Because metabolism is a complex balanced process involving multiple enzymes, understanding how organisms compensate for transient or permanent metabolic imbalance is a challenging task that can be more easily achieved in simpler unicellular organisms. The metabolic balance results not only from the combination of individual enzymatic properties, regulation of enzyme abundance, but also from the architecture

The opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida albicans is able to switch among several morphological phenotypes in response to environmental changes. White–opaque transition is a typical phenotypic switching system involved in the regulation of pathogenesis and sexual reproduction in C. albicans. Under regular laboratory culture conditions, to undergo white-to-opaque switching, cells must first undergo

Halotolerant species are adapted to dealing continually with hyperosmotic environments, having evolved strategies that are uncommon in other organisms. The HOG pathway is the master system that regulates the cellular adaptation under these conditions; nevertheless, apart from the importance of Debaryomyces hansenii as an organism representative of the halotolerant class, its HOG1 pathway has been poorly

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake.

Transcriptional reinduction memory is a phenomenon whereby cells “remember” their transcriptional response to a previous stimulus such that subsequent encounters with the same stimulus can result in altered gene expression kinetics. Chromatin structure is thought to play a role in certain transcriptional memory mechanisms, leading to questions as to whether and how memory can be actively maintained

In vivo transposon mutagenesis, coupled with deep sequencing, enables large-scale genome-wide mutant screens for genes essential in different growth conditions. We analyzed six large-scale studies performed on haploid strains of three yeast species (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccaromyces pombe, and Candida albicans), each mutagenized with two of three different heterologous transposons (AcDs

Homologous recombination is essential for the maintenance of genome integrity but must be strictly controlled to avoid dangerous outcomes that produce the opposite effect, genomic instability. During unperturbed chromosome replication, recombination is globally inhibited at ongoing DNA replication forks, which helps to prevent deleterious genomic rearrangements. This inhibition is carried out by Srs2

Boi1 and Boi2 are paralogous proteins essential for bud formation in budding yeast. So far, the domains that target Boi1/Boi2 to the polarity sites and function in bud formation are not well understood. Here, we report that a coiled-coil domain of Boi2 cooperates with the adjacent PH domain to confer Boi2’s bud-cortex localization and major function in cell growth. The PH domain portion of the PH-CC

During mitosis, the identical sister chromatids of each chromosome must attach through their kinetochores to microtubules emanating from opposite spindle poles. This process, referred to as chromosome biorientation, is essential for equal partitioning of the genetic information to the two daughter cells. Defects in chromosome biorientation can give rise to aneuploidy, a hallmark of cancer and genetic

Certain replication-blocking lesions can escape DNA repair and must be bypassed to prevent fork collapse and cell death. Budding yeast DNA-damage tolerance consists of translesion DNA synthesis (TLS) and template switch. TLS utilizes specialized DNA polymerases to insert nucleotides opposite the damage site, followed by extension, allowing continual replication in the presence of lesions on the template

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress potentially activates the unfolded protein response (UPR) and ER-associated protein degradation (ERAD) as quality-control mechanisms. During ERAD process, the ERAD adaptor protein Ubx2 serves as a bridging factor and transports the misfolded proteins from the ER to the cytosol for subsequent ubiquitylation and proteasomal degradation. Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic metal

Rice false smut caused by Villosiclava virens is one of the destructive diseases on panicles of rice. Sexual development of V. virens, controlled by mating-type locus, plays an important role in the prevalence of rice false smut and genetic diversity of the pathogen. However, how the mating-type genes mediate sexual development of the V. virens remains largely unknown. In this study, we characterized

The pheromone response and the high osmolarity glycerol (HOG) pathways are considered the prototypical MAPK signaling systems. They are the best-understood pathways in eukaryotic cells, yet they continue to provide insights in how cells relate with the environment. These systems are subjected to tight regulatory circuits to prevent hyperactivation in length and intensity. Failure to do this may be

Histone proteins regulate cellular factors’ accessibility to DNA, and histone dosage has previously been linked with DNA damage susceptibility and efficiency of DNA repair pathways. Surplus histones are known to impede the DNA repair process by interfering with the homologous recombination-mediated DNA repair in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Here, we discuss the recent finding of association of methyl

The incorporation of histone variants into nucleosomes has important functional consequences in all aspects of eukaryotic chromatin biology. H2A.Z is a conserved histone variant found in all eukaryotes from yeast to mammals. Recent studies in yeast have shed light on the questions of where and how nucleosomes containing this variant are situated at promoters and in relation to genes, and what its specificity

In eukaryotes, cellular RNAs are produced by three nuclear RNA polymerases (RNAPI, II, and III), which are multisubunit complexes. They share structural and functional features, although they are specialized in the synthesis of specific RNAs. RNAPII transcribes the vast majority of cellular RNAs, including mRNAs and a large number of noncoding RNAs. The structure of RNAPII is highly conserved in all

Defining the Rcs (Regulator of Capsule Synthesis) regulon in Enterobacteriaceae has been the major focus of several recent studies. The overall role of the Rcs system in Yersinia enterocolitica is largely unknown. Our previous study showed that RcsB inhibits motility, biofilm formation and c-di-GMP production by negatively regulating flhDC, hmsHFRS and hmsT expression. To identify other cellular functions

DNA double-strand break repair allows cells to survive both exogenous and endogenous insults to the genome. In yeast, the recombinases Rad51 and Rad52 are central to multiple forms of homology-dependent repair. Classically, Rad51 and Rad52 are thought to act cooperatively, with formation of the functional Rad51 nucleofilament facilitated by the mediator function of Rad52. Several studies have now identified

DNA polymerases sometimes stall during DNA replication at sites where DNA is damaged, or upon encounter with proteins or secondary structures of DNA. When that happens, the polymerase clamp PCNA can become modified with a single ubiquitin moiety at lysine 164, opening DNA Damage Tolerance (DDT) mechanisms that either repair or bypass the lesions. An alternative repair mechanism is the salvage recombination

The genetic analysis of large numbers of Saccharomyces cerevisiae × S. uvarum ("cevarum") and S. kudriavzevii × S. uvarum ("kudvarum") hybrids in our previous studies revealed that these species are isolated by a postzygotic double-sterility barrier. We proposed a model in which the first barrier is due to the abruption of the meiotic process by the failure of the chromosomes of the subgenomes to pair

Amyloids cause incurable diseases in humans and animals and regulate vital processes in bacteria and eukaryotes. Amyloid fibrils have unique properties, such as amazing resistance to a variety of agents, mechanical strength, and elasticity, and it is not surprising that in the course of evolution eukaryotes have learned to employ amyloid structures to regulate various vital processes. Proteins exhibiting

Saccharomyces cerevisiae adapts to oxidative, osmotic stress and nutrient deprivation through transcriptional changes, decreased proliferation, and entry into other developmental pathways such as pseudohyphal formation and sporulation. Inositol pyrophosphates are necessary for these cellular responses. Inositol pyrophosphates are molecules composed of the phosphorylated myo-inositol ring that carries

Structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC) complexes are ancient and conserved molecular machines that organize chromosomes in all domains of life. We propose that the principles of chromosome folding needed to accommodate DNA inside a cell in an accessible form will follow similar principles in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. However, the exact contributions of SMC complexes to bacterial chromosome organization

Carefully maintained and precisely inherited chromosomal DNA provides long-term genetic stability, but eukaryotic cells facing environmental challenges can benefit from the accumulation of less stable DNA species. Circular DNA molecules lacking centromeres segregate randomly or asymmetrically during cell division, following non-Mendelian inheritance patterns that result in high copy number instability

Pairing of homologous chromosomes is crucial for ensuring accurate segregation of chromosomes during meiosis. Molecular mechanisms of homologous chromosome pairing in meiosis have been extensively studied in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. In this organism, meiosis-specific noncoding RNA transcribed from specific genes accumulates at the respective gene loci, and chromosome-associated

Cohesin is a conserved, ring-shaped protein complex that topologically entraps DNA. This ability makes this member of the structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC) complex family a central hub of chromosome dynamics regulation. Besides its essential role in sister chromatid cohesion, cohesin shapes the interphase chromatin domain architecture and plays important roles in transcriptional regulation

Although cell division is usually portrayed as an equitable process by which a progenitor cell originates two identical daughter cells, there are multiple examples of asymmetric divisions that generate two cells that differ in their content, morphology and/or proliferative potential. The capacity of the cells to generate asymmetry during their division is of paramount biological relevance, playing

Nucleoside diphosphate kinase (NDK), a ubiquitous enzyme, catalyses reversible transfer of the γ phosphate from nucleoside triphosphates to nucleoside diphosphates and functions to maintain the pools of ribonucleotides and deoxyribonucleotides in the cell. As even a minor imbalance in the nucleotide pools can be mutagenic, NDK plays an antimutator role in maintaining genome integrity. However, the

The original publication of this paper unfortunately contained three errors in Figs. 2B and 3. In Fig. 2B, the TSS site must be counted as "+ 1" instead of "- 1". And we indicated wrong sequences in Fig. 3: the construct "Control" has a missing one "A" in the BCE sequence, and the reverse direction of BCE sequence in the construct "BCEr" must be "GCGGAGTTTCAATT", not "CGCCTCAAGTTAA". For the reasons

Three major eukaryotic DNA polymerases, Polymerases α, δ, and ε (Pols α, δ, and ε), perform the fundamental process of DNA synthesis at the replication fork both accurately and efficiently. In trying to understand the necessity and flexibility of the polymerase usage, we recently reported that budding yeast cells lacking Pol ε exonuclease and polymerase domains (pol2-16) survive, but have severe growth

Precise management of the spatiotemporal position of subcellular components is critical to a number of essential processes in the bacterial cell. The bacterial nucleoid is a highly structured yet dynamic object that undergoes significant reorganization during the relatively short cell cycle, e.g. during gene expression, chromosome replication, and segregation. Although the nucleoid takes up a large

The nucleosome is a small unit of chromatin, which is dynamic in eukaryotes. Chromatin conformation and post-translational modifications affect nucleosome dynamics under certain conditions, playing an important role in the epigenetic regulation of transcription, replication and reprogramming. The Snf2 remodeling family is one of the crucial remodeling complexes that tightly regulate chromatin structure

Verticillium dahliae, a soil-borne fungus, can invade plant vascular tissue and cause Verticillium wilt. The enzyme α-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase (OGDH), catalyzing the oxidation of α-oxoglutarate in the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA), is vital for energy metabolism in the fungi. Here, we identified the OGDH gene in V. dahliae (VdOGDH, VDAG_10018) and investigated its function in virulence by generating

PacC is a pH-responsive transcription factor gene highly expressed at alkaline pH and plays distinct roles in environmental fitness, conidiation and virulence of different fungi. Here, we show biological functions of orthologous MaPacC in the locust-specific fungal pathogen Metarhizium acridum. Disruption of MapacC slowed down the fungal growth only under alkaline conditions. Intriguingly, the fungal

SNAREs (soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptors) facilitate intracellular vesicle trafficking and membrane fusion in eukaryotic cells, and play a vital role in growth, development and pathogenicity of phytopathogens. Fusarium head blight (FHB) caused by F. graminearum is one of the most devastating diseases of wheat and barley worldwide. Sec22 is a member of the SNARE

Enoyl-CoA hydratase (Ech) is an important and well-recognized enzyme that functions in the degradation of fatty acids by β-oxidation. However, its functions in plant pathogenic fungi are not well known. We characterized an Ech1 orthologue, FgEch1, in Fusarium graminearum. The FgEch1 deletion mutant was defective in the utilization of short-chain fatty acids and conidiation, but not in hyphal growth

Pyricularia oryzae (synonym Magnaporthe oryzae) is a plant pathogen causing major yield losses in cultivated rice and wheat. The P-type ATPases play important roles in cellular processes of fungi, plants, and animals via transporting specific substrates through ATP hydrolysis. Here, we characterized the roles of a P5-ATPase, Spf1, in the development and virulence of P. oryzae. Deletion of SPF1 led

We discuss novel insight into the role and consequences of the phosphorylation of the translation initiation factor eIF2α in the context of stress responses and cell-cycle regulation. eIF2α is centrally located to regulate translation and its phosphorylation in response to different environmental challenges is one of the best characterized stress-response pathways. In addition to its role in stress

Forces generated by molecular motors and the cytoskeleton move the nucleus and genome during many cellular processes, including cell migration and division. How these forces impact the genome, and whether cells regulate cytoskeletal forces to preserve genome integrity is unclear. We recently demonstrated that, in budding yeast, mutants that stabilize the microtubule cytoskeleton cause excessive movement

Ustilaginoidea virens is an important fungus causing rice false smut, a devastating disease on spikelets of rice. In this study, we identified and characterized two CMGC (CDK/MAPK/GSK3/CLK) kinase genes, UvPmk1 and UvCDC2, in U. virens. Although UvPmk1 and UvCDC2 are, respectively, homologous to Fus3/Kss1 mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs), they all have a

Changes in gene expression via chromatin-mediated mechanisms are important for reprogramming and differentiation, but uncontrolled changes can potentially lead to harmful or adaptive phenotypic alteration. Thus, diversification of the genome-wide chromatin state must be strictly limited, but the underlying mechanism of this regulation is largely unknown. In this review, we focused on distribution of

Desiccation is a common stress that bacteria face in the natural environment, and thus, they have developed a variety of protective mechanisms to mitigate the damage caused by water loss. The formation of biofilms and the accumulation of trehalose and sporulation are well-known strategies used by bacteria to survive desiccation. Other mechanisms, including intrinsically disordered proteins and the

Kti12 (Kluyveromyces lactis toxin insensitive 12) is an evolutionary highly conserved ATPase, crucial for the tRNA-modification activity of the eukaryotic Elongator complex. The protein consists of an N-terminal ATPase and a C-terminal tRNA-binding domain, which are connected by a flexible linker. The precise role of the linker region and its involvement in the communication between the two domains

Sixteen eukaryotic DNA polymerases have been identified and studied so far. Based on the sequence similarity of the catalytic subunits of DNA polymerases, these have been classified into four A, B, X and Y families except PrimPol, which belongs to the AEP family. The quaternary structure of these polymerases also varies depending upon whether they are composed of one or more subunits. Therefore, in

Group I introns are mobile genetic elements that interrupt genes encoding proteins and RNAs. In the rRNA operon, introns can insert in the small subunit (SSU) and large subunit (LSU) of a wide variety of protists and various prokaryotes, but they were never found in the ITS region. In this study, unusually long ITS regions of fungi and closely related unicellular organisms (Polychytrium aggregatum

Condensation is a fundamental property of mitotic chromosomes in eukaryotic cells. However, analyzing chromosome condensation in yeast is a challenging task while existing methods have notable weaknesses. Second-harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy is a label-free, advanced imaging technique for measuring the surface curve of isotropic molecules such as chromatin in live cells. We applied this method

Chromosomes are constantly damaged by exogenous and endogenous factors. To cope with DNA damage, eukaryotic cells are equipped with three phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-related kinases (PIKKs), such as ATM, ATR, and DNA-PK. PIKKs are structurally related to phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (lipid kinase), however possess protein kinase activities. The Mre11-Rad50-Nbs1 and the Ku complex interact with and

Nutrient metabolism is regulated for adaptation to, for example, environmental alterations, cellular stress, cell cycle, and cellular ageing. This regulatory network consists of cross-talk between cytoplasmic organelles and the nucleus. The ras-like nuclear small G protein, Ran, functions in nuclear-cytosolic transport and regulatory signal transmission. In yeast, some genes involved in the Ran system

Slowing down aging-associated accumulation of molecular damage or its prevention represents a promising therapeutic paradigm to combat aging-related disease and death. While several chemical compounds extend lifespan in model organisms, their mechanism of action is often unknown, reducing their therapeutic potential. Using a systematic approach, here we characterize the impact of the GMP pathway on

It is now established that base-pairing regulatory RNAs are key players in post-transcriptional regulatory networks where they affect the translation and/or stability of their target RNAs. In many cases, the base-pairing between two RNAs is facilitated by an RNA-binding protein (RBP) that serves as an RNA chaperone. Recent advances in sequencing methods have revealed the RNA populations bound by the

Iron is essential for nearly all aerobic organisms. One source of iron in nature is in the form of heme. Due to its critical physiological importance as a cofactor for several enzymes, organisms have evolved various means to secure heme for their needs. In the case of heme prototrophs, these organisms possess a highly conserved eight-step biosynthetic pathway. Another means used by many organisms is

For long time, studies on ectomycorrhiza (ECM) have been limited by inefficient expression of fluorescent proteins (FPs) in the fungal partner. To convert this situation, we have evaluated the basic requirements of FP expression in the model ECM homobasidiomycete Laccaria bicolor and established eGFP and mCherry as functional FP markers. Comparison of intron-containing and intronless FP-expression

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative condition characterized by a gradual loss of a specific group of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Importantly, current treatments only address the symptoms of PD, yet not the underlying molecular causes. Concomitantly, the function of genes that cause inherited forms of PD point to mitochondrial dysfunction as a major contributor

Neurospora crassa is an excellent model fungus for studies on molecular genetics, biochemistry, physiology, and molecular cell biology. Along with the rapid progress of Neurospora research, new tools facilitating more efficient and accurate genetic analysis are in high demand. Here, we tested whether the dominant selective makers widely used in yeasts are applicable in N. crassa. Among them, we found

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the mitoribosomal RNA of the minor subunit, 15S rRNA, is transcribed as a bicistronic transcript along with tRNAW. 5′ and 3′ sequences flanking the mature transcript must be removed by cleavage at the respective junctions before incorporating it into the mitoribosome. An in vivo dose–response triphasic system was created to elucidate the role of Ccm1p in the processing

With the development of -omics approaches, the scientific community is now submerged by a wealth of information that can be used to analyze various parameters: the degree of protein sequence conservation, protein 3D structures as well as RNA and protein expression levels in various benign and tumor tissues, during organism development or upon exposure to chemicals such as endocrine disrupters. However

Pyricularia oryzae is the causal agent of blast disease on staple gramineous crops. Sulphur is an essential element for the biosynthesis of cysteine and methionine in fungi. Here, we targeted the P. oryzae PoMET3 encoding the enzyme ATP sulfurylase, and PoMET14 encoding the APS (adenosine-5′-phosphosulphate) kinase that are involved in sulfate assimilation and sulphur-containing amino acids biosynthesis

Proteasomes are highly abundant protein complexes that are responsible for most regulated protein degradation in cells under favorable growth conditions. When yeast cells are under nutritional stress, most proteasomes exit the nucleus and either accumulate in cytoplasmic condensates called proteasome storage granules (PSGs) or are directed to the vacuole by autophagy. Nitrogen starvation does not cause

Y-family DNA polymerases mediate DNA damage tolerance via translesion synthesis (TLS). Because of the intrinsically error-prone nature of these enzymes, their activities are regulated at several levels. Here, we demonstrate the common regulation of the cellular abundance of Y-family polymerases, polymerase eta (Pol eta), and Rev1, in response to DNA damage at various stages of the cell cycle. UV radiation

Gene expression using alternative transcription start sites (TSSs) is an important transcriptional regulatory mechanism for environmental responses in eukaryotes. Here, we identify two alternative TSSs in the enolase-encoding gene (enoA) in Aspergillus oryzae, an industrially important filamentous fungus. TSS use in enoA is strictly dependent on the difference in glycolytic and gluconeogenic carbon