A time-resolved high-throughput screening of fission yeast deletion mutants for oxidative stress resistance
By capturing dynamic trajectories rather than static outcomes, this study exposes hidden layers of growth under oxidative stress and identifies new genetic determinants of cellular resilience in fission yeast.
Clonal spread and environmental persistence of carbapenem-resistant high-risk Pseudomonas aeruginosa in critical-care units of a Chilean national referral center for burn and trauma patients (2022)
This study highlight the circulation of high-risk P. aeruginosa clones in Chile and underscore the importance of molecular epidemiology in guiding infection control, optimizing antimicrobial therapy, and mitigating the clinical and economic burden of CRPA.
The transcriptome of dendritic cells redraws the boundaries between pathogenicity and commensalism in yeast
Our immune system meets many fungi, but reacts strongly to only a few. The comparison of key fungal species showed that responses differ mainly in timing and not just genes, highlighting the need to rethink what makes fungi harmful vs. harmless.
Yippee-like protein Moh1 links gene expression to metabolism and selective stress resistance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
This study demonstrates that the conserved yeast protein Moh1 links metabolism, gene expression, and cell structure, thereby altering cell envelope permeability and leading to selective stress responses.
Fungistatic effect of sorbic acid on yeast cells via translational repression involving eIF2α phosphorylation and formation of Ded1- and eIF2B-granules
The findings of this study provide new insights into the physiological effects of sorbic acid on yeast cells, specifically regarding the regulation of translation-related factors.
A time-resolved high-throughput screening of fission yeast deletion mutants for oxidative stress resistance
Pirsalehi et al.By capturing dynamic trajectories rather than static outcomes, this study exposes hidden layers of growth under oxidative stress and identifies new genetic determinants of cellular resilience in fission yeast.
Clonal spread and environmental persistence of carbapenem-resistant high-risk Pseudomonas aeruginosa in critical-care units of a Chilean national referral center for burn and trauma patients (2022)
Ibarra et al.This study highlight the circulation of high-risk P. aeruginosa clones in Chile and underscore the importance of molecular epidemiology in guiding infection control, optimizing antimicrobial therapy, and mitigating the clinical and economic burden of CRPA.
The transcriptome of dendritic cells redraws the boundaries between pathogenicity and commensalism in yeast
Rizzetto et al.Our immune system meets many fungi, but reacts strongly to only a few. The comparison of key fungal species showed that responses differ mainly in timing and not just genes, highlighting the need to rethink what makes fungi harmful vs. harmless.
Yippee-like protein Moh1 links gene expression to metabolism and selective stress resistance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Olgun et al.This study demonstrates that the conserved yeast protein Moh1 links metabolism, gene expression, and cell structure, thereby altering cell envelope permeability and leading to selective stress responses.
Fungistatic effect of sorbic acid on yeast cells via translational repression involving eIF2α phosphorylation and formation of Ded1- and eIF2B-granules
Yoshiyama et al.The findings of this study provide new insights into the physiological effects of sorbic acid on yeast cells, specifically regarding the regulation of translation-related factors.
Occlusal types shape oral microbiome stomatotypes and metabolic landscapes: A multi-omics perspective on host-microbe interaction
Duan et alThis study reveals how occlusal types shape oral microbiome “stomatotypes” and metabolic profiles in adolescents. It offers fresh insights that host anatomy drives microecology which may be associated with personalized oral health.
Prohibitins: emerging host targets of bacteria and viruses at the plasma membrane, mitochondria, and cytoplasm
Rivera-Palomino and TheissProhibitins are emerging as central host hubs exploited by bacteria and viruses to rewire signaling and mitochondrial dynamics. The current review discusses Prohibitins in host-pathogen interplay and their potential as novel anti-infective targets.
Outer membrane vesicles in Vibrio species: Roles in biofilm formation and pathogenesis
Shambhavi and SinghThis review explores current knowledge on outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) in Vibrio species, highlighting their roles in pathogenesis, host interaction, and marine ecology; and identifies major knowledge gaps, outlining key methodological challenges and future prospects for OMV-based applications.
Genomic epidemiology of carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae circulating in a Chilean tertiary-care hospital (2021–2022): Molecular characterization, resistance-virulence convergence, and clinical associations
Araya et al.This study characterized carbapenem-resistant Kp (CR-Kp) strains isolated at the Hospital Clínico Universidad de Chile (HCUCH) 2021-2022 and explored associations with clinical characteristics.
Up-regulation of Osh6 boosts an anti-aging membrane trafficking pathway toward vacuoles
Kadhim et al.Members of the family of oxysterol-binding proteins mediate non-vesicular lipid transport between membranes and contribute to longevity in different manners. We previously found that a 2-fold up-regulation of Osh6, one of seven yeast oxysterol-binding proteins, remedies vacuolar morphology defects in mid-aged cells, partly down-regulates the target of rapamycin complex 1 (TORC1), and increases the replicative lifespan. At the molecular level, Osh6 transports phosphatidylserine (PS) and phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate (PI4P) between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and the plasma membrane (PM). To decipher how an ER-PM working protein controls vacuolar morphology, we tested genetic interactions between OSH6 and DRS2, whose protein flips PS from the lumen to the cytosolic side of the Golgi, the organelle between ER and vacuoles in many pathways. Up-regulated (…)
Investigating the role of G-quadruplexes at Saccharomyces cerevisiae telomeres
Stinus et al.In this study, the authors examine the in vivo relevance of telomeric G-quadruplexes in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae by expressing a mutant telomerase RNA subunit (tlc1-tm) that introduces mutant telomeric repeats instead to the distal ends of telomeres. (…)
Air- and dustborne fungi in repositories of the National Archive of the Republic of Cuba
Borrego et al.This study has as objectives to determine the concentration and diversity of the air- and dustborne mycobiota in seven National Archive of the Republic of Cuba repositories, and to assess the potential risk of biodeterioration that iso-lated taxa may have. In the indoor and outdoor environmental microbiological samplings a SAS biocollector was used and the indoor/outdoor (I/O) ratio was determined for each repository. The settled dust was collected during six months. Sørensen’s coefficient of similarity (QS) was calculated to compare the isolated taxa among the three studied niches (indoor air, dust, outdoor air). The biodegradation potential of the isolated taxa was determined by semi-quantitative tests. The concentrations in the air of repositories with natural cross-ventilation ranged from 225.2-750.3 CFU m-3, while in the Map library with air-conditioning (…)
Cleavage-defective Topoisomerase I mutants sharply increase G-quadruplex-associated genomic instability
Berroyer et al.Topoisomerase 1 (Top1) removes transcription-associated helical stress to suppress G4-formation and its induced recombination at genomic loci containing guanine-run containing sequences. Interestingly, Top1 binds tightly to G4 structures, and its inhibition or depletion can cause elevated instability at these genomic loci. Top1 is targeted by the widely used anti-cancer chemotherapeutic camptothecin (CPT) and its derivatives, which stabilize Top1 covalently attached on a DNA nick and prevent the re-ligation step. Here we investigated how CPT-resistance conferring Top1 mutants, which emerge in cancer patients and cells treated with CPT, affect G4-induced genomic instability in S. cerevisiae. We found that Top1 mutants form stable complexes with G4 DNA and that expression of Top1 cleavage-defective mutants but not a DNA-binding-defective (…)
Chromosome-condensed G1 phase yeast cells are tolerant to desiccation stress
Zhang and ZhangThe budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is capable of surviving extreme water loss for a long time. However, less is known about the mechanism of its desiccation tolerance. In this study, we revealed that in an exponential culture, all desiccation tolerant yeast cells were in G1 phase and had condensed chromosomes. (…)
Detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its first variants in fourplex real-time quantitative reverse transcription-PCR assays
Durand et al.The early diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections is required to identify and isolate contagious patients to prevent further transmission of SARS-CoV-2. In this study, we present a multitarget real-time TaqMan reverse transcription PCR (rRT-PCR) assay for the quantitative detection of SARS-CoV-2 and some of its circulating variants harboring mutations that give the virus a selective advantage. Seven different primer-probe sets that included probes containing locked nucleic acid (LNA) nucleotides were designed to amplify specific wild-type and mutant sequences in Orf1ab, Envelope (E), Spike (S), and Nucleocapsid (N) genes (…)
Forced association of SARS-CoV-2 proteins with the yeast proteome perturb vesicle trafficking
Klemm et al.This work demonstrates that the yeast Synthetic Physical Interactions method is a rapid way to identify potential functions of ectopic viral proteins.
Airborne bacteria in show caves from Southern Spain
Dominguez-Moñino et al.This study analyzes the factors conditioning the diversity of airborne bacteria recorded in three Andalusian show caves, subjected to different managements.
Landscapes and bacterial signatures of mucosa-associated intestinal microbiota in Chilean and Spanish patients with inflammatory bowel disease
Chamorro et al.This study investigates the landscapes and alterations of mucosa-associated intestinal microbiota in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases, which cause chronic inflammation of the gut, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.
Control of the gut microbiome by fecal microRNA
Liu and WeinerThis article comments on work published by Liu et al. (Cell Host & Microbe, 2016), which identifies miRNAs in gut lumen and feces of both mice and humans that were able to enter bacteria, specifically regulate bacterial gene transcripts and affect bacterial growth thereby regulating the gut microbiome.
Mitochondrial regulation of cell death: a phylogenetically conserved control
Galluzzi et al.Mitochondria are fundamental for eukaryotic cells as they participate in critical catabolic and anabolic pathways. Moreover, mitochondria play a key role in the signal transduction cascades that precipitate many (but not all) regulated variants of cellular demise. In this short review, the authors discuss the differential implication of mitochondria in the major forms of regulated cell death.
Mek1/Mre4 is a master regulator of meiotic recombination in budding yeast
HollingsworthThis article comments on work published by Chen et al. (PLoS BIol, 2015), showing that the meiosis specific kinase Mek1 indirectly regulates the crossover/non-crossover decision between homologs as well as genetic interference and suggests Mek1 to be a “master regulator” of meiotic recombination in budding yeast.
Shaping meiotic chromosomes with SUMO: a feedback loop controls the assembly of the synaptonemal complex in budding yeast
Tsubouchi et al.This article comments on work published by Leung et al. (J Cell Biol, 2015), which shows that the formation of the meiosis-specific synaptonemal complex is controlled through SUMOylation of a regulator required for the assembly of transverse filaments, implicating the involvement of a positive feedback loop in the control of synaptonemal complex assembly.
Learning epigenetic regulation from mycobacteria
Khosla et al.This article comments on work published by Koshla et al. (Nat Commun, 2015), which shows that pathogenic Mycobacterium tuberculosis has evolved strategies to hijack the epigenetic regulation of host transcripton for its own survival.
Biofilm assembly becomes crystal clear – filamentous bacteriophage organize the Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm matrix into a liquid crystal
Patrick R. Secor et al.This article comments on work published by Secor et al. (Host Cell & Microbe, 2015), which highlights a previously unknown role for filamentous Pf phage in organizing the P. aeruginosa biofilm matrix into a liquid crystalline structure. These findings help ground our understanding of biofilm formation within established paradigms of soft matter physics
Histone modifications as regulators of life and death in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Birthe FahrenkrogThe mechanism by which chromosomes restructure during apoptosis is still poorly understood, but it is becoming increasingly clear that altered epigenetic histone modifications are fundamental parameters that influence the chromatin state and the nuclear rearrangements within apoptotic cells. This review highlights recent work on the epigenetic regulation of programmed cell death in budding yeast.
Spermidine cures yeast of prions
Speldewinde and GrantThis article comments on work published by Speldewinde and Grant (Mol Biol Cell, 2015), which found that spermidine, a polyamine that has been used to increase autophagic flux, acts as a protective agent which prevents spontaneous prion formation in yeast.
Transceptors as a functional link of transporters and receptors
George DiallinasA 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 HaylesThis 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 Mauthe and Fulvio ReggioriMicrobes 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
Zimmermann et al.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
Martin et al.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
Carmona-Gutierrez et al.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.
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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. Hazenbos et al.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.