Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Kim Kiat Lim, Nathaniel Zhi Hao Koh, Yi Bing Zeng, Jun Kai Chuan, Raechell Raechell, Ee Sin Chen
Summary: Our study identified that disruption of membrane transport, chromosome segregation, and mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation increase cellular susceptibility towards 5-FU, while null mutants of Ino80 complex factors exhibit resistance. Modulating the function of Ino80 complex factors may potentially reverse 5-FU resistance.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Sieun Kim, Rowoon Lee, Hosung Jeon, Nahyun Lee, Jiyeun Park, Heeji Moon, Jiyoung Shin, Kyunghun Min, Jung-Eun Kim, Jung-Wook Yang, Hokyoung Son
Summary: Resistance to chemical fungicides in Fusarium graminearum is increasing, necessitating the development of novel disease control strategies. This study identified 13 essential genes as potential targets for disease control and demonstrated their protective effects using a spray-induced gene silencing method.
JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY
(2023)
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Mariana Hernandez-Elvira, Per Sunnerhagen
Summary: To remain competitive, cells need to balance growth and proliferation with stress protection. Different levels of gene expression control are engaged in stress responses depending on the time scale of stress exposure. Post-transcriptional control is appropriate for minute-scale responses to transient stress and recovery. It regulates the turnover rate, translational activity, covalent modifications, and subcellular localization of RNA species through multiple cellular pathways to achieve appropriate signaling intensity, avoid undue triggering of stress-activated pathways, and timely down-regulate the response.
FEMS YEAST RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Veli Vural Uslu, Athanasios Dalakouras, Victor A. Steffens, Gabi Krczal, Michael Wassenegger
Summary: Transitivity in plants relies on RDR6-mediated dsRNA synthesis and DCL endonuclease activity to reinforce target RNA cleavage through the formation of an RNA-induced silencing complex. This study found that the primary target site influences gene silencing and transitivity, with dsRNA synthesis generally initiated at the 3MODIFIER LETTER PRIME-end of the target RNA.
Article
Plant Sciences
Emilia Grypioti, Hugues Richard, Nikoleta Kryovrysanaki, Marianne Jaubert, Angela Falciatore, Frederic Verret, Kriton Kalantidis
Summary: Our study identified diverse RNAi effectors in diatoms, suggesting the presence of distinct RNAi pathways across species. Knockout of DCR in the model diatom species, Phaeodactylum tricornutum, revealed a role for DCR in processing sRNAs, maintaining repression-associated histone marks, and aiding in acclimation to nutrient stress.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Diego A. Rojas, Fabiola Urbina, Aldo Solari, Edio Maldonado
Summary: This study describes the effect of PC4 phosphorylation on RNAPII transcription in fission yeast, and identifies CK2 as a regulator of PC4 coactivator function.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Diego A. Rojas, Fabiola Urbina, Aldo Solari, Edio Maldonado
Summary: The Pneumocystis genus is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that primarily infects AIDS patients and individuals with weakened immune systems. This study focuses on characterizing the function of a specific transcription factor called TFIIB from Pneumocystis carinii using a related model organism, Schizosaccharomyces pombe. The results show that P. carinii TFIIB is capable of replacing the essential function of S. pombe TFIIB, indicating a similar transcriptional machinery between the two organisms.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Mei Lu, Haonan Xing, Wanxuan Shao, Tian Zhang, Mengjie Zhang, Yongchao Wang, Fangzhou Li, Yuhua Weng, Aiping Zheng, Yuanyu Huang, Xing-Jie Liang
Summary: This study developed a photoactivatable silencing extracellular vesicle (PASEV) for sensitized cancer immunotherapy. The PASEV effectively targets PAK4 in tumor cells and enhances intratumoral infiltration and immune activation through immunogenic phototherapy. It offers great promise for fighting cancers by eliciting robust anticancer immunity.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Peng Zhao, Hui Xue, Xiangzhen Zhu, Li Wang, Kaixin Zhang, Dongyang Li, Jichao Ji, Lin Niu, Xueke Gao, Junyu Luo, Jinjie Cui
Summary: The study identified and characterized a novel Spodoptera litura P450 gene, CYP321B1, which plays a crucial role in tannin detoxification and metabolism in insects. By conducting RNA interference and metabolome analysis, it was confirmed that silencing CYP321B1 significantly affects weight gain under tannin induction.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL MACROMOLECULES
(2022)
Article
Biology
Jun Isoe, Carter J. Simington, Max E. Oscherwitz, Alyssa J. Peterson, Alberto A. Rascon, Brooke B. Massani, Roger L. Miesfeld, Michael A. Riehle
Summary: This study identified several essential proteins for eggshell formation in Aedes aegypti and characterized their roles through molecular and biochemical approaches. These proteins, along with additional secreted eggshell enzymes, provide potential targets for future mosquito control strategies. Further research is needed to fully understand the mechanisms by which these proteins regulate eggshell formation and melanization.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Lulu Qiao, Jonatan Nino-Sanchez, Rachael Hamby, Luca Capriotti, Angela Chen, Bruno Mezzetti, Hailing Jin
Summary: Spray-induced gene silencing (SIGS) is a promising technology for disease control in plants, but it is limited by the instability of RNA. In this study, we used artificial nanovesicles (AVs) to encapsulate and protect double stranded RNA (dsRNA) against Botrytis cinerea. The results showed that AVs enabled efficient delivery and uptake of dsRNA, providing prolonged RNAi-mediated protection against B. cinerea on plant material.
PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Weijiao Liu, Qiqing Yu, Chuanpeng Wang, Xiangzhen Zhu, Li Wang, Kaixin Zhang, Dongyang Li, Jichao Ji, Junyu Luo, Jinjie Cui, Xueke Gao
Summary: In this study, four highly-expressed circadian rhythm genes were selected from the cotton aphid genome database and analyzed. The results showed that AgCLK-1 plays a key role in regulating the feeding behavior of cotton aphid. This provides new insights into cotton aphid biology and suggests new targeting strategies for agricultural pest control.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL MACROMOLECULES
(2024)
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Diego A. Rojas, Fabiola Urbina, Lucia Valenzuela-Perez, Lorenzo Leiva, Vicente J. Miralles, Edio Maldonado
Summary: This study defines the pathway of preinitiation complex formation on the fission yeast nmt1 gene promoter and identifies a functional initiator element in the promoter. The findings show that transcription initiation in this system relies on multiple transcription factors and a identified transcription cofactor TCIF. Additionally, the study demonstrates the ability of other initiators from the nmt1/hDHFR family to be transcribed in fission yeast whole-cell extracts.
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Shrusti S. Patel, Ella N. Hoogenboezem, Fang Yu, Carlisle R. DeJulius, R. Brock Fletcher, Alex G. Sorets, Fiona K. Cherry, Justin H. Lo, Mariah G. Bezold, Nora Francini, Richard d'Arcy, Jordan E. Brasuell, Rebecca S. Cook, Craig L. Duvall
Summary: This study explores the use of ternary siRNA nanoparticles (si-NPs) for gene silencing in tumors. By optimizing the molecular weight and ratio of the core and surface polymer components, safe and effective si-NPs with strong inhibitory effects were developed. This work provides new insights into the structure-function relationships of ternary si-NPs and identifies strategies for safe and potent oncogene silencing.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Lulu Qiao, Chi Lan, Luca Capriotti, Audrey Ah-Fong, Jonatan Nino Sanchez, Rachael Hamby, Jens Heller, Hongwei Zhao, N. Louise Glass, Howard S. Judelson, Bruno Mezzetti, Dongdong Niu, Hailing Jin
Summary: Recent discoveries show that fungi can uptake environmental RNA to silence fungal genes through RNA interference, leading to the development of Spray-Induced Gene Silencing (SIGS) for plant disease management. The efficiency of RNA uptake varies across eukaryotic microbe species and cell types, which plays a critical role in determining the success of SIGS for plant disease management.
PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL
(2021)
Article
Cell Biology
Matias Capella, Lucia Martin Caballero, Boris Pfander, Sigurd Braun, Stefan Jentsch
JOURNAL OF CELL SCIENCE
(2020)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Vedrana Andric, Alicia Nevers, Ditipriya Hazra, Sylvie Auxilien, Alexandra Menant, Marc Graille, Benoit Palancade, Mathieu Rougemaille
Summary: In fission yeast, the uncharacterized lncRNA mamRNA plays a central role in shaping the meiotic gene expression program by scaffolding the antagonistic RNA-binding proteins Mmi1 and Mei2 to ensure their reciprocal inhibition during mitotic growth.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jade Sales-Lee, Daniela S. Perry, Bradley A. Bowser, Jolene K. Diedrich, Beiduo Rao, Irene Beusch, John R. Yates, Scott W. Roy, Hiten D. Madhani
Summary: The study identified that certain conserved spliceosomal proteins affect splicing efficiency and suppress splice errors in intron-rich fungi, potentially through kinetic proofreading mechanisms, facilitating greater intron diversity.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Matias Capella, Imke K. Mandemaker, Lucia Martin Caballero, Fabian den Brave, Boris Pfander, Andreas G. Ladurner, Stefan Jentsch, Sigurd Braun
Summary: The authors uncover the mechanism of rDNA release, showing that phosphorylation and SUMOylation facilitate the release of damaged rDNA repeats in the nucleolus. The release of broken rDNA repeats from the nucleolus to the nucleoplasm is essential for repair by homologous recombination and maintaining genome integrity.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Anna Schmuecker, Bingkun Lei, Zdravko J. Lorkovic, Matias Capella, Sigurd Braun, Pierre Bourguet, Olivier Mathieu, Karl Mechtler, Frederic Berger
Summary: The selection of C-terminal motifs contributes to the evolution of distinct histone H2A variants, with cell cycle dependent kinases playing a crucial role. Interference between the functions carried by these motifs led to their mutual exclusion and the evolution of different classes of H2A variants.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Olivier Finet, Carlo Yague-Sanz, Lara Katharina Kruger, Phong Tran, Valerie Migeot, Max Louski, Alicia Nevers, Mathieu Rougemaille, Jingjing Sun, Felix G. M. Ernst, Ludivine Wacheul, Maxime Wery, Antonin Morillon, Peter Dedon, Denis L. J. Lafontaine, Damien Hermand
Summary: This study reveals the importance of RNA modifications in gene expression control, and develops a new integrated pipeline to detect modifications in a transcriptome-wide manner. The researchers identify a novel RNA modification and demonstrate its biological function in mRNA of fission yeast. They also find that the modification is evolutionarily conserved in human cells.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Juncheng Wang, Sandra Catania, Chongyuan Wang, M. Jason de la Cruz, Beiduo Rao, Hiten D. Madhani, Dinshaw J. Patel
Summary: Epigenetic evolution in Cryptococcus neoformans is mediated by DNMT5, a maintenance type cytosine methyltransferase. The study reveals the mechanism of DNMT5 in achieving high fidelity methylation reaction through specific structural changes and ATP binding.
Article
Cell Biology
Magdalena Murawska, R. A. Greenstein, Tamas Schauer, Karl C. F. Olsen, Henry Ng, Andreas G. Ladurner, Bassem Al-Sady, Sigurd Braun
Summary: The formation of heterochromatin involves nucleation, self-propagation, and maintenance steps, with the histone chaperone FACT playing a crucial role in promoting heterochromatin spreading by repressing heterochromatic histone turnover in fission yeast. This study sheds light on the mechanisms underlying the involvement of FACT in heterochromatin silencing.
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Manning Y. Huang, Meenakshi B. Joshi, Michael J. Boucher, Sujin Lee, Liza C. Loza, Elizabeth A. Gaylord, Tamara L. Doering, Hiten D. Madhani
Summary: The study explores the use of CRISPR-Cas9 for genome editing in Cryptococcus neoformans, optimizing CnoCAS9 for efficient editing and simplifying donor design to enhance transformation efficiency without compromising virulence. A universal tagging module for protein localization and purification studies was also introduced.
Article
Genetics & Heredity
R. A. A. Greenstein, Henry Ng, Ramon R. A. Barrales, Catherine Tan, Sigurd A. Braun, Bassem Al-Sady
Summary: This study investigates the spreading process of heterochromatin and identifies specific genes that promote or antagonize this process. It also shows that different genes are required for spreading from different seeding sites. These findings have potential implications for cell fate specification and highlight the importance of understanding the mechanisms underlying the spread of epigenetic silencing along chromatin.
Editorial Material
Microbiology
Manning Y. Huang, Hiten D. Madhani
Summary: Identification and analysis of mutator strains in the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans show that natural loss of RNA interference triggers massive accumulation of Cnl1 retroelements at subtelomeric regions.
NATURE MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Biographical-Item
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
David A. Brow, Hiten D. Madhani
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Lucia Martin Caballero, Matias Capella, Ramon Ramos Barrales, Nikolay Dobrev, Thomas van Emden, Yasuhiro Hirano, Vishnu N. Suma Sreechakram, Sabine Fischer-Burkart, Yasuha Kinugasa, Alicia Nevers, Mathieu Rougemaille, Irmgard Sinning, Tamas Fischer, Yasushi Hiraoka, Sigurd Braun
Summary: This study reveals that the nuclear membrane protein Lem2 interacts with the MTREC complex to promote recruitment and degradation of ncRNAs and meiotic transcripts at the nuclear periphery in Schizosaccharomycespombe.
NATURE STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Arianna Penzo, Marion Dubarry, Clementine Brocas, Myriam Zheng, Raphael M. Mangione, Mathieu Rougemaille, Coralie Goncalves, Ophelie Lautier, Domenico Libri, Marie-Noelle Simon, Vincent Geli, Karine Dubrana, Benoit Palancade
Summary: Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) are associated with the accumulation of genotoxic R-loop structures, and their relocation is triggered by R-loop accumulation. R-loop-dependent repositioning involves interactions with the ssDNA-binding protein RPA and NPC-associated factors. Preventing R-loop-dependent relocation leads to lethality, while tethering to NPCs attenuates R-loop-dependent genetic instability.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Vedrana Andric, Mathieu Rougemaille
Summary: Long non-coding RNAs play a role in cell fate decisions by modulating genome expression and stability. In the fission yeast, specific lncRNAs shape cell cycle-dependent transcriptomes, influencing gametogenesis and contributing to meiosis-specific chromosomal events.
