Article
Plant Sciences
Li-Yen Lin, Hong-Xuan Chow, Chih-Hao Chen, Nobutaka Mitsuda, Wen-Chun Chou, Tzu-Yin Liu
Summary: The role of autophagy in plant phosphate starvation response is not well understood. In this study, we found that the Arabidopsis genes ATG8f and ATG8h are induced in the roots under low phosphate conditions, and their upregulation correlates with their promoter activities, which can be suppressed in the phr1 mutant.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Immunology
Xiaoyue Hou, Lu Han, Baoju An, Jun Cai
Summary: This study revealed that Vip3Aa can induce autophagy in Sf9 cells and identified the AMPK-mTOR-ULK1 pathway involved in this process, suggesting a pro-survival role for autophagy that may be related to insect resistance development.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Kyu-Ree In, Mi Ae Kang, Su Dong Kim, Jinho Shin, Sung Un Kang, Tae Jun Park, Seung-Joo Kim, Jong-Soo Lee
Summary: This study demonstrates that anhydrous alum can inhibit melanin synthesis by downregulating the expression of MITF. The mechanism of action of anhydrous alum involves attenuating phosphorylation of the co-activator of MITF gene transcription, cAMP response element-binding protein, and promoting phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase to impair the nuclear localization of MITF.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Review
Microbiology
Muhammad Luqman Nasaruddin, Khaizurin Tajul Arifin
Summary: This scoping review identified a common pathway undertaken by S. cerevisiae under nutritional stress through the application of metabolomics. Changes in cellular nucleoside concentration were observed during nitrogen and glucose starvation, indicating the importance of autophagy in maintaining survival. The practicality of metabolomics in understanding underlying mechanisms for maintaining homeostasis and potential intervention targets against diseases was highlighted.
Article
Cell Biology
Prathyusha Bagam, Gagandeep Kaur, Dhirendra Pratap Singh, Sanjay Batra
Summary: Cigarette smoking is the primary cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Oxidative stress induced by cigarette smoke leads to abnormal autophagy, resulting in acute lung injury. The study highlights the crucial role of FOXO1 and FOXO3a in regulating autophagy in response to cigarette smoke exposure.
CELL BIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Weijing Yao, Yixing Li, Yingcong Chen, Yuting Chen, Pengwei Zhao, Yi Zhang, Qiang Jiang, Yuyao Feng, Fan Yang, Choufei Wu, Huiming Zhong, Yiting Zhou, Qiming Sun, Liqin Zhang, Wei Liu, Cong Yi
Summary: The DNA damage sensor Mec1 plays an essential role in the DNA damage response pathway and glucose starvation-induced autophagy. It forms puncta and contacts both mitochondria and the phagophore assembly site (PAS) through interactions with the adaptor protein Ggc1 and direct binding with Atg13, respectively. These interactions are mediated by specific protein regions, MBR on Atg13 and ABR on Mec1, and disruption of these regions impairs the recruitment of Mec1 puncta and Atg13 to the PAS, blocking glucose starvation-induced autophagy.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Qiong Ding, Lin Luo, Lan Yu, Si-lu Huang, Xiao-qin Wang, Bo Zhang
Summary: Vitiligo is a depigmented disease with a simple diagnosis but difficult cure. Ermanin, a flavonoid extracted from bee glue used in traditional Chinese medicine, has been found to promote melanin production and regulate glutathione redox balance to assist in treating vitiligo.
FREE RADICAL BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Pietro Berico, Max Cigrang, Guillaume Davidson, Cathy Braun, Jeremy Sandoz, Stephanie Legras, Bujamin Hektor Vokshi, Nevena Slovic, Francois Peyresaubes, Carlos Mario Gene Robles, Jean-Marc Egly, Emmanuel Compe, Irwin Davidson, Frederic Coin
Summary: The chronic inhibition of CDK7 drives melanoma cells to switch from differentiated melanocytic-type to undifferentiated mesenchymal-like cells, leading to tolerance to targeted therapies. Additionally, a GATA6-dependent gene expression program is activated, contributing to melanoma survival and targeted drug tolerance. These findings highlight the importance of CDK7 in regulating the expression of key transcription factors and genes involved in melanoma progression and resistance to treatment.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yuntian Duan, Yumeng Zhao, Tao Wang, Jian Sun, Waseem Ali, Yonggang Ma, Yan Yuan, Jianhong Gu, Jianchun Bian, Zongping Liu, Hui Zou
Summary: Our previous studies have shown that cadmium exposure causes liver toxicity and interrupts autophagy. We hypothesized that nutritional intervention can mitigate cadmium hepatotoxicity. Taurine, known for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, was used in this study to explore its protective effect on cadmium-induced liver toxicity. Our results indicated that taurine can alleviate cell injuries, activate autophagy, and restore proper autophagy flux. Taurine achieves this by enhancing lysosome acidification and degradation, as well as promoting fusion between autophagosomes and lysosomes. Furthermore, taurine facilitates the transfer of membrane fusion proteins STX17 and SNAP29 to autophagosomes and the translocation of VAMP8 to lysosomes, thereby attenuating hepatocyte injury caused by cadmium exposure. This study provides insights into the hepatotoxicity mechanism of cadmium and establishes a theoretical basis for the prevention and treatment of cadmium poisoning.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Erica Aparecida de Oliveira, Jagat Chauhan, Julia Rezende da Silva, Larissa Anastacio da Costa Carvalho, Diogo Dias, Danielle Goncalves de Carvalho, Luis Roberto Masao Watanabe, Vito W. Rebecca, Gordon Mills, Yiling Lu, Aloisio Souza Felipe da Silva, Marcia Edilaine Lopes Consolaro, Meenhard Herlyn, Patricia A. Possik, Colin R. Goding, Silvya Stuchi Maria-Engler
Summary: TOP1 expression is correlated with invasive gene signature in metastatic melanoma, with highest expression in metastatic cells and lowest expression in BRAFi- and BRAFi/MEKi-resistant cells. These results suggest a potential role of TOP1 in melanoma progression and resistance.
PHARMACOLOGICAL RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Rui Cao, Yakun Li, Xiaofan Hu, Yang Qiu, Shanglin Li, Yanan Xie, Cong Xu, Chenqi Lu, Gang Chen, Jun Yang
Summary: The study investigated the protective mechanisms of glycyrrhizic acid (GA) on tacrolimus (TAC)-induced renal injury. Results showed that GA improved renal function and tubulointerstitial fibrosis, and reduced the expression of fibrosis-related proteins. Moreover, GA improved autophagic clearance and protected against cell injury. These findings suggest that GA may protect against TAC-induced renal injury by improving lysosomal function and regulating autophagy.
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Yeon Joo Kim, Katherine M. Sheu, Jennifer Tsoi, Gabriel Abril-Rodriguez, Egmidio Medina, Catherine S. Grasso, Davis Y. Torrejon, Ameya S. Champhekar, Kevin Litchfield, Charles Swanton, Daniel E. Speiser, Philip O. Scumpia, Alexander Hoffmann, Thomas G. Graeber, Cristina Puig-Saus, Antoni Ribas
Summary: The process of melanoma dedifferentiation in response to anti-PD-1 therapy challenges the traditional view that neural crest dedifferentiation is entirely negative, as it corresponded with improved outcomes in patients. This suggests that treatment-induced dedifferentiation may have beneficial effects in melanoma, despite initially appearing counterintuitive. In vitro studies also demonstrated that exposure to IFN-gamma led to changes in chromatin landscape, resulting in a neural crest dedifferentiation signature in melanoma cell lines.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL INVESTIGATION
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Chenfei Li, Zhen Guo, Fangyuan Liu, Peng An, Mingyu Wang, Dan Yang, Qizhu Tang
Summary: Doxorubicin (DOX) is a commonly used chemotherapeutic drug in cancer treatment, but its side effects on the heart restrict its clinical application. In this study, researchers found that apoptosis, oxidative stress, and autophagy all play important roles in DOX-induced cardiac injury. They demonstrated that overexpression of PCSK6, a protein involved in cardiovascular diseases, can protect against DOX-induced cardiac damage by promoting autophagy and inhibiting apoptosis and oxidative stress. They also identified the involvement of SIRT1 and FOXO3a in the protective effect of PCSK6.
FREE RADICAL BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Nutrition & Dietetics
Kazuhito Sekiguchi, Hiroaki Miyahara, Masanori Inoue, Kyoko Kiyota, Kumiko Sakai, Toshikatsu Hanada, Kenji Ihara
Summary: The study found that liver autophagy is not essential for the survival of neonatal mice under starvation conditions, as they can adapt to changes in metabolic pathways, such as the malate-aspartate shuttle, aspartate metabolism, urea cycle, and glycine and serine metabolism. This adaptation may involve a change in mitochondrial function to maintain ketone production and avoid fatal starvation.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Bing Xie, Chuan-yue Chen, Xiaolin Zhang, Si-yuan Li, Zhong-qi Gu, Ji Huang, Jian-yu He, Peng-zhi Qi, Bao-ying Guo, Zhi Liao, Xiaojun Yan
Summary: This study conducted gill transcriptome analysis of Mytilus before and after starvation, revealing significant up- and down-regulation of many genes and suggesting that mussels may use autophagy to cope with damage after starvation.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Hematology
Volker Huck, Po-Chia Chen, Emma-Ruoqi Xu, Alexander Tischer, Ulrike Klemm, Camilo Aponte-Santamaria, Christian Mess, Tobias Obser, Fabian Kutzki, Gesa Koenig, Cecile V. Denis, Frauke Graeter, Matthias Wilmanns, Matthew Auton, Stefan W. Schneider, Reinhard Schneppenheim, Janosch Hennig, Maria A. Brehm
Summary: This study uncovered a prothrombotic gain of function associated with a VWF variant located in the C4 domain, leading to an increase in platelet aggregate size and affecting the structural flexibility. The research highlights the uniqueness of this VWF variant and its significance for vascular health.
THROMBOSIS AND HAEMOSTASIS
(2022)
Article
Biology
Ramile Dilshat, Valerie Fock, Colin Kenny, Ilse Gerritsen, Romain Maurice Jacques Lasseur, Jana Travnickova, Ossia M. Eichhoff, Philipp Cerny, Katrin Moller, Sara Sigurbjornsdottir, Kritika Kirty, Berglind Osk Einarsdottir, Phil F. Cheng, Mitchell Levesque, Robert A. Cornell, E. Elizabeth Patton, Lionel Larue, Marie de Tayrac, Erna Magnusdottir, Margret Helga Ogmundsdottir, Eirikur Steingrimsson
Summary: MITF is a critical regulator of melanocyte development and melanoma, playing important roles in cell morphology and cell-matrix interactions. It directly represses genes associated with ECM and focal adhesion pathways, affecting cell morphology and interactions, and these effects are reversible.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Joel Fauser, Burak Gulen, Vivian Pogenberg, Christian Pett, Danial Pourjafar-Dehkordi, Christoph Krisp, Dorothea Hoepfner, Gesa Koenig, Hartmut Schlueter, Matthias J. Feige, Martin Zacharias, Christian Hedberg, Aymelt Itzen
Summary: The study reveals that FICD regulates the domain-docked conformation of BiP through specific binding of TPR motifs to the conserved hydrophobic linker, affecting the AMPylation and deAMPylation of BiP. Furthermore, the AMPylation and deAMPylation of BiP are not directly regulated by the presence of unfolded proteins.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Microbiology
Marion Lagune, Cecile Petit, Flor Vasquez Sotomayor, Matt D. Johansen, Kathrine S. H. Beckham, Christina Ritter, Fabienne Girard-Misguich, Matthias Wilmanns, Laurent Kremer, Florian P. Maurer, Jean-Louis Herrmann
Summary: Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are a diverse group of microorganisms with over 200 individual species, mainly found in terrestrial and aquatic environments. In recent years, there has been increasing research on the association of NTM with infections in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised individuals. Significant developments have been made regarding the role of Type VII secretion systems (T7SS) in mycobacteria, with a focus on their impact on virulence and cell wall shaping.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Katherine S. H. Beckham, Christina Ritter, Grzegorz Chojnowski, Daniel S. Ziemianowicz, Edukondalu Mullapudi, Mandy Rettel, Mikhail M. Savitski, Simon A. Mortensen, Jan Kosinski, Matthias Wilmanns
Summary: The ESX-5 type VII secretion system is a membrane-spanning protein complex crucial to the virulence of mycobacterial pathogens. The high-resolution structure of the 2.1-megadalton ESX-5 core complex reveals a dynamic, secretion-competent conformation of the pore with flexibility for accommodating targeted protein secretion, suggesting that a highly dynamic state of the pore may be a fundamental principle of bacterial secretion machineries.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Abbi Elise Smith, Elin Soley Sigurbjornsdottir, Eirikur Steingrimsson, Sara Sigurbjornsdottir
Summary: Hedgehog signalling plays a crucial role in development, anatomical arrangement, and tissue damage repair. Dysregulation of this pathway is associated with cancer, developmental disorders, and osteoarthritis. The pathway is conserved in most animals, and its activation is transduced through the receptor protein Smoothened and downstream effectors. Studies have shown that cholesterol binding is important for the activation of the pathway. In humans, a mutation in the Smoothened gene has been linked to a higher risk of hip osteoarthritis. Analysis of mouse models and human tissue suggests that hedgehog signalling is pathologically activated in chondrocytes of osteoarthritic cartilage.
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Colin Kenny, Ramile Dilshat, Hannah E. Seberg, Eric Van Otterloo, Gregory Bonde, Annika Helverson, Christopher M. Franke, Eirikur Steingrimsson, Robert A. Cornell
Summary: This study reveals how TFAP2 and MITF interact to regulate the differentiation, proliferation, and cell-cell adhesion of melanocytes and melanoma cells.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jerome Buergi, Pascal Lill, Evdokia-Anastasia Giannopoulou, Cy M. Jeffries, Grzegorz Chojnowski, Stefan Raunser, Christos Gatsogiannis, Matthias Wilmanns
Summary: Oxalyl-CoA synthetase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a peroxisomal protein, assembles into concentration-dependent dimers, tetramers and hexamers by self-association. The hexameric assembly has an asymmetric horseshoe-like arrangement, different from other protein structures. A single mutation in the self-association interface abolishes higher-level oligomerization, resulting in a homogenous dimeric assembly. The data provide a basis to mechanistically study peroxisomal translocation of this target.
BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Katrin Moller, Max Brambach, Ambra Villani, Elisa Gallo, Darren Gilmour, Francesca Peri
Summary: The migration of the centrosome in microglia is a crucial step in the engulfment of apoptotic cells. Additionally, microglia demonstrate plasticity in their phagocytic ability, as they can switch between different modes of engulfment under certain conditions.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Marietta S. Kaspers, Vivian Pogenberg, Christian Pett, Stefan Ernst, Felix Ecker, Philipp Ochtrop, Michael Groll, Christian Hedberg, Aymelt Itzen
Summary: In this study, the authors uncover the mechanism and substrate recognition of Legionella effector Lem3, which removes a phosphocholine moiety from the human protein Rab1 during infection. They present the crystal structure of the stabilised Lem3:Rab1b complex, revealing the catalytic mechanism and substrate recognition of PPM phosphatases shaped Lem3. This research is of significant importance for understanding bacterial pathogenesis and protein substrate recognition.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Pakavarin Louphrasitthiphol, Alessia Loffreda, Vivian Pogenberg, Sarah Picaud, Alexander Schepsky, Hans Friedrichsen, Zhiqiang Zeng, Anahita Lashgari, Benjamin Thomas, E. Elizabeth Patton, Matthias Wilmanns, Panagis Filippakopoulos, Jean-Philippe Lambert, Eirikur Steingrimsson, Davide Mazza, Colin R. Goding
Summary: The transcription factor MITF, which plays a crucial role in melanocyte development and melanoma, has a long chromatin-bound half-life and its target selectivity is regulated by K206 acetylation, which is associated with Waardenburg syndrome.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Biology
Dorothea Hoepfner, Adam Cichy, Vivian Pogenberg, Christoph Krisp, Soraya Mezouar, Nina C. Bach, Jan Grotheer, Sandra Madariaga Zarza, Eric Martinez, Matteo Bonazzi, Matthias J. Feige, Stephan A. Sieber, Hartmut Schlueter, Aymelt Itzen
Summary: The intracellular bacterial pathogen Coxiella burnetii evades the host response by secreting effector proteins. CbFic2, a specific enzyme of C. burnetii, can AMPylate host cell histone H3 and switch to a deAMPylating state upon DNA binding.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2023)