Vol. 01, 2014

Salt stress causes cell wall damage in yeast cells lacking mitochondrial DNA

Qiuqiang Gao¹, Liang-Chun Liou², Qun Ren², Xiaoming Bao³ and Zhaojie Zhang²

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

Valentina Peleh¹, Jan Riemer², Andrew Dancis³ and Johannes M. Herrmann¹

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.

Genome-wide studies of telomere biology in budding yeast

Yaniv Harari and Martin Kupiec

In the last decade, technical advances have allowed carrying out systematic genome-wide screens for mutants affecting various aspects of telomere biology. In this review we summarize these efforts, and the insights that this Systems Biology approach has produced so far.

Mnemons: encoding memory by protein super-assembly

Fabrice Caudron and Yves Barral

This article comments on work published by Caudron and Barral (Cell, 2013), which proposes that polyQ- and polyN-based elements, termed mnemons, act as cellular memory devices to encode previous environmental conditions.

Fatal attraction in glycolysis: how Saccharomyces cerevisiae manages sudden transitions to high glucose

Johan H. van Heerden^1,3,4, Meike T. Wortel^1,3,4, Frank J. Bruggeman^1,4, Joseph J. Heijnen^2,3, Yves J.M. Bollen^4,5, Robert Planqué⁶, Josephus Hulshof⁶, Tom G. O’Toole⁷, S. Aljoscha Wahl^2,3 and Bas Teusink^1,3,4

This article comments on work published by van Heerden et al. (Science, 2014), which demonstrates that the startup of glycolysis exhibits two dynamic fates: a proper, functional, steady state or the imbalanced state described above. Both states are stable, attracting states, and the probability distribution of initial states determines the fate of a yeast cell exposed to glucose.

Intersubunit communications within KaiC hexamers contribute the robust rhythmicity of the cyanobacterial circadian clock

Yohko Kitayama¹, Taeko Nishiwaki-Ohkawa^1,2 and Takao Kondo¹

This article comments on work published by Kitayama et al. (Nat Comm, 2013), which suggests that intersubunit communication precisely synchronizes KaiC subunits to avoid dephasing, and contributes to the robustness of circadian rhythms in cyanobacteria.

Mitochondrial protein import under kinase surveillance

Magdalena Opalińska¹ and Chris Meisinger^1,2

This article summarizes recent discoveries in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae model system that point towards a vital role of reversible phosphorylation in regulation of mitochondrial protein import.

Building a flagellum in biological outer space

Lewis D. B. Evans, Colin Hughes and Gillian M. Fraser

This article comments on work published by Evans et al. (Nature, 2013), which presents a simple and elegant transit mechanism in which growth is powered by the subunits themselves as they link head-to-tail in a chain that is pulled through the length of the growing structure to the tip. This new mechanism answers an old question and may have resonance in other assembly processes.

Deletion of AIF1 but not of YCA1/MCA1 protects Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida albicans cells from caspofungin-induced programmed cell death

Christopher Chin^1,2,#, Faith Donaghey^1,#, Katherine Helming^1,3,#, Morgan McCarthy^1,#, Stephen Rogers¹, and Nicanor Austriaco¹

This work suggests that deleting AIF1 but not YCA1/MCA1 protects S. cerevisiae and Candida albicans from caspofungin-induced cell death. This is not only the first time that AIF1 has been specifically tied to cell death in Candida but also the first time that caspofungin resistance has been linked to the cell death machinery in yeast.

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What’s the role of autophagy in trypanosomes?

Katherine Figarella¹ and Néstor L. Uzcátegui^1,2

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.

Plasmodium spp. membrane glutathione S-transferases: detoxification units and drug targets

Andreas Martin Lisewski

This article comments on work published by Lisewski et al. (Cell, 2014), which reported the first examples of membrane-associated proteins in eicosanoid and glutathione metabolism members among Plasmodium spp.

Proline cis-trans isomerization is influenced by local lysine acetylation-deacetylation

Françoise S. Howe and Jane Mellor

This article comments on work published by Howe et al. (Mol Cell, 2014), which shows that local lysine acetylation and deacetylation modulate proline cis-trans isomerization in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

On the link between cell cycle and infection of the Alphaproteobacterium Brucella abortus

Michaël Deghelt, Jean-Jacques Letesson, Xavier De Bolle

This article comments on work published by Deghelt et al. (Nat Comm, 2014), which describe a cell cycle arrest and resume during the Brucella abortus trafficking in host cell, suggesting that like the model Alphaproteobacterium Caulobacter crescentus, these bacteria are able to block their cell cycle at the G1 phase when starvation is sensed.

Divide and conquer: processive transport enables multidrug transporters to tackle challenging drugs

Nir Fluman and Eitan Bibi

This article comments on work published by Fluman et al. (Nat Comm, 2014), which describes the ability of bacterial multidrug transporters to move long molecules through the membrane in a processive manner.

The dual role of cyclin C connects stress regulated gene expression to mitochondrial dynamics

Randy Strich and Katrina F. Cooper

This work summarizes the role cyclin C plays in regulating stress-responsive transcription in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, including mitochondrial fission and regulated cell death.

Combinatorial stress responses: direct coupling of two major stress responses in Escherichia coli

Daniel R. Brown, Geraint Barton, Zhensheng Pan, Martin Buck and Sivaramesh Wigneshweraraj

This article comments on work published by Brown et al. (Nat Comm, 2014), which showed that the transcription of relA is activated by NtrC during nitrogen starvation, revealing that in E. coli and related bacteria, NtrC functions in combinatorial stress and serves to couple two major stress responses, the Ntr response and stringent response.

The replication timing program in the hands of two HDACs

Kazumasa Yoshida^1,2, Armelle Lengronne¹ and Philippe Pasero¹

This article comments on work published by Yoshida et al. (Mol Cell, 2014), which performed a systematic analysis of the role of histone deacetylases (HDACs) in the regulation of origin activity in budding yeast, finding that the epigenetic regulation of repetitive sequences is a key determinant of the DNA replication program.

Increased Trypanosoma brucei cathepsin-L activity inhibits human serum-mediated trypanolysis

Sam Alsford

This article comments on work published by Alsford et al. (PLoS Pathogens, 2014), which identified a Trypanosoma brucei lysosomal cathepsin with an inhibitory effect on human serum’s trypanolytic action.

A novel role of centrin in flagellar motility: stabilizing an inner-arm dynein motor in the flagellar axoneme

Ziyin Li

This article comments on work published by Wei et al. (Nat Comm, 2014), which discovered that centrin maintains the stability of an inner-arm dynein in the flagellar axoneme in Trypanosoma brucei.

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 Lill^1,2,3

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 Schroeder^1,#, Andreas Zimmermann^1,#, Didac Carmona-Gutierrez¹, Tobias Eisenberg¹, Christoph Ruckenstuhl¹, Aleksandra Andryushkova¹, Tobias Pendl¹, Alexandra Harger^1,2 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 Kroemer^2-6 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.