Molecular Biology and Physiology
- Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyGlobal Screening of Genomic and Transcriptomic Factors Associated with Phenotype Differences between Multidrug-Resistant and -Susceptible Candida haemulonii Strains
A comprehensive, multi-omic survey was performed to disclose the genetic backgrounds and differences between multidrug-resistant and -susceptible C. haemulonii strains. Genes were identified with mutations or significant expression differences in multidrug-resistant compared to multidrug-susceptible strains, which were mainly involved in multidrug resistance, stress...
- Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyGenomewide and Enzymatic Analysis Reveals Efficient d-Galacturonic Acid Metabolism in the Basidiomycete Yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides
The switch from the traditional fossil-based industry to a green and sustainable bioeconomy demands the complete utilization of renewable feedstocks. Many currently used bioconversion hosts are unable to utilize major components of plant biomass, warranting the identification of microorganisms with broader catabolic capacity and characterization of their unique biochemical pathways. d-Galacturonic acid is a plant...
- Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyRegulation of AmpC-Driven β-Lactam Resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: Different Pathways, Different Signaling
The extensive use of β-lactam antibiotics and the bacterial adaptive capacity have led to the apparently unstoppable increase of antimicrobial resistance, one of the current major global health challenges. In the leading nosocomial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the mutation-driven AmpC β-lactamase hyperproduction stands out as the main resistance mechanism, but the...
- Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyConditional Hfq Association with Small Noncoding RNAs in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Revealed through Comparative UV Cross-Linking Immunoprecipitation Followed by High-Throughput Sequencing
The Gram-negative bacterium P. aeruginosa is ubiquitously distributed in diverse environments and can cause severe biofilm-related infections in at-risk individuals. Although the presence of a large number of putative sRNAs and widely conserved RNA chaperones in this bacterium implies the importance of posttranscriptional regulatory networks for environmental...
- Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyChemogenomic Screen for Imipenem Resistance in Gram-Negative Bacteria
Gram-negative carbapenem-resistant bacteria are a major threat to global health. The use of genome-wide screening approaches to probe for genes or mutations enabling resistance can lead to identification of molecular markers for diagnostics applications. We describe an approach called Mut-Seq that couples chemical mutagenesis and next-generation sequencing for studying resistance to imipenem in the Gram-negative bacteria...
- Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyMetabolic Modeling of Streptococcus mutans Reveals Complex Nutrient Requirements of an Oral Pathogen
Tooth decay is the most prevalent chronic disease in the United States. Decay is caused by the bacterium Streptococcus mutans, an oral pathogen that ferments sugars into tooth-destroying lactic acid. We constructed a complete metabolic model of S. mutans to systematically investigate how the...
- Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyGenomewide Analysis of Mode of Action of the S-Adenosylmethionine Analogue Sinefungin in Leishmania infantum
The two main cellular metabolic one-carbon donors are reduced folates and S-adenosylmethionine, whose biosynthetic pathways have proven highly effective in chemotherapeutic interventions in various cell types. Sinefungin, a nucleoside analogue of S-adenosylmethionine, was shown to have potent activity against the protozoan parasite Leishmania. Here, we studied resistance to sinefungin using whole-genome...
- Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyConserved Central Intraviral Protein Interactome of the Herpesviridae Family
Herpesviruses are an important socioeconomic burden for both humans and livestock. Throughout their long evolutionary history, individual herpesvirus species have developed remarkable host specificity, while collectively the Herpesviridae family has evolved to infect a large variety of eukaryotic hosts. The development of approaches to fight herpesvirus infections has been hampered by the complexity of herpesviruses’ genomes,...
- Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyComplex Responses to Hydrogen Peroxide and Hypochlorous Acid by the Probiotic Bacterium Lactobacillus reuteri
Reactive oxidants, including hydrogen peroxide and hypochlorous acid, are antimicrobial compounds produced by the immune system during inflammation. Little is known, however, about how many important types of bacteria present in the human microbiome respond to these oxidants, especially commensal and other health-associated species. We have now mapped the stress response to both H2O2 and HOCl in the intestinal...
- Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologySulfur Assimilation Alters Flagellar Function and Modulates the Gene Expression Landscape of Serratia marcescens
Serratia marcescens is a versatile bacterial species that inhabits diverse environmental niches and is capable of pathogenic interactions with host organisms ranging from insects to humans. This report demonstrates for the first time the extensive impacts that environmental sulfate availability and cysteine biosynthesis have on the transcriptome of...