Molecular Biology and Physiology
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyCNBP Homologues Gis2 and Znf9 Interact with a Putative G-Quadruplex-Forming 3′ Untranslated Region, Altering Polysome Association and Stress Tolerance in Cryptococcus neoformansStress adaptation is fundamental to the success of Cryptococcus neoformans as a human pathogen and requires a reprogramming of the translating pool of mRNA. This reprogramming begins with the regulated degradation of mRNAs encoding the translational machinery. The mechanism by which these mRNAs are specified has not been determined. This study has identified a cis...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyGlucose Transporters and Virulence in Leishmania mexicanaGlucose transport plays important roles for in vitro growth of insect-stage promastigotes and especially for viability of intramacrophage mammalian host-stage amastigotes of Leishmania mexicana. However, the roles of the three distinct glucose transporters, GT1, GT2, and GT3, in parasite viability inside macrophages and virulence in mice have not been fully...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyMultiple Evolutionarily Conserved Domains of Cap2 Are Required for Promoter Recruitment and Iron Homeostasis Gene RegulationIron is an essential micronutrient for living cells. Candida albicans, the predominant human fungal pathogen, thrives under diverse environments with vastly different iron levels in the mammalian host. Therefore, to tightly control iron homeostasis, C. albicans has evolved a set of transcriptional...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyThe Third Transmembrane Domain of EscR Is Critical for Function of the Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli Type III Secretion SystemMany Gram-negative bacterial pathogens that cause life-threatening diseases employ a type III secretion system (T3SS) for their virulence. The T3SS comprises several proteins that assemble into a syringe-like structure dedicated to the injection of bacterial virulence factors into the host cells. Although many T3SS proteins are transmembrane proteins, our knowledge of these proteins is limited mostly to their soluble domains. In this...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyUptake of l-Alanine and Its Distinct Roles in the Bioenergetics of Trypanosoma cruziIt is well known that trypanosomatids such as the etiological agent of Chagas’ disease, Trypanosoma cruzi, produce alanine as a main end product of their energy metabolism when they grow in a medium containing glucose and amino acids. In this work, we investigated if under starvation conditions (which happen during the parasite life cycle) the secreted alanine could...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyPhosphorylation of FtsZ and FtsA by a DNA Damage-Responsive Ser/Thr Protein Kinase Affects Their Functional Interactions in Deinococcus radioduransThe LexA/RecA-type SOS response is the only characterized mechanism of DNA damage response in bacteria. It regulates cell cycle by attenuating the functions of cell division protein FtsZ and inducing the expression of DNA repair proteins. There are bacteria, including Deinococcus radiodurans, that do not show this classical SOS response....
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyEvolution and Comparative Genomics of F33:A−:B− Plasmids Carrying blaCTX-M-55 or blaCTX-M-65 in Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae Isolated from Animals, Food Products, and Humans in ChinaWorldwide spread of antibiotic resistance genes among Enterobacteriaceae isolates is of great concern. F33:A−:B− plasmids are important vectors of resistance genes, such as blaCTX-M-55/-65, blaNDM-1, fosA3, and rmtB, among E. coli isolates from various sources in China. We determined and compared the...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyMntC-Dependent Manganese Transport Is Essential for Staphylococcus aureus Oxidative Stress Resistance and VirulenceWork outlined in this report demonstrated that MntC-dependent manganese transport is required for S. aureus virulence. These study results support the model that MntC-specific antibodies elicited by a vaccine have the potential to disrupt S. aureus manganese transport and thus abrogate to its...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyThe 5′ Untranslated Region of the EFG1 Transcript Promotes Its Translation To Regulate Hyphal Morphogenesis in Candida albicansMany of the virulence traits that make Candida albicans an important human fungal pathogen are regulated on a transcriptional level. Here, we report an important regulatory contribution of translation, which is exerted by the extensive 5′ untranslated regulatory sequence (5′ UTR) of the transcript for the protein Efg1, which determines growth, metabolism, and...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologySad1 Spatiotemporally Regulates Kinetochore Clustering To Ensure High-Fidelity Chromosome Segregation in the Human Fungal Pathogen Cryptococcus neoformansThe linker of nucleoskeleton and cytoskeleton (LINC) complex is present in fungi, animals, and plants. It performs diverse functions in animals, and its role(s) have recently been explored in plants. In ascomycetous yeast species, the role of the LINC complex in spindle pole body function and telomere clustering during meiosis has been determined. However, nothing is known about the LINC complex in the fungal phylum of Basidiomycota. In...