Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Samuel R. Plante, Kyung-Mee Moon, Pascale Lemieux, Leonard Foster, Christian Landry
Summary: Spores of Saccharomyces cerevisiae have a highly viscous and acidic cytosol, which alters the solubility of proteins and is essential for their germination and growth. The heat shock protein, Hsp42, plays a crucial role in this process by facilitating protein dissolution.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Kousuke Toyomura, Taisuke Hisatomi
Summary: Heterothallic haploid strains were isolated from homothallic diploids of Saccharomyces kudriavzevii type strain, demonstrating prezygotic reproductive isolation between Kazachstania naganishii and S. cerevisiae. Postzygotic reproductive isolation was shown to exist among Saccharomyces yeast species, with interspecific F1 hybrids being produced but spore germination being blocked, indicating disorder of chromosome organization in the hybrids.
Article
Genetics & Heredity
R. Blake Billmyre, Michael T. Eickbush, Caroline J. Craig, Jeffrey J. Lange, Christopher Wood, Rachel M. Helston, Sarah E. Zanders
Summary: This study developed a high-throughput insertional mutagenesis approach to identify genes involved in sexual reproduction in fission yeast. They identified hundreds of novel genes contributing to sexual reproduction, including some that affect spore viability and others that are required for growth in low-density conditions. This research provides valuable insights into the genetic contributions to sexual reproduction and identifies potential candidate genes in other eukaryotes, including humans.
Review
Microbiology
Huan Zhang, Srutha Venkatesan, Beiyan Nan
Summary: Cell shapes are genetically encoded and enzymatically generated, predominantly determined by the cell wall. Myxococcus xanthus serves as an ideal model for understanding PG assembly and bacterial morphogenesis, featuring a unique sphere-to-rod transition without preexisting templates for cell shape reconstruction. This provides a rare opportunity to visualize de novo PG assembly and rod-like morphogenesis in a well-established model organism.
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
Food Science & Technology
Inge Suiker, Han A. B. Wosten
Summary: Microbial spoilage of beer and related products can lead to significant economic losses. Understanding the taxonomy, ecology, and resistance mechanisms of spoilage yeast can help in developing strategies to prevent spoilage.
CURRENT OPINION IN FOOD SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Andy Goldschmidt, James Kunert-Graf, Adrian C. Scott, Zhihao Tan, Aimee M. Dudley, J. Nathan Kutz
Summary: Baker's yeast is a model organism for studying morphology at the scale of multi-cell colonies, with texture score development trajectories used for hierarchical clustering.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Kaito Kikuchi, Leticia Galera-Laporta, Colleen Weatherwax, Jamie Y. Lam, Eun Chae Moon, Emmanuel A. Theodorakis, Jordi Garcia-Ojalvo, Gurol M. Suel
Summary: Despite their dormant state, bacterial spores are able to sense environmental signals through a preexisting electrochemical potential and integrate these signals over time, affecting their decision to exit dormancy.
Article
Microbiology
Julien Mortier, Alexander Cambre, Sina Schack, Graham Christie, Abram Aertsen
Summary: In order to understand protein aggregate (PA) management and impact in bacteria, a synthetic model system was developed to investigate PA dynamics in Bacillus subtilis. The study found that PA segregation follows similar patterns as in Escherichia coli and PAs can persist throughout the entire sporulation process without detrimental effects on sporulation and spore survival.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yan Wang, Ronald M. P. Breedijk, Mark A. Hink, Lars Bults, Norbert O. E. Vischer, Peter Setlow, Stanley Brul
Summary: Spores of Bacillus cereus can cause disease in humans due to contamination of raw materials for food manufacturing. Understanding the interaction between germination proteins in germinosomes may suggest new preservation strategies. The study found that GerR and GerD proteins co-localize in the inner membrane of B. cereus spores, with most interaction occurring between GerD and the GR B subunit.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Cell Biology
Yongqiang Gao, Rocio Del Carmen Barajas-Ornelas, Jeremy D. Amon, Fernando H. Ramirez-Guadiana, Assaf Alon, Kelly P. Brock, Debora S. Marks, Andrew C. Kruse, David Z. Rudner
Summary: Researchers investigated the minimal set of proteins encoded in the Bacillus subtilis spoVA operon required for small molecule dipicolinic acid (DPA) import, which plays a central role in stress resistance and germination of dormant spores. They found that these proteins form a membrane complex, and proposed a model where DPA transport into spores involves cycles of unplugging and replugging the membrane channel, triggered by nutrient detection during germination to release DPA.
GENES & DEVELOPMENT
(2022)
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
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yun Chen, Zulin Wu, Lin Dong, Xia You, Yanling Ji, Yongheng Liang
Summary: Spo14 is not required for macroautophagy in yeast and is dispensable for Atg8 lipidation.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Gisela Cairo, Anne MacKenzie, Dai Tsuchiya, Soni Lacefield
Summary: Time-lapse fluorescence microscopy has provided valuable insights into meiotic cell-cycle events. This protocol describes a method to conditionally deplete proteins from the nucleus during specific stages of meiosis, allowing for the monitoring of meiotic events using time-lapse microscopy. The technique was demonstrated by depleting the kinetochore protein Ctf19 and analyzing chromatin masses at the end of meiosis II.
JOVE-JOURNAL OF VISUALIZED EXPERIMENTS
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Matthew Durant, Joseph M. Roesner, Xheni Mucelli, Christian J. Slubowski, Erin Klee, Brian C. Seitz, Zoey Wallis, Linda S. Huang
Summary: Proper development of the prospore membrane is crucial for the formation of viable spores during sporulation in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. MAP kinase signaling plays an important role in the formation of the prospore membrane.
Review
Dentistry, Oral Surgery & Medicine
Taihiko Yamaguchi, Saki Mikami, Masana Maeda, Taishi Saito, Toshinori Nakajima, Wataru Yachida, Akihito Gotouda
Summary: This article reviews the current state of portable/wearable EMG devices for assessment of bruxism. The results show that ultra-miniaturized wearable EMG devices with performance equivalent to conventional devices have been developed and used during sleep and in the daytime, with a high level of diagnostic accuracy for sleep bruxism. However, a definite cut-off value for awake bruxism has not been established.
CRANIO-THE JOURNAL OF CRANIOMANDIBULAR & SLEEP PRACTICE
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Eva Rudjord Therkildsen, Jens Bo Nielsen, Mikkel Malling Beck, Tomofumi Yamaguchi, Jakob Lorentzen
Summary: The study found that tsDCS can increase the excitability of long-latency stretch reflexes, leading to increased excitability of corticospinal neurons. Cathodal tsDCS over lumbar segments may facilitate proprioceptive transcortical reflexes in the TA muscle, potentially through ascending fibers in the dorsal columns.
EXPERIMENTAL BRAIN RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Olena P. Ishchuka, Ivan Domenzain, Benjamin J. Sanchez, Facundo Muniz-Paredes, Jose L. Martinez, Jens Nielsen, Dina Petranovic
Summary: Heme synthesis can be increased by modifying certain genes, leading to higher production of heme proteins. This study identified 84 gene targets through computational simulations, of which 40 were confirmed to enhance heme production in experiments. Not only genes directly involved in heme biosynthesis, but also genes related to glycolysis, glycine, and succinyl-coenzyme A metabolism were found to affect heme production.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Feiran Li, Yu Chen, Mihail Anton, Jens Nielsen
Summary: Enzyme parameters are crucial for understanding, modeling, and engineering cells. Experimental measurements only cover a small portion of enzyme-compound pairs, and even less in non-model organisms. Artificial intelligence techniques have accelerated the exploration of enzyme properties by predicting them in a high-throughput manner. GotEnzymes is a comprehensive database that provides predicted enzyme parameters using AI approaches, allowing for interactive web exploration and programmatic access.
NUCLEIC ACIDS RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Gang Li, Filip Buric, Jan Zrimec, Sandra Viknander, Jens Nielsen, Aleksej Zelezniak, Martin K. M. Engqvist
Summary: Temperature is a crucial factor in shaping the evolution of organisms, and understanding the thermal determinants of protein sequences is significant for various biological applications. Through a deep neural network model called DeepET, we learned temperature-related protein representations that capture the structural properties affecting thermal stability. Our DeepET model outperforms classical regression models when predicting enzyme optimal catalytic temperatures and protein melting temperatures using a transfer learning approach.
Editorial Material
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Gen Zou, Jens B. Nielsen, Yongjun Wei
Summary: Recent advances in synthetic biology have revolutionized mushroom farming by shifting the focus from traditional cultivation to comprehensive applications using cutting-edge biotechnologies. Promising applications in this field include precision breeding, exploration of biosynthetic gene clusters, development of mushroom chassis cells, and construction of cell factories for high-value products.
TRENDS IN BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Johan Gustafsson, Mihail Anton, Fariba Roshanzamir, Rebecka Jornsten, Eduard J. Kerkhoven, Jonathan L. Robinson, Jens Nielsen
Summary: Single-cell RNA sequencing combined with genome-scale metabolic models has the potential to unravel metabolism differences across cell types and cell states. This study develops a method for generating cell-type-specific models and evaluates the impact of RNA-Seq normalization methods on model topology. The approach successfully detects unique metabolic profiles and cancer-associated differences.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Le Yuan, Hongzhong Lu, Feiran Li, Jens Nielsen, Eduard J. Kerkhoven
Summary: In this study, a computational toolbox called HGTphyloDetect was developed, which combines high-throughput analysis with phylogenetic inference to accurately identify horizontal gene transfer (HGT) events and illustrate the transmission pathway among evolutionarily distant or closely related species. The HGTphyloDetect toolbox is user-friendly, capable of detecting HGT events with high efficiency and low false discovery rate.
BRIEFINGS IN BIOINFORMATICS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Min Chen, Tingting Xie, Huan Li, Yingping Zhuang, Jianye Xia, Jens Nielsen
Summary: Supply and regulation of Gibbs free energy and precursors in cellular metabolism are essential for cellular function. In this study, we used multi-omics data under different conditions to investigate the regulation of central carbon metabolism (CCM) in yeast. We identified a metabolism-specific CCM flux regulation mechanism, which is affected by posttranslational modification and allosteric regulation.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Jonas L. Ravn, Amanda Sorensen Ristinmaa, Tom Coleman, Johan Larsbrink, Cecilia Geijer
Summary: Together with bacteria and filamentous fungi, yeasts play an active role in the global carbon cycle by growing on plant polysaccharide xylan. The enzymatic strategies and biological roles of yeasts in deconstructing xylan remain unclear.
MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM
(2023)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Kameshwara V. R. Peri, Fabio Faria-Oliveira, Adam Larsson, Alexander Plovie, Nicolas Papon, Cecilia Geijer
Summary: This article describes the development of genome editing tools for Candida intermedia, a nonconventional yeast species. The development of these tools is crucial for studying the genome and manipulating the metabolism of this biotechnologically interesting species. The authors successfully developed a method for genome editing in C. intermedia, improving the targeting efficiency and enabling the construction of gene deletion mutants using a split-marker technique.
FEMS YEAST RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Ivana Bardino Novosel, Anina Ritterband-Rosenbaum, Georgios Zampoukis, Jens Bo Nielsen, Jakob Lorentzen
Summary: This study developed and trained an image-based Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to recognize specific movement classifiers relevant to individuals with cerebral palsy (CP). Monitoring and quantifying movement behavior in CP patients using multiple wearable sensors and CNN is of great value for improving their health outcomes.
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Morteza Aghaee, Arun Akkala, Zulfi Alam, Rizwan Ali, Alejandro Alcaraz Ramirez, Mariusz Andrzejczuk, Andrey E. Antipov, Pavel Aseev, Mikhail Astafev, Bela Bauer, Jonathan Becker, Srini Boddapati, Frenk Boekhout, Jouri Bommer, Tom Bosma, Leo Bourdet, Samuel Boutin, Philippe Caroff, Lucas Casparis, Maja Cassidy, Sohail Chatoor, Anna Wulf Christensen, Noah Clay, William S. Cole, Fabiano Corsetti, Ajuan Cui, Paschalis Dalampiras, Anand Dokania, Gijs de Lange, Michiel de Moor, Juan Carlos Estrada Saldana, Saeed Fallahi, Zahra Heidarnia Fathabad, John Gamble, Geoff Gardner, Deshan Govender, Flavio Griggio, Ruben Grigoryan, Sergei Gronin, Jan Gukelberger, Esben Bork Hansen, Sebastian Heedt, Jesus Herranz Zamorano, Samantha Ho, Ulrik Laurens Holgaard, Henrik Ingerslev, Linda Johansson, Jeffrey Jones, Ray Kallaher, Farhad Karimi, Torsten Karzig, Cameron King, Maren Elisabeth Kloster, Christina Knapp, Dariusz Kocon, Jonne Koski, Pasi Kostamo, Peter Krogstrup, Mahesh Kumar, Tom Laeven, Thorvald Larsen, Kongyi Li, Tyler Lindemann, Julie Love, Roman Lutchyn, Morten Hannibal Madsen, Michael Manfra, Signe Markussen, Esteban Martinez, Robert McNeil, Elvedin Memisevic, Trevor Morgan, Andrew Mullally, Chetan Nayak, Jens Nielsen, William Hvidtfelt Padkaer Nielsen, Bas Nijholt, Anne Nurmohamed, Eoin OFarrell, Keita Otani, Sebastian Pauka, Karl Petersson, Luca Petit, Dmitry I. Pikulin, Frank Preiss, Marina Quintero-Perez, Mohana Rajpalke, Katrine Rasmussen, Davydas Razmadze, Outi Reentila, David Reilly, Richard Rouse, Ivan Sadovskyy, Lauri Sainiemi, Sydney Schreppler, Vadim Sidorkin, Amrita Singh, Shilpi Singh, Sarat Sinha, Patrick Sohr, Tomas Stankevic, Lieuwe Stek, Henri Suominen, Judith Suter, Vicky Svidenko, Sam Teicher, Mine Temuerhan, Nivetha Thiyagarajah, Raj Tholapi, Mason Thomas, Emily Toomey, Shivendra Upadhyay, Ivan Urban, Saulius Vaitiekenas, Kevin Van Hoogdalem, David Van Woerkom, Dmitrii V. Viazmitinov, Dominik Vogel, Steven Waddy, John Watson, Joseph Weston, Georg W. Winkler, Chung Kai Yang, Sean Yau, Daniel Yi, Emrah Yucelen, Alex Webster, Ruichen Zhao
Summary: In this study, measurements and simulations of semiconductor-superconductor heterostructure devices were conducted to observe topological superconductivity and Majorana zero modes. The devices were optimized to ensure robustness against nonuniformity and disorder. Experimental results indicate the presence of a topological superconducting phase, which is a prerequisite for experiments involving Majorana zero modes fusion and braiding.