Research, Research Articles

Type II-Metacaspases are involved in cell stress but not in cell death in the unicellular green alga Dunaliella tertiolecta

M. Teresa Mata1,&, Armando Palma1, Candela García-Gómez1,#, María López-Parages1, Víctor Vázquez1, Iván Cheng-Sánchez2, Francisco Sarabia2, Félix López-Figueroa1, Carlos Jiménez1 and María Segovia1

This article shows that in the green alga Dunaliella tertiolecta, Type-II metacaspases are involved in the stress response to ultraviolet radiation but are not linked to cell death, suggesting their role in survival strategies under stressful environmental conditions.

Transcriptomic and chemogenomic analyses unveil the essential role of Com2-regulon in response and tolerance of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to stress induced by sulfur dioxide

Patrícia Lage1,2, Belém Sampaio-Marques3,4, Paula Ludovico3,4, Nuno P. Mira5 and Ana Mendes-Ferreira1,2

This article shows that in the presence of sulfur dioxide (SO2), the transcription factor Com2 plays a critical role in the tolerance and response of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, affecting the expression of a majority of SO2-activated genes and contributing to the protection against stress induced by SO2 at an enologically relevant pH.

Proline metabolism regulates replicative lifespan in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Yukio Mukai1, Yuka Kamei1, Xu Liu1, Shan Jiang1, Yukiko Sugimoto2, Noreen Suliani binti Mat Nanyan2, Daisuke Watanabe2 and Hiroshi Takagi2

This article shows that intracellular proline levels in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae are correlated with its replicative lifespan, suggesting a protective role of proline against cellular senescence due to various stresses.

Network dynamics of the yeast methyltransferome

Guri Giaever1, Elena Lissina1 and Corey Nislow1

This article presents a systematic genetic analysis of methyltransferases (MTases) under normal and stress conditions, uncovering the complex and adaptive nature of the methyltransferome and discovering a potential connection between phospholipid methylation and histone methylation, suggesting interplay between lipid homeostasis and epigenetic regulation.

Functional link between mitochondria and Rnr3, the minor catalytic subunit of yeast ribonucleotide reductase

Isaac Corcoles-Saez1, Jean-Luc Ferat2, Michael Costanzo3, Charles M. Boone3 and Rita S. Cha1

This article shows that the carbon source affects the abundance of ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) subunits in yeast, with a novel Mec1 signaling axis regulating Rnr3 independently of known DNA damage response pathways, and reveals Rnr3's unexpected role in mitochondrial function.

Mitochondria-Associated Membranes (MAMs) are involved in Bax mitochondrial localization and cytochrome c release

Alexandre Légiot1, Claire Céré1, Thibaud Dupoiron1, Mohamed Kaabouni1, Nadine Camougrand1 and Stéphen Manon1

This study investigated the role of Mitochondria-Associated Membranes (MAMs) in the regulation of apoptosis by analyzing the localization and function of the pro-apoptotic protein Bax in yeast, finding that disruption of MAMs by deletion of the MDM34 gene affects Bax's mitochondrial localization and the release of cytochrome c.

Chlamydia pneumoniae is present in the dental plaque of periodontitis patients and stimulates an inflammatory response in gingival epithelial cells

Cássio Luiz Coutinho Almeida-da-Silva1, Tamer Alpagot2, Ye Zhu1, Sonho Sierra Lee3,4, Brian P. Roberts5, Shu-Chen Hung1, Norina Tang1,2 and David M. Ojcius1

This study found that Chlamydia pneumoniae is present more frequently in the dental plaque of individuals with periodontal disease, can invade human gingival epithelial cells causing inflammatory responses, and may therefore be a contributing factor to periodontal disease and a potential indicator of risk.

Simultaneous profiling of sexually transmitted bacterial pathogens, microbiome, and concordant host response in cervical samples using whole transcriptome sequencing analysis

Catherine M. O’Connell1,#, Hayden Brochu2,#, Jenna Girardi1, Erin Harrell2, Aiden Jones2, Toni Darville1, Arlene C. Seña3 and Xinxia Peng2,4

This study used total RNA sequencing to analyze cervical samples from women at high risk for STIs, revealing that host transcriptional profiles can be linked to microbiome composition and STI infections, with implications for advancing our understanding of PID and identifying potential biomarkers.

Genome-wide analysis of yeast expression data based on a priori generated co-regulation cliques

Siyuan Sima1, Lukas Schmauder1 and Klaus Richter1

The study demonstrates the use of predefined genome-wide expression cliques, derived from extensive microarray data, to effectively analyze and visualize the complete gene expression response across various cellular conditions in yeast.

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Spontaneous mutations in CYC8 and MIG1 suppress the short chronological lifespan of budding yeast lacking SNF1/AMPK

February 19, 2018

Chronologically aging yeast cells are prone to adaptive regrowth, whereby mutants with a survival advantage spontaneously appear and re-enter the cell cycle in stationary phase cultures. Here, Magani et al. identified specific downstream SNF1 targets responsible for CLS extension during CR.

Decreasing cytosolic translation is beneficial to yeast and human Tafazzin-deficient cells

February 18, 2018

Cardiolipin (CL) optimizes diverse mitochondrial processes, including oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). Here, de Taffin de Tilques et al. describe that a diminished capacity of CL remodeling deficient cells to preserve protein homeostasis is likely an important factor contributing to the pathogenesis of Barth Syndrome (BTHS) and identifies cytosolic translation as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of this disease.

Production of poly-β-1,6-N-acetylglucosamine by MatAB is required for hyphal aggregation and hydrophilic surface adhesion by Streptomyces

February 12, 2018

In this article van Dissel et al. describe new insights to allow better control of liquid-culture morphology of streptomycetes, which may be harnessed to improve growth and industrial exploitation of these highly versatile natural product and enzyme producers.

Non-canonical regulation of glutathione and trehalose biosynthesis characterizes non-Saccharomyces wine yeasts with poor performance in active dry yeast production

January 26, 2018

Several yeast species, belonging to Saccharomyces and non-Saccharomyces genera, play fundamental roles during spontaneous must grape fermentation, and recent studies have shown that mixed fermentations, co-inoculated with S. cerevisiae and non-Saccharomyces strains, can improve wine organoleptic properties. Here, Gamero-Sandemetrio et al. present findings that non-canonical regulation of glutathione and trehalose biosynthesis could cause poor fermentative performance after active dry yeast (ADY) production, as it corroborates the corrective effect of antioxidant treatments, during biomass propagation, with both pure chemicals and food-grade argan oil.

Molecular signature of the imprintosome complex at the mating-type locus in fission yeast

January 16, 2018

Genetic and molecular studies have indicated that an epigenetic imprint at mat1, the sexual locus of fission yeast, initiates mating type switching. Here, Raimondi et al. characterized the recruitment of early players of mating type switching at the mat1 region and suggest a nucleoprotein protective structure defined as imprintosome.

Leishmania guyanensis parasites block the activation of the inflammasome by inhibiting maturation of IL-1β

January 14, 2018

The various symptomatic outcomes of cutaneous leishmaniasis relates to the type and potency of its underlying inflammatory responses mediated by Toll-Like-Receptor-3 (TLR3). Here, Hartely et al. investigated other innate pattern recognition receptors capable of reacting to dsRNA and potentially contributing to LRV1-mediated inflammatory pathology. They postulate that avoidance of the inflammasome pathways is likely an important mechanism of virulence in Leishmania infection irrespective of the LRV1-status.

A novel system to monitor mitochondrial translation in yeast

January 13, 2018

In this study Suhm et al. present a novel system to monitor mitochondrial translation by detection of mitochondrial GFP-translation through fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry in functional mitochondria. This novel tool allows the investigation of the function and regulation of mitochondrial translation during stress signaling, aging and mitochondrial biogenesis.

Fat storage-inducing transmembrane (FIT or FITM) proteins are related to lipid phosphatase/phosphotransferase enzymes

December 28, 2017

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.

A versatile plasmid system for reconstitution and analysis of mammalian ubiquitination cascades in yeast

December 5, 2017

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

December 1, 2017

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.

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