, January 28, 2026
Regulation of extracellular vesicles for protein secretion in <i>Aspergillus nidulans</i>

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.

January 23, 2026
Transcriptomic response to different heme sources in <i>Trypanosoma cruzi</i> epimastigotes

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.

, January 21, 2026

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.

, March 3, 2014

Protein oxidation in the intermembrane space of mitochondria is substrate-specific rather than general

Valentina Peleh1, Jan Riemer2, Andrew Dancis3 and Johannes M. Herrmann1

In this work, the authors suggest that in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the Mia40-dependent oxidation of proteins in the intermembrane space only takes place in specific proteins and presumably relies on the presence of Mia40-binding sites.

, January 15, 2014

Deletion of AIF1 but not of YCA1/MCA1 protects Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida albicans cells from caspofungin-induced programmed cell death

Christopher Chin1,2,#, Faith Donaghey1,#, Katherine Helming1,3,#, Morgan McCarthy1,#, Stephen Rogers1, and Nicanor Austriaco1

This work suggests that deleting AIF1 but not YCA1/MCA1 protects S. cerevisiae and Candida albicans from caspofungin-induced cell death. This is not only the first time that AIF1 has been specifically tied to cell death in Candida but also the first time that caspofungin resistance has been linked to the cell death machinery in yeast.

, January 5, 2014

Reduced TORC1 signaling abolishes mitochondrial dysfunctions and shortened chronological lifespan of Isc1p-deficient cells

Vitor Teixeira1,2, Tânia C. Medeiros1, Rita Vilaça1,2, Pedro Moradas-Ferreira1,2, and Vítor Costa1,2

Overall, this article shows that the TORC1-Sch9p axis is deregulated in Isc1p-deficient Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells, contributing to mitochondrial dysfunction, enhanced oxidative stress sensitivity and premature aging of isc1Δ cells.

, January 4, 2014

Early manifestations of replicative aging in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Maksim I. Sorokin1,3, Dmitry A. Knorre2,3, and Fedor F. Severin2,3

The data preseted herein suggest that retrograde signaling starts to malfunction in relatively young cells, leading to accumulation of heterogeneous mitochondria within one cell. The latter may further contribute to a decline in stress resistances.

, December 26, 2013

Tracking autophagy during proliferation and differentiation of Trypanosoma brucei

William R. Proto1, Nathaniel G. Jones1, Graham H. Coombs2, and Jeremy C. Mottram1

This article provides insights into the function of autophagy, a cellular degradation and recycling pathway, in the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei.

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, June 22, 2017

Impact of the host on Toxoplasma stage differentiation

Carsten G.K. Lüder1 and Taibur Rahman1

This review summarizes how Toxoplasma gondii transitions from an acute to a chronic infection in warm-blooded animals and humans through a developmental switch influenced by host cell physiology, which determines parasite persistence mainly in neural and muscular tissues.

, June 14, 2017

Chlamydia and mitochondria – an unfragmented relationship

Suvagata Roy Chowdhury1 and Thomas Rudel1

This article comments on work published by Chowdhury et al (J Cell Biol, 2017), which demonstrated that Chlamydia infection induces and requires an upregulation of the host miRNA, miR-30c-5p (miR-30c) to ameliorate infection induced stress on the host mitochondrial architecture and hinders induction of apoptosis.

, May 29, 2017

Protein aggregation triggers a declining libido in elder yeasts that still have a lust for life

Fabrice Caudron

This article comments on work published by Schlissel et al (Science 2017), showing that aging in yeast does not lead to the expected loss of heterochromatin silencing due to Sir2 inactivity, but rather to reduced mating pheromone sensitivity caused by the aggregation of the RNA-binding protein Whi3, which can be reversed by eliminating Whi3’s polyglutamine domain.

, May 1, 2017

Post-transcriptional regulation of ribosome biogenesis in yeast

Isabelle C. Kos-Braun and Martin Koš

Microorganisms adapt to environmental changes by regulating their metabolism, and one key survival strategy is to decrease energy use during adverse conditions by halting ribosome production, with recent findings showing yeast can switch between pre-rRNA processing pathways in response to environmental shifts, adding complexity to ribosome biogenesis regulation.

, April 27, 2017

Placeholder factors in ribosome biogenesis: please, pave my way

Francisco J. Espinar-Marchena, Reyes Babiano1 and Jesús de la Cruz

In ribosome synthesis, “placeholder” factors are crucial trans-acting elements that regulate the timing and assembly of ribosomal proteins, ensuring speed and accuracy in this intricate process by preventing premature interactions and guiding the proper formation of functional ribosomal subunits.

, April 25, 2017

Insights from the redefinition of Helicobacter pylori lipopolysaccharide O-antigen and core-oligosaccharide domains

Hong Li1,2, Tiandi Yang3, Tingting Liao2, Aleksandra W. Debowski2,4, Hans-Olof Nilsson2, Stuart M. Haslam3, Anne Dell3, Keith A. Stubbs4, Barry J. Marshall2 and Mohammed Benghezal2,5

This article comments on work published by Li et al. (PloS Pathog, 2017), focusing on Helicobacter pylori infections. They are mostly asymptomatic but can lead to serious conditions, and H. pylori lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is crucial for colonization and persistence, making the study of its structure and biosynthesis pathway vital for understanding pathogenesis and developing treatments.

, March 17, 2017

Evading plant immunity: feedback control of the T3SS in Pseudomonas syringae

Christopher Waite1, Jörg Schumacher1, Milija Jovanovic1, Mark Bennett1 and Martin Buck1

This article comments on work published by Waite et al. (mBio, 2017), which indicates that a negative autogenous control mechanism, where the sigma factor HrpL represses its own expression, permits the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae to fine-tune its type III secretion system, potentially reducing the elicitation of plant immunity and enhancing its ability to cause disease.

, March 16, 2017

Microbial flora, probiotics, Bacillus subtilis and the search for a long and healthy human longevity

Facundo Rodriguez Ayala, Carlos Bauman, Sebastián Cogliati, Cecilia Leñini, Marco Bartolini and Roberto Grau

This article comments on work published by Donato et al. (Nat Commun, 2017), which reveals that the probiotic Bacillus subtilis extends the lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans via mechanisms including the formation of biofilms and the production of signaling molecules like NO and CSF, suggesting a potential pathway through insulin-like signaling that could impact human longevity and age-related diseases.

, March 2, 2017

Chlamydia trachomatis’ struggle to keep its host alive

Barbara S. Sixt1-4, Raphael H. Valdivia5, Guido Kroemer1-4,6-7

This article comments on work published by Sixt et al. (Cell Host Microbe, 2016), which analyzed a CpoS-deficient mutant yielding unique insights into the nature of cell-autonomous defense responses against Chlamydia.

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, August 5, 2021

The long and winding road of reverse genetics in Trypanosoma cruzi

Miguel A. Chiurillo1 and Noelia Lander1

This Editorial provides a brief historic overview that highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the molecular strategies that have been developed to genetically modify Trypanosoma cruzi, emphasizing the future directions of the field.

, April 13, 2021

Means of intracellular communication: touching, kissing, fusing

Anne Spang1

This work highlights different aspects of communication between organelles, including the importance of organellar contact sites.

, April 5, 2021

Neuropathogenesis caused by Trypanosoma brucei, still an enigma to be unveiled

Katherine Figarella1

This Editorial addresses the meningo-encephalitic stage of Trypanosoma brucei infection and the resultig neuropathogenesis as well as the impact that the application of tools developed in the last years in the field of neuroscience will have on the study of neglected tropical diseases.

, March 1, 2021

Lichens – growing greenhouses en miniature

Martin Grube1

This commentary article provides an overview on different aspects of lichen biology and the remarkable symbiotic association between fungi and algae.

, June 22, 2020

Regulation of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore and its effects on aging

Damiano Pellegrino-Coppola1

Aging is linked to mitochondrial function, with the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) playing a key role. Yeast is a useful model for studying how mPTP affects cell survival, aging, and related diseases.

, June 1, 2020

Fungal infections in humans: the silent crisis

Katharina Kainz1, Maria A. Bauer1, Frank Madeo1-3 and Didac Carmona-Gutierrez1

This article highlights the growing global threat of fungal infections – exacerbated by rising drug resistance and medical practices – and emphasizes the urgent need for intensified research to develop more effective antifungal strategies.

, May 4, 2020

Digesting the crisis: autophagy and coronaviruses

Didac Carmona-Gutierrez1, Maria A. Bauer1, Andreas Zimmermann1,2, Katharina Kainz1,
Sebastian J. Hofer1, Guido Kroemer3-7 and Frank Madeo1,2,8

This article reviews the multifaceted role of autophagy in antiviral defense and highlights how coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, interact with this pathway, raising the possibility that targeting autophagy could offer novel therapeutic strategies against COVID-19.

, February 10, 2020

Raman-based sorting of microbial cells to link functions to their genes

Kang Soo Lee1, Michael Wagner2,3 and Roman Stocker1

In this article, the authors comment on the study “An automated Raman-based platform for the sorting of live cells by functional properties” by Lee et al. (Nat Microbiol, 2019), which presents a high-throughput optofluidic platform that integrates Raman microspectroscopy and microfluidics to accurately link microbial phenotypes to genotypes within complex communities, enabling efficient functional sorting and analysis of microbiome members.

, December 17, 2019

Viral attenuation by Endonuclease G during yeast gametogenesis: insights into ancestral roles of programmed cell death?

Jie Gao1, Sabrina Chau1 and Marc D. Meneghini1

This article relates to the study “Meiotic viral attenuation through an ancestral apoptotic pathway” by Gao et al. (Proc Natl Acad Sci, 2019), which shows that programmed cell death may have evolved as a viral defence mechanism, as demonstrated by yeast studies showing that the mitochondrial nuclease Nuc1 translocates to the cytosol during meiosis to attenuate dsRNA viruses, linking viral control to meiotic cell death processes.

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Microbial Cell

is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal that publishes exceptionally relevant research works that implement the use of unicellular organisms (and multicellular microorganisms) to understand cellular responses to internal and external stimuli and/or human diseases.

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FAQs

Whether you’re preparing a manuscript, reviewing a paper, or just exploring the journal, this FAQ answers the essentials—from scope and founders to impact and how to submit. Prefer a tailored path? Pick For authors or For reviewers below.

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.