Molecular Biology and Physiology
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyHigh Osmolarity Modulates Bacterial Cell Size through Reducing Initiation Volume in Escherichia coliBacterial cell size depends on growth rate, cell cycle progression, and the cell volume per origin upon initiating chromosome replication (initiation volume). Here, we perform the first systematic and quantitative study of the effect of hyperosmotic stress on the E. coli cell size and cell cycle. We find that hyperosmotic stress significantly reduces the initiation...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyNewly Identified Nucleoid-Associated-Like Protein YlxR Regulates Metabolic Gene Expression in Bacillus subtilisExpression of genes encoding NAPs is often temporally regulated. According to results from single-cell analysis, the ylxR gene is induced by glucose and expressed in a bistable mode. These characteristics have not previously been reported for NAP gene expression. Transcriptional profiling of the ylxR disruptant revealed a change in the expression levels of approximately 400 genes, including genes for synthesis of 12...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyFunctional Mapping of Transcription Factor Grf10 That Regulates Adenine-Responsive and Filamentation Genes in Candida albicansMetabolic adaptation and morphogenesis are essential for Candida albicans, a major human fungal pathogen, to survive and infect diverse body sites in the mammalian host. C. albicans utilizes transcription factors to tightly control the transcription of metabolic genes and morphogenesis genes. Grf10...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyPhenotypic Variation in the Group A Streptococcus Due to Natural Mutation of the Accessory Protein-Encoding Gene rocAThis study investigates the regulatory and phenotypic consequences of a naturally occurring mutation in a strain of the bacterial pathogen the group A Streptococcus (Streptococcus pyogenes). We show that this mutation, which occurs in a regulator-encoding gene, rocA, leads to altered virulence factor expression and reduces the ability of this isolate...
Editor's Pick Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyPathways of Pathogenicity: Transcriptional Stages of Germination in the Fatal Fungal Pathogen Rhizopus delemarGermination is key to the growth of many organisms, including fungal spores. Mucormycete spores exist abundantly within the environment and germinate to form hyphae. These spores are capable of infecting immunocompromised individuals, causing the disease mucormycosis. Germination from spore to hyphae within patients leads to angioinvasion, tissue necrosis, and often fatal infections. This study advances our understanding of how spore...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyMinicells as a Damage Disposal Mechanism in Escherichia coliBacteria have the ability to produce minicells, or small spherical versions of themselves that lack chromosomal DNA and are unable to replicate. A minicell can constitute as much as 20% of the cell’s volume. Although molecular biology and biotechnology have used minicells as laboratory tools for several decades, it is still puzzling that bacteria should produce such costly but potentially nonfunctional structures. Here, we show that...
Resource Report | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyA High-Throughput Candida albicans Two-Hybrid SystemCandida albicans is a major fungal pathogen, and due to the rise of fungal infections and emerging resistance to the limited antifungals available, it is important to develop novel and more specific antifungals. Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) can be applied as very specific drug targets. However, because of the aberrant codon usage of...
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...