Vol. 01, 2014

Heat shock protein 90 and calcineurin pathway inhibitors enhance the efficacy of triazoles against Scedosporium prolificans via induction of apoptosis

Fazal Shirazi and Dimitrios P. Kontoyiannis

This article reports for the first time that posaconazole (PCZ) or itraconazolein (ICZ) in combination with the calcineurin inhibitor tacrolimus or the Hsp90 inhibitor 17-demethoxy-17-(2-propenylamino) geldanamycin renders S. prolificans exquisitely sensitive to PCZ or ICZ via apoptosis.

Cell-autonomous mechanisms of chronological aging in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Anthony Arlia-Ciommo#, Anna Leonov#, Amanda Piano#, Veronika Svistkova# and Vladimir I. Titorenko

This article critically analyzes recent advances in the understanding of cell-autonomous mechanisms of chronological aging in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It proposes a concept of a biomolecular network underlying the chronology of cellular aging in yeast, whichposits that such network progresses through a series of lifespan checkpoints.

Decoding the biosynthesis and function of diphthamide, an enigmatic modification of translation elongation factor 2 (EF2)

Raffael Schaffrath and Michael J. R. Stark

This article comments on work published by Uthman et al. (PLoS Genet, 2013), which suggests that Dph5 has a novel role as an EF2 inhibitor that affects cell growth when diphthamide synthesis is blocked or incomplete and shows that diphthamide promotes the accuracy of EF2 performance during translation.

At neutral pH the chronological lifespan of Hansenula polymorpha increases upon enhancing the carbon source concentrations

Adam Kawałek and Ida J. van der Klei

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.

Autophagy extends lifespan via vacuolar acidification

Christoph Ruckenstuhl1, Christine Netzberger1, Iryna Entfellner1, Didac Carmona-Gutierrez1, Thomas Kickenweiz1, Slaven Stekovic1, Christina Gleixner1, Christian Schmid1, Lisa Klug1, Ivan Hajnal1, Alice G. Sorgo1, Tobias Eisenberg1, Sabrina Büttner1, Guillermo Marin͂o2-4,  Rafal Koziel5, Christoph Magnes6, Frank Sinner6,7, Thomas R. Pieber6,7, Pidder Jansen-Dürr5, Kai-Uwe Fröhlich1, Guido Kroemer2,3,8-11, and Frank Madeo1

This article comments on work published by Ruckenstuhl et al. (PLoS Genet, 2014), which uses Saccharomyces cerevisiae to show that autophagy promotes lifespan extension upon MetR and requires the subsequent stimulation of vacuolar acidification, while it is epistatic to the equally autophagy-dependent anti-aging pathway triggered by TOR1 inhibition or deletion.

When less is more: hormesis against stress and disease

Andreas Zimmermann1, Maria A. Bauer1, Guido Kroemer2-5, Frank Madeo1 and Didac Carmona-Gutierrez1

This article condenses the conceptual and potentially therapeutic importance of hormesis by providing a short overview of current evidence in favor of the cytoprotective impact of hormesis, as well as of its underlying molecular mechanisms.

Morphed and moving: TNFα-driven motility promotes cell dissemination through MAP4K4-induced cytoskeleton remodeling

Min Ma1,2 and Martin Baumgartner1

This article comments on work published by Ma and Baumgartner (PLoS Patho, 2014), which investigated Theileria parasite control of host cell motile properties in the context of inflammatory signaling.

Hormesis: a fundamental concept in biology

Edward J. Calabrese

This article addresses the concept of hormetic dose response, which describes the limits to which integrative endpoints can be modulated (i.e., enhanced or diminished) by pharmaceutical, chemical and physical means.

Live longer on MARS: a yeast paradigm of mitochondrial adaptive ROS signaling in aging

Gerald S. Shadel

In this article, the potential relevance of Mitochondrial Adaptive ROS Signaling (MARS) to the human disease Ataxia-Telangiectasia and as a potential anti-aging target is discussed.

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What’s the role of autophagy in trypanosomes?

Katherine Figarella1 and Néstor L. Uzcátegui1,2

This article comments on Proto et al. (Microbial Cell, 2014), who report first insights into the molecular mechanism of autophagy in African trypanosomes by generating reporter bloodstream form cell lines.

Tracking autophagy during proliferation and differentiation of Trypanosoma brucei

William R. Proto1, Nathaniel G. Jones1, Graham H. Coombs2, and Jeremy C. Mottram1

This article provides insights into the function of autophagy, a cellular degradation and recycling pathway, in the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei.

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A non-proteolytic function of ubiquitin in transcription repression

Ada Ndoja and Tingting Yao

This article comments on work published by Ndoja et al. (Mol Cell, 2014), which demonstrates that monoubiquitination of some transcription activators can inhibit transcription by recruiting the AAA+ ATPase Cdc48 (also known in metazoans as p97 or VCP), which then extracts the ubiquitinated activator from DNA.

Where antibiotic resistance mutations meet quorum-sensing

Rok Krašovec1, Roman V. Belavkin2, John A.D. Aston3, Alastair Channon4, Elizabeth Aston4, Bharat M. Rash1, Manikandan Kadirvel5,6, Sarah Forbes6, and Christopher G. Knight1

This article comments on work published by Krašovec et al. (Nat Comm, 2014), which found that the modulation of de novo mutation to promote antibiotic resistance depends on the density of the bacterial population and cell-cell interactions (rather than, for instance, the level of stress).

Sphingolipids and mitochondrial function, lessons learned from yeast

Pieter Spincemaille1, Bruno P.A. Cammue1,2 and Karin Thevissen1

This article reviews recent research showing that Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an invaluable model to investigate sphingolipids as signaling molecules in modulating mitochondrial function, but can also be used as a tool to further enhance our current knowledge on sphingolipids and mitochondria in mammalian cells.

Genome evolution in yeast reveals connections between rare mutations in human cancer

Xinchen Teng1,2 and J. Marie Hardwick2

This article comments on work published by Teng et al. (Mol Cell, 2013), which, using the yeast knockout collections, provides hard evidence that single gene deletions/mutations in most non-essential genes can drive the selection for cancer-like mutations.

Cell-autonomous mechanisms of chronological aging in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Anthony Arlia-Ciommo#, Anna Leonov#, Amanda Piano#, Veronika Svistkova# and Vladimir I. Titorenko

This article critically analyzes recent advances in the understanding of cell-autonomous mechanisms of chronological aging in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It proposes a concept of a biomolecular network underlying the chronology of cellular aging in yeast, whichposits that such network progresses through a series of lifespan checkpoints.

Decoding the biosynthesis and function of diphthamide, an enigmatic modification of translation elongation factor 2 (EF2)

Raffael Schaffrath and Michael J. R. Stark

This article comments on work published by Uthman et al. (PLoS Genet, 2013), which suggests that Dph5 has a novel role as an EF2 inhibitor that affects cell growth when diphthamide synthesis is blocked or incomplete and shows that diphthamide promotes the accuracy of EF2 performance during translation.

Autophagy extends lifespan via vacuolar acidification

Christoph Ruckenstuhl1, Christine Netzberger1, Iryna Entfellner1, Didac Carmona-Gutierrez1, Thomas Kickenweiz1, Slaven Stekovic1, Christina Gleixner1, Christian Schmid1, Lisa Klug1, Ivan Hajnal1, Alice G. Sorgo1, Tobias Eisenberg1, Sabrina Büttner1, Guillermo Marin͂o2-4,  Rafal Koziel5, Christoph Magnes6, Frank Sinner6,7, Thomas R. Pieber6,7, Pidder Jansen-Dürr5, Kai-Uwe Fröhlich1, Guido Kroemer2,3,8-11, and Frank Madeo1

This article comments on work published by Ruckenstuhl et al. (PLoS Genet, 2014), which uses Saccharomyces cerevisiae to show that autophagy promotes lifespan extension upon MetR and requires the subsequent stimulation of vacuolar acidification, while it is epistatic to the equally autophagy-dependent anti-aging pathway triggered by TOR1 inhibition or deletion.

When less is more: hormesis against stress and disease

Andreas Zimmermann1, Maria A. Bauer1, Guido Kroemer2-5, Frank Madeo1 and Didac Carmona-Gutierrez1

This article condenses the conceptual and potentially therapeutic importance of hormesis by providing a short overview of current evidence in favor of the cytoprotective impact of hormesis, as well as of its underlying molecular mechanisms.

Morphed and moving: TNFα-driven motility promotes cell dissemination through MAP4K4-induced cytoskeleton remodeling

Min Ma1,2 and Martin Baumgartner1

This article comments on work published by Ma and Baumgartner (PLoS Patho, 2014), which investigated Theileria parasite control of host cell motile properties in the context of inflammatory signaling.

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

Jorrit M. Enserink

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.

Only functional localization is faithful localization

Roland Lill1,2,3

This article comments on work published by Peleh et al. (Microbial Cell 2014), which analyzes the localization of Dre2 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Metabolites in aging and autophagy

Sabrina Schroeder1,#, Andreas Zimmermann1,#, Didac Carmona-Gutierrez1, Tobias Eisenberg1, Christoph Ruckenstuhl1, Aleksandra Andryushkova1, Tobias Pendl1, Alexandra Harger1,2 and Frank Madeo1

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

One cell, one love: a journal for microbial research

Didac Carmona-Gutierrez1, Guido Kroemer2-6 and Frank Madeo1

In this inaugural article of Microbial Cell, we highlight the importance of microbial research in general and the journal's intention to serve as a publishing forum that supports and enfolds the scientific diversity in this area as it provides a unique, high-quality and universally accessible source of information and inspiration.

What’s the role of autophagy in trypanosomes?

Katherine Figarella1 and Néstor L. Uzcátegui1,2

This article comments on Proto et al. (Microbial Cell, 2014), who report first insights into the molecular mechanism of autophagy in African trypanosomes by generating reporter bloodstream form cell lines.

What’s the role of autophagy in trypanosomes?

January 4, 2014

This article comments on Proto et al. (Microbial Cell, 2014), who report first insights into the molecular mechanism of autophagy in African trypanosomes by generating reporter bloodstream form cell lines.

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.

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