Phospholipases A and Lysophospholipases in protozoan parasites

October 2, 2023

In this review, we summarize the literature on phospholipases and lysophospholipases in several protozoan parasites of medical relevance, and discuss the growing interest for them as potential drug and vaccine targets.

Conventional and emerging roles of the energy sensor Snf1/AMPK in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

September 29, 2018

This review consolidates current knowledge on the conventional and non-conventional functions of the effector kinase Snf1 in yeast, shedding light on its diverse roles in cellular physiology and energy homeostasis.

Mitochondrial energy metabolism is required for lifespan extension by the spastic paraplegia-associated protein spartin

November 30, 2017

This article indicates that spartin, a protein linked to hereditary spastic paraplegias, extends yeast lifespan and reduces age-related damage by associating with mitochondria and interacting with key metabolic proteins, implicating energy metabolism in its protective role during aging.

Impact of the host on Toxoplasma stage differentiation

June 22, 2017

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.

Chlamydia and mitochondria – an unfragmented relationship

June 14, 2017

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.

Bactericidal antibiotics induce programmed metabolic toxicity

March 9, 2016

This article comments on work published by Lobritz et al. (PNAS, 2015), which demonstrates that bactericidal antibiotics induce metabolic perturbations that are linked to and required for bactericidal antibiotic toxicity.

Location, location, location. Salmonella senses ethanolamine to gauge distinct host environments and coordinate gene expression

January 18, 2016

This article comments on work published by Anderson and Kendell (PLoS Pathog, 2015), which demonstrates that Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (Salmonella) exploits ethanolamine signaling to adapt to distinct host environments to precisely coordinate expression of genes encoding metabolism and virulence.

Metabolic pathways further increase the complexity of cell size control in budding yeast

August 22, 2014

This article comments on work published by Soma et al. (Microbial Cell, 2014), which teased apart the effect of metabolism and growth rate on setting of critical cell size in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Metabolites in aging and autophagy

April 7, 2014

This article analyzes the implications of specific metabolites in aging and autophagy with special emphasis on polyamine metabolism.