Research, Research Articles
Systematic analysis of nuclear gene function in respiratory growth and expression of the mitochondrial genome in S. cerevisiae
Maria Stenger1, Duc Tung Le1, Till Klecker1 and Benedikt Westermann1
Using yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the authors identified 254 nuclear genes essential for respiratory growth and 12 required for viability without mtDNA. They also found 176 genes involved in mitochondrial protein synthesis and mtDNA maintenance, offering a comprehensive view of the processes supporting oxidative phosphorylation.
Histone H3E73Q and H4E53A mutations cause recombinogenic DNA damage
Pedro Ortega1, Desiré García-Pichardo1, Marta San Martin-Alonso1, Ana G. Rondón1, Belén Gómez-González1 and Andrés Aguilera1
This study reveals that conserved residues H3E73 and H4E53 in histones H3 and H4 play a crucial role in maintaining genome stability. Mutations at these sites increase recombinogenic DNA damage, likely due to replication-associated issues rather than transcriptional activity, highlighting their importance in DNA damage prevention and repair.
Sulforaphane alters the acidification of the yeast vacuole
Alexander Wilcox1,#, Michael Murphy1,#, Douglass Tucker1,#, David Laprade1, Breton Roussel1, Christopher Chin2, Victoria Hallisey1, Noah Kozub1, Abraham Brass2 and Nicanor Austriaco1
This study identifies vacuolar pH regulation as a key factor in sulforaphane (SFN) sensitivity, showing that SFN-induced cell death in yeast - and potentially in human cancer cells - is linked to its ability to raise vacuolar or lysosomal pH.
Broad-spectrum antifungal activities and mechanism of drimane sesquiterpenoids
Edruce Edouarzin1, Connor Horn2, Anuja Paudyal2, Cunli Zhang1, Jianyu Lu1, Zongbo Tong1, Guri Giaever3, Corey Nislow3, Raja Veerapandian2, Duy H. Hua1 and Govindsamy Vediyappan2
This study identifies (-)-drimenol as a potent broad-spectrum antifungal agent effective against multiple pathogenic fungi, including drug-resistant strains, and reveals its mechanism of action involves disruption of fungal membranes and targeting Crk1-related pathways, with potential for structural optimization to enhance efficacy.
Stable and destabilized GFP reporters to monitor calcineurin activity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Jutta Diessl1, Arpita Nandy1, Christina Schug1, Lukas Habernig1 and Sabrina Büttner1,2
This study introduces GFP-based transcriptional reporters driven by a calcineurin-dependent response element, enabling real-time monitoring of calcineurin activity in live yeast cells for studying stress responses, aging, and antifungal drug screening.
The euchromatic histone mark H3K36me3 preserves heterochromatin through sequestration of an acetyltransferase complex in fission yeast
Paula R. Georgescu1, Matías Capella1, Sabine Fischer-Burkart1 and Sigurd Braun1
This study reveals that the loss of heterochromatin silencing in Set2-deficient cells is due to unrestrained Mst2C activity, highlighting the need for spatially restricted chromatin-modifying enzymes to maintain distinct chromatin states.
Depletion of SNAP-23 and Syntaxin 4 alters lipid droplet homeostasis during Chlamydia infection
Tiago Monteiro-Brás1,2,3, Jordan Wesolowski1 and Fabienne Paumet1
This study reveals that the plasma membrane SNARE proteins SNAP-23 and Syntaxin 4 are crucial for Chlamydia trachomatis development by regulating lipid droplet homeostasis and supporting the formation of infectious progeny within host cells.
Yeast can express and assemble bacterial secretins in the mitochondrial outer membrane
Janani Natarajan1, Anasuya Moitra1, Sussanne Zabel1,§, Nidhi Singh2, Samuel Wagner2,3 and Doron Rapaport1
Secretins, essential components of bacterial secretion systems, can be expressed in yeast and show differential dependencies on mitochondrial import and assembly factors for membrane integration, suggesting diverse pathways for their assembly into the bacterial outer membrane.
Metabolic reprogramming of Salmonella infected macrophages and its modulation by iron availability and the mTOR pathway
Julia Telser1,2,#, Chiara Volani1,3,#, Richard Hilbe1,2, Markus Seifert1,2, Natascha Brigo1, Giuseppe Paglia4 and Günter Weiss1,2
This article shows that iron plays a critical role in both the immune response and metabolic reprogramming of macrophages during infection, influencing the TCA cycle and mTOR pathway, with implications for the growth of intracellular bacteria like Salmonella.
At neutral pH the chronological lifespan of Hansenula polymorpha increases upon enhancing the carbon source concentrations
May 20, 2014
The data presented in this work indicate that in H. polymorpha at neutral pH the chronological lifespan invariably extends upon increasing the carbon source concentration.
Salt stress causes cell wall damage in yeast cells lacking mitochondrial DNA
March 3, 2014
In this work, the authors report that salt stress causes cell wall damage in yeast cells lacking mitochondrial DNA (ρ0) and that this damage is related to elevated levels of SCW11 and salt stress-induced reactive oxygen species.
Protein oxidation in the intermembrane space of mitochondria is substrate-specific rather than general
March 3, 2014
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.
Reduced TORC1 signaling abolishes mitochondrial dysfunctions and shortened chronological lifespan of Isc1p-deficient cells
January 5, 2014
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.
Tracking autophagy during proliferation and differentiation of Trypanosoma brucei
December 26, 2013
This article provides insights into the function of autophagy, a cellular degradation and recycling pathway, in the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei.