Microreviews, Review
Spermidine cures yeast of prions
Shaun H. Speldewinde, and Chris M. Grant
This 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.
Histone deacetylases: revealing the molecular base of dimorphism in pathogenic fungi
Alberto Elías-Villalobos1,2, Dominique Helmlinger2 and José I. Ibeas1
Fungi, as every living organism, interact with the external world and have to adapt to its fluctuations. For pathogenic fungi, such interaction involves adapting to the hostile environment of their host. Survival depends on the capacity of fungi to detect and respond to external stimuli, which is achieved through a tight and efficient genetic control. Elías-Villalobos et al. propose that histone acetylation is critical to the proper timing and induction of transcription of the genes encoding factors that coordinate changes in morphology with pathogenesis.
Electron microscopy for ultrastructural analysis and protein localization in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Andri Frankl, Muriel Mari and Fulvio Reggiori
The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a key model system for studying of a multitude of cellular processes because of its amenability to genetics, molecular biology and biochemical procedures. The goal of this review is to guide researchers that want to investigate a particular process at the ultrastructural level in yeast by aiding in the selection of the most appropriate approach to visualize a specific structure or subcellular compartment.
Complex regulation of the sirtuin-dependent reversible lysine acetylation system of Salmonella enterica
Kristy L. Hentchel1,2 and Jorge C. Escalante-Semerena1
The extensive involvement of the reversible lysine acylation (RLA) system in metabolism has attracted the attention of investigators interested in understanding the fundamentals of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell function. Here the authors discuss the implications of recently reported work performed in the enteropathogen Salmonella enterica (mBio (2015) 6(4):e00891-15), which provided the first insights into the integration of the transcriptional regulation of genes encoding the RLA system with the acs gene encoding the central metabolic enzyme acetyl-CoA synthetase (Acs).
A bacterial volatile signal for biofilm formation
Yun Chen2, Kevin Gozzi1, and Yunrong Chai1
Bacteria constantly monitor the environment they reside in and respond to potential changes in the environment through a variety of signal sensing and transduction mechanisms in a timely fashion. In their recent study (Chen, et al. mBio (2015), 6: e00392-15), the authors demonstrated that the soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis uses acetic acid as a volatile signal to coordinate the timing of biofilm formation within physically separated cells in the community. They also showed that the bacterium possesses an intertwined gene network to produce, secrete, sense, and respond to acetic acid, in stimulating biofilm formation.
The great escape: Pseudomonas breaks out of the lung
Angelica Zhang1, Stephanie M. Rangel1, and Alan R. Hauser1,2
The Gram-negative bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a major cause of hospital-acquired infections and the focus of much attention due to its resistance to many conventional antibiotics. This article discusses the potential mechanisms by which these processes occur as well as the novel techniques used to study ExoS function in vivo.
Peering into the ‘black box’ of pathogen recognition by cellular autophagy systems
Shu-chin Lai# and Rodney J Devenish
Autophagy is an intracellular process that plays an important role in protecting eukaryotic cells and maintaining intracellular homeostasis. This review summarises the available evidence regarding the specific recognition of invading pathogens by which they are targeted into host autophagy pathways.
Per aspera ad astra: When harmful chromosomal translocations become a plus value in genetic evolution. Lessons from Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Valentina Tosato and Carlo V. Bruschi
This review will focus on chromosomal translocations (either spontaneous or induced) in budding yeast. Indeed, very few organisms tolerate so well aneuploidy like Saccharomyces, allowing in depth studies on chromosomal numerical aberrations. The phenomenon of post-translocational adaptation (PTA) is discussed, providing some new unpublished data and proposing the hypothesis that translocations may drive evolution through adaptive genetic selection.
Intracellular phase for an extracellular bacterial pathogen: MgtC shows the way
Audrey Bernut1,#, Claudine Belon1, Chantal Soscia2, Sophie Bleves2, Anne-Béatrice Blanc-Potard1
This article discusses the article "A macrophage subversion factor is shared by intracellular and extracellular pathogens" by Belon et al. (PLoS Pathogens 11(6): e1004969, 2015).
Breaking the bad: Bacillus blocks fungal virulence factors
October 30, 2017
This article comments on work published by Mayer & Kronstad (mBio, 2017), which identified the soil bacterium, Bacillus safensis as a potent inhibitor of virulence factor production by two major fungal pathogens of humans, Cryptococcus neoformans, and Candida albicans.
The integrated stress response in budding yeast lifespan extension
October 24, 2017
This article summarizes how the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been instrumental in unraveling the molecular and cellular determinants of aging, and how the induction of cellular stress responses has been associated with experimental lifespan extension, thus underscoring the value of yeast as a model for developing potential aging therapies for humans.
Macrophages as drivers of an opportunistic infection
September 13, 2017
This article comments on work published by Mesureur et al. (PloS Pathog, 2017), which shows that macrophages are essential for proliferation of B. cenocepacia in the host. This suggests a new paradigm for Bcc infections and urges the development of novel anti-infectious therapies to efficiently disarm these intrinsically antibiotic resistant facultative intracellular pathogens.
Exacerbating and reversing lysosomal storage diseases: from yeast to humans
August 25, 2017
This article summarizes the use of yeast models in advancing our understanding of lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs), where they have been instrumental in researching LSD mechanisms, screening for therapeutic compounds, and exploring genetic and gene-environment interactions relevant to diseases like Batten disease, cystinosis, and Niemann-Pick type C disease, as well as their connection to broader health issues such as viral infections and obesity.
Live fast, die fast principle in a single cell of fission yeast
August 13, 2017
This article comments on a recent study (Nakaoka and Wakamoto, PLoS Biol, 2017), which developed a microfluidics-based platform to track multiple single cell lineages until death.
Out with the old: Hsp90 finds amino acid residue more useful than co-chaperone protein
August 1, 2017
This article comments on work published by Zuehlke et al (Nat Commun, 2017), which demonstrates that the function of one co-chaperone in yeast is replaced by posttranslational modification (PTM) of a single amino acid within Hsp90 in higher eukaryotes.
Having your cake and eating it – Staphylococcus aureus small colony variants can evolve faster growth rate without losing their antibiotic resistance
August 1, 2017
This article comments on work published by Cao et al. (mBio, 2027), which shows that Staphylococcus aureus can produce small colony variants (SCVs) that are challenging to detect and lead to persistent infections due to mutations affecting respiration and ATP production, with recent findings indicating various evolutionary paths for SCVs to increase growth rate while maintaining antibiotic resistance, suggesting greater adaptability and clinical challenge.