
A versatile plasmid system for reconstitution and analysis of mammalian ubiquitination cascades in yeast
Rossella Avagliano Trezza1,#, Janny van den Burg1, Nico van den Oever1 and Ben Distel1,2
In this article Avagliano Trezza et al. describe a versatile vector system that allows the reconstitution of specific ubiquitination cascades in the model eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisae (baker’s yeast) that provides a versatile tool to study complex post-translational modifications in a cellular setting.
Alcohols enhance the rate of acetic acid diffusion in S. cerevisiae : biophysical mechanisms and implications for acetic acid tolerance
Lina Lindahl1, Samuel Genheden2, Fábio Faria-Oliveira1, Stefan Allard3, Leif A. Eriksson2, Lisbeth Olsson1, Maurizio Bettiga1,4
Microbial cell factories with the ability to maintain high productivity in the presence of weak organic acids, such as acetic acid, are required in many industrial processes. This study demonstrates that the rate of acetic acid diffusion can be strongly affected by compounds that partition into the cell membrane, and highlights the need for considering interaction effects between compounds in the design of microbial processes.
A genome-wide screen for FTY720-sensitive mutants reveals genes required for ROS homeostasis
Kanako Hagihara1, Kanako Kinoshita1, Kouki Ishida1, Shihomi Hojo1, Yoshinori Kameoka1, Ryosuke Satoh1, Teruaki Takasaki1 and Reiko Sugiura1
Fingolimod hydrochloride (FTY720) is an immune modulator for multiple sclerosis that also induces cancer cell apoptosis through reactive oxygen species generation, with a new study using fission yeast uncovering a gene network related to ROS homeostasis as a possible mechanism of FTY720’s toxicity.
The cytosolic glyoxalases of Plasmodium falciparum are dispensable during asexual blood-stage development
Cletus A. Wezena1, Romy Alisch1, Alexandra Golzmann2, Linda Liedgens1, Verena Staudacher1,3, Gabriele Pradel2 and Marcel Deponte1,3
In this study the authors demonstrate that, PfGlo1 and PfcGlo2 are dispensable during asexual blood-stage development while the loss of PfcGlo2 may induce the formation of transmissible gametocytes. These combined data show that PfGlo1 and PfcGlo2 are most likely not suited as targets for selective drug development against the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.
Aminoglycoside resistance profile and structural architecture of the aminoglycoside acetyltransferase AAC(6’)-Im
Clyde A. Smith1, Monolekha Bhattacharya2, Marta Toth2, Nichole K. Stewart2 and Sergei B. Vakulenko2
AAC(6′)-Im, a monofunctional acetyltransferase, imparts increased resistance to certain aminoglycosides compared to its bifunctional homolog AAC(6′)-Ie, with structural studies revealing differences in substrate binding that explain the discrepancies in their enzymatic activity and resistance profiles.
Cryptococcus flips its lid – membrane phospholipid asymmetry modulates antifungal drug resistance and virulence
Erika Shor1, Yina Wang1, David S. Perlin1,2, and Chaoyang Xue1,2
This article comments on work published by Huang et al. (MBio, 2016), which reported that in the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans loss of lipid flippase activity sensitized cryptococcal cells to multiple classes of antifungal drugs and abolished fungal virulence in murine models.
A novel component of the mitochondrial genome segregation machinery in trypanosomes
Anneliese Hoffmann1,2, Martin Jakob1, and Torsten Ochsenreiter1
This article comments on work published by Trikin et al. (PLoS Pathog, 2016), which described a new component of the mitochondrial genome segregation machinery in the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei.
Bacterial genotoxin functions as immune-modulator and promotes host survival
R. Guidi1, L. Del Bell Belluz2, T. Frisan2
This article comments on work published by Del Bel Belluz et al. (PLoS Pathog, 2016), which demonstrated that the typhoid toxin of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi esembles an immune-modulatory molecule rather than a toxic agent.
Functions and regulation of the MRX complex at DNA double-strand breaks
Elisa Gobbini1, Corinne Cassani1, Matteo Villa1, Diego Bonetti2 and Maria Pia Longhese1
DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) pose a serious threat to genome stability and cell survival. Cells possess mechanisms that recognize DSBs and promote their repair through either homologous recombination (HR) or non-homologous end joining (NHEJ). The present review focuses mainly on recent works in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to highlight structure and regulation of the evolutionary conserved Mre11-Rad50-Xrs2 (MRX) complex as well as its interplays with Tel1.
Inhibition of Zika virus by Wolbachia in Aedes aegypti
Eric Pearce Caragata, Heverton Leandro Carneiro Dutra and Luciano Andrade Moreira
This article comments on work published by Dutra et al. (Cell Host Microbe, 2016), which investigated the potential of Wolbachia infections in Aedes aegypti to restrict infection and transmission of Zika virus.
Syphilis: Re-emergence of an old foe
Lola V. Stamm
Syphilis is caused by infection with Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum, a not-yet-cultivable spiral-shaped bacterium that is usually transmitted by sexual contact with an infected partner or by an infected pregnant woman to her fetus. This review provides insights into the etiology, epidemiology, clinical manifestation, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of syphilis.
Trichomoniasis – are we giving the deserved attention to the most common non-viral sexually transmitted disease worldwide?
Camila Braz Menezes, Amanda Piccoli Frasson, Tiana Tasca
Trichomonas vaginalis is the etiologic agent of trichomoniasis, the most common non-viral sexually transmitted disease (STD) in the world. This article contributes to claim the attention of public health policies to control this STD.
House of cellulose – a new hideout for drug tolerant Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Ashwani Kumar
This article comments on work published by Trivedi et al. (Nat Commun, 2016), which shows that Mycobacterium tuberculosis cells organise themselves into biofilms in response to intracellular thiol reductive stress.
Transceptors as a functional link of transporters and receptors
George Diallinas
A relative newcomer in environment sensing are the so called transceptors, membrane proteins that possess both solute transport and receptor-like signaling activities. Now, the transceptor concept is further enlarged to include micronutrient sensing via the iron and zinc high-affinity transporters of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
S. pombe placed on the prion map
Jacqueline Hayles
This article comments on work published by Sideri et al. (Microbial Cell, 2017), which identified the Ctr4 prion in S. pombe.
Using microbes as a key tool to unravel the mechanism of autophagy and the functions of the ATG proteins
Mario Mauthe1,2 and Fulvio Reggiori1,2
Microbes have served to discover and characterize unconventional functions of the ATG proteins, which are uncoupled from their role in autophagy. In our recent study, we have taken advantage of viruses as a screening tool to determine the extent of the unconventional functions of the ATG proteome and characterize one of them.
Autophagy: one more Nobel Prize for yeast
Andreas Zimmermann1, Katharina Kainz1, Aleksandra Andryushkova1, Sebastian Hofer1, Frank Madeo1,2 and Didac Carmona-Gutierrez1
The recent announcement of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumifor the discoveries of mechanisms governing autophagy, underscores the importance of intracellular degradation and recycling. Here we provide a quick historical overview that mirrors both the importance of autophagy as a conserved and essential process for cellular life and death as well as the crucial role of yeast in its mechanistic characterization.
Physiology, phylogeny, and LUCA
William F. Martin1,2, Madeline C. Weiss1, Sinje Neukirchen3, Shijulal Nelson-Sathi4, Filipa L. Sousa3
Genomes record their own history. But if we want to look all the way back to life’s beginnings some 4 billion years ago, the record of microbial evolution that is preserved in prokaryotic genomes is not easy to read. The classical approach has been to look for genes that are universally distributed. Another approach is to make all trees for all genes, and sift out the trees where signals have been overwritten by lateral gene transfer. What is left ought to be ancient. If we do that, what do we find?
Sexually transmitted infections: old foes on the rise
Didac Carmona-Gutierrez1,*, Katharina Kainz1 and Frank Madeo1,2,*
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are commonly spread via sexual contact. It is estimated that one million STIs are acquired every day worldwide. Besides their impact on sexual, reproductive and neonatal health, they can cause disastrous and life-threatening complications if left untreated. In addition to this personal burden, STIs also represent a socioeconomic problem, deriving in treatment costs of tremendous proportions. Despite a substantial progress in diagnosis, treatment and prevention, the incidence of many common STIs is increasing, and STIs continue to represent a global public health problem and a major cause for morbidity and mortality. With this Special Issue, Microbial Cell provides an in-depth overview of the eight major STIs, covering all relevant features of each infection.
Microbial Cell
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Peer-reviewed, open-access research using unicellular organisms (and multicellular microorganisms) to understand cellular responses and human disease.
The journal (founded in 2014) is led by its Editors-in-Chief Frank Madeo, Didac Carmona-Gutierrez, and Guido Kroemer
Microbial Cell has been publishing original scientific literature since 2014, and from the very beginning has been managed by active scientists through an independent Publishing House (Shared science Publishers). The journal was conceived as a platform to acknowledge the importance of unicellular organisms, both as model systems as well as in the biological context of human health and disease.
Ever since, Microbial Cell has very positively developed and strongly grown into a respected journal in the unicellular research community and even beyond. This scientific impact is reflected in the yearly number of citations obtained by articles published in Microbial Cell, as recorded by the Web of Science (Clarivate, formerly Thomson/Reuters):
The scientific impact of Microbial Cell is also mirrored in a series of milestones:
2015: Microbial Cell is included in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), a selection of developing journals drafted by Clarivate Analytics based on the candidate’s publishing standards, quality, editorial content, and citation data. Note: As an ESCI-selected journal, Microbial Cell is currently being evaluated in a rigorous and long process to determine an inclusion in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), which allows the official calculation of Clarivate Analytics’ impact factor.
2016: Microbial Cell is awarded the so-called DOAJ Seal by the selective Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). The DOAJ Seal is an exclusive mark of certification for open access journals granted by DOAJ to journals that adhere to outstanding best practice and achieve an extra high and clear commitment to open access and high publishing standards.
2017: Microbial Cell is included in Pubmed Central (PMC), allowing the archiving of all the journal’s articles in PMC and PubMed.
2019: Microbial Cell is indexed in the prestigious abstract and citation database Scopus after a thorough selection process. This also means that Microbial Cell obtains, for the first time, an official Scopus CiteScore as well as an official journal ranking in the Scimago Journal and Country Ranking.
2022: Microbial Cell’s CiteScore reaches a value of 7.2 for the year 2021, positioning Microbial Cell among the top microbiology journals (previously available CiteScores: 2019: 5.4; 2020: 5.1).
2022: Microbial Cell is indexed in the highly selective Science Citation Index Expanded™, which covers approx. 9,500 of the world’s most impactful journals across 178 scientific disciplines. In their journal selection and curation process, Clarivate´s editors apply 24 ‘quality’ criteria and four ‘impact’ criteria to select the most influential journals in their respective fields. This selection is also a pre-requisite for inclusion in the JCR, which features the impact factor.
2022: Microbial Cell is listed in the Journal Citation Reports™ (JCR), and obtains its first official Journal Impact Factor™ (JIF) for the year 2021: 5.316.Check Article Types and Manuscript Preparation guidelines. Submit online via Scholastica.
Staphylococcus aureus type I signal peptidase: essential or not essential, that’s the question
Wouter L.W. Hazenbos1, Elizabeth Skippington2 and Man-Wah Tan1
This article comments on work published by Morisaki et al. (mBio, 2016), which characterized a novel ABC transporter. This transporter apparently compensates for SpsB’s essential function by mediating alternative cleavage of a subset of proteins at a site distinct from the SpsB-cleavage site, leading to SpsB-independent secretion.