Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Laura Vanderwaeren, Ruveyda Dok, Karin Voordeckers, Sandra Nuyts, Kevin J. Verstrepen
Summary: Yeast is an important enzyme source for bread and beer production and is an ideal model organism for studying eukaryotic cell biology and genetics. This review discusses the characteristics that make yeast such a widely used model organism, with a focus on the DNA damage response pathway as an example of its contribution to elucidating highly conserved biological processes. Differences in the DNA damage response of yeast and humans are also highlighted, along with the challenges of using yeast as a model system.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Cell Biology
Barbara Samper-Martin, Ana Sarrias, Blanca Lazaro, Marta Perez-Montero, Rosalia Rodriguez-Rodriguez, Mariana P. C. Ribeiro, Aitor Banon, Don Wolfgeher, Henning J. Jessen, Berta Alsina, Josep Clotet, Stephen J. Kron, Adolfo Saiardi, Javier Jimenez, Samuel Bru
Summary: Polyphosphate (polyP) is a polymer of phosphate residues found in all organisms, and in mammals it plays a crucial role in physiological processes. Despite decades of research, the metabolic enzymes responsible for polyP were unknown until Nudt3 was identified as the enzyme in mammalian cells. Nudt3 shows specificity for polyP in the presence of Zn2+ and is involved in oxidative stress protection and DNA damage repair.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Xiang Meng, Alan Reed, Sandie Lai, Juraj Szavits-Nossan, John E. G. McCarthy
Summary: Gene expression stochasticity is an inherent feature of biological systems, creating non-genetic cellular variation and influencing various processes. In this study, the researchers discovered a distinct form of non-transcriptional noise associated with the translation machinery and mRNA 5'UTR of the GCN4 gene in yeast. They characterized the heterogeneity of translation initiation mediated by GCN4-5'UTR using different techniques and found a subpopulation of cells that consistently exhibited enhanced GCN4 translation under non-starvation conditions.
NUCLEIC ACIDS RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Food Science & Technology
Gang Du, Xingyu Zhang, Yuting Gao, Cunying Sun, Liwen Wang, Wei Zhao, Dan Meng, Wenqiang Guan, Hui Zhao
Summary: Ginger is commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine as a natural remedy for cold, and it has thermogenic effects when consumed. This study revealed that ginger oleoresin stress and heat stress had similar effects on yeast and shared genes. The transcription factor Hsf1 was found to be phosphorylated and activated in response to ginger oleoresin stress, leading to increased expression of heat shock proteins.
LWT-FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Immunology
Ruyu Xie, Huixia Zhang, Han Zhang, Changyan Li, Daqing Cui, Shujun Li, Zexing Li, Hualei Liu, Jinhai Huang
Summary: In this study, three hemagglutinin (HA) gene-based yeast vaccines were developed and their protective efficacy was evaluated. The vaccines induced humoral immunity, inhibited viral load, and reshaped the immune cell microenvironment. Analysis of gut microbiota suggested that the engineered yeast vaccine increased diversity and potentially facilitated recovery from influenza virus infection. These findings provide strong evidence for further clinical use of the engineered yeast vaccine.
FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
William M. Shaw, Lucie Studena, Kyler Roy, Piotr Hapeta, Nicholas S. McCarty, Alicia E. Graham, Tom Ellis, Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro
Summary: CRISPR gene activation and inhibition is a powerful synthetic tool for influencing gene expression, with applications in foundational studies, cellular reprogramming, and metabolic engineering. The authors developed a method for inducible expression of multiple gRNAs, increasing the capacity for CRISPR gene activation and inhibition and enhancing flexibility in target gene manipulation. They also created a highly regulated and user-friendly CRISPR toolkit in yeast, enabling simultaneous activation and repression of 11 genes in central metabolism, resulting in a significant increase in succinic acid production.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Cell Biology
Martina Galli, Laura Diani, Roberto Quadri, Alessandro Nespoli, Elena Galati, Davide Panigada, Paolo Plevani, Marco Muzi-Falconi
Summary: Symmetry breaking by cellular polarization is crucial for the cell-cycle of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells, allowing bud emergence and growth. The morphogenesis checkpoint coordinates bud formation and cell cycle progression, with the novel role of the kinase haspin in regulating this process. Haspin monitors polarity establishment and links bud emergence to the G2/M cell cycle transition in yeast.
FRONTIERS IN CELL AND DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Pavani Vamsi Krishna Nittala, Allison Hohreiter, Emilio Rosas Linhard, Ryan Dohn, Suryakant Mishra, Abhiteja Konda, Ralu Divan, Supratik Guha, Anindita Basu
Summary: The paper presents fabrication methodologies that integrate silicon components into soft microfluidic devices for cell lysis. The integration methodology involves a silicon chip with microstructure arrays embedded in a microfluidic device, which is actuated by piezoelectric force to physically break microbial cell walls. Different silicon microarray geometries, fabrication techniques, integration methods, and efficacy evaluation using synthetic microbeads and yeast species are presented. The proposed integration methodology can serve as an important process step for future hybrid silicon-polymeric devices in cellular processing applications.
Article
Microbiology
Yeong Hyeock Kim, Ji-In Ryu, Mayur Nimbadas Devare, Juhye Jung, Jeong-Yoon Kim
Summary: This study investigated the molecular mechanism underlying the altered stress susceptibilities in Saccharomyces cerevisiae due to the absence of Sir2. The absence of Sir2 increased sensitivity to H2O2 during the post-diauxic phase but increased resistance during the exponential growth phase. Transcriptome analysis revealed lower expression levels of several oxidative defense genes in the sir2 Delta strain, potentially explaining its increased susceptibility to H2O2. Interestingly, the sir2 Delta ras2 Delta double mutant exhibited greater resistance to H2O2 than the ras2 Delta single mutant, and the regulation of the cytoplasmic catalase encoded by CTT1 was critical for this increased resistance.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jakob Peder Pettersen, Eivind Almaas
Summary: Improvements have been made to a new model for predicting the temperature dependence of an organism's metabolic network, addressing the issue of multimodality and highlighting the model's inadequacy in predicting metabolic flux with current experimental data.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Biology
Menattallah Elserafy, Iman El-Shiekh, Dalia Fleifel, Reham Atteya, Abdelrahman AlOkda, Mohamed M. Abdrabbou, Mostafa Nasr, Sherif F. El-Khamisy
Summary: This study reveals a new role for yeast Rad5 in tolerating rNMP incorporation, especially in the absence of the ribonucleotide excision repair pathway, after replication stress. The findings suggest a similar role for human Rad5 homologues HLTF and SHPRH in rNMP tolerance, possibly impacting the response of cancer cells to replication stress-inducing therapeutics.
LIFE SCIENCE ALLIANCE
(2021)
Article
Microbiology
Bazile Ravoityte, Juliana Luksa, Ralf Erik Wellinger, Saulius Serva, Elena Serviene
Summary: This study analyzed the impact of L-A virus on gene expression in yeast hosts using high-throughput RNA sequencing data. It was found that the presence of L-A virus resulted in moderate alterations in gene expression, particularly in genes involved in ribosome biogenesis. Additionally, the transcriptional responses to L-A maintenance were similar to those induced by stress or nutrient availability. The study also identified yeast transcriptional regulators that modulate the levels of L-A dsRNA in cells.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Bhavana Veerabhadrappa, S. J. Sudharshan, Nagashree N. Rao, Madhu Dyavaiah
Summary: The study reveals that tRNA methyltransferase 9 (Trm9)-catalysed tRNA modifications can enhance the DNA damage response (DDR). Aminoglycoside stress affects the sensitivity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae trm9 Delta, DNA repair, and spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) mutants, suggesting a connection between translation fidelity and DDR and SAC activation. Additionally, the DNA damage induced by aminoglycosides in base excision repair mutants ogg1 Delta and apn1 Delta is caused by reactive oxygen species and the subsequent formation of 8-hydroxy deoxyguanosine DNA adducts. Furthermore, a combination of translation inhibitors and DNA-damaging agents can selectively sensitize cells with tRNA modification dysregulation and DNA repair gene defects.
Article
Microbiology
Miaomiao Chen, Likun Wang, Xin Zheng, Michael Cohen, Xiaofang Li
Summary: This study revealed that four metabolic pathways responsible for combating Cd stress were commonly regulated in Escherichia coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, indicating universal strategies used by microbes. Furthermore, the heterologous expression of an ABC transporter gene from E. coli in S. cerevisiae enhanced the yeast's tolerance to Cd, suggesting the potential for modifying microbial traits for bioremediation.
Review
Genetics & Heredity
Elena Di Nisio, Giuseppe Lupo, Valerio Licursi, Rodolfo Negri
Summary: This review article explores the role of histone lysine methylation changes in regulating the response to radiation-induced genotoxic damage in mammalian cells. It also discusses the effects of histone methyltransferases (HMTs) and histone demethylases (HDMs) on radio-sensitivity of different cell lines, and provides a bioinformatic analysis of mRNA levels of known HMTs and HDMs under different irradiation conditions.
FRONTIERS IN GENETICS
(2021)
