Molecular Biology and Physiology
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyStructure and Properties of a Natural Competence-Associated Pilin Suggest a Unique Pilus Tip-Associated DNA ReceptorThermus thermophilus is a thermophilic bacterium which is capable of natural transformation, the uptake of external DNA with high efficiency. DNA uptake is thought to be mediated by a competence-associated pilus, which binds the DNA substrate and mediates its transfer across the outer membrane and periplasm. Here, we describe the structural and functional analysis of...
Letter to the Editor | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyReanalysis of Proteomics Results Fails To Detect MazF-Mediated Stress Proteins
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyEvidence that Ergosterol Biosynthesis Modulates Activity of the Pdr1 Transcription Factor in Candida glabrataA likely contributor to the increased incidence of non-albicans candidemias involving Candida glabrata is the ease with which this yeast acquires azole resistance, in large part due to induction of the ATP-binding cassette transporter-encoding gene CDR1. Azole drugs lead to induction of Pdr1 transactivation, with a central model being that this...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyExtensive Epitranscriptomic Methylation of A and C Residues on Murine Leukemia Virus Transcripts Enhances Viral Gene ExpressionThe data presented in the present study demonstrate that MLV RNAs bear an exceptionally high level of the epitranscriptomic modifications m6A, m5C, and Nm, suggesting that these each facilitate some aspect of the viral replication cycle. Consistent with this hypothesis, we demonstrate that mutational removal of a subset of these m6A or m5C modifications from MLV transcripts inhibits MLV...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyEvolution of Superinfection Immunity in Cluster A MycobacteriophagesMany aspects regarding superinfection, immunity, virulence, and the evolution of immune specificities are poorly understood due to the lack of large collections of isolated and sequenced phages with a spectrum of genetic diversity. Using a genetically diverse collection of Cluster A phages, we show that the classical and relatively straightforward patterns of homoimmunity, heteroimmunity, and virulence result from interactions between...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyRegulatory Mechanism of Nicotine Degradation in Pseudomonas putidaWe report the entire process underlying the NicR2 regulatory mechanism from association between free NicR2 and two promoters to dissociation of the NicR2-promoter complex. NicR2 can bind to another promoter, Pspm, which controls expression of nicotine-degrading genes that are not controlled by the Phsp promoter. We identified specific nucleotides of the Pspm promoter responsible for NicR2 binding. HSP was...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyVibrio cholerae CsrA Directly Regulates varA To Increase Expression of the Three Nonredundant Csr Small RNAsVibrio cholerae is a major human pathogen, causing epidemics and pandemics of cholera. V. cholerae persists in the aquatic environment, providing a constant source for human infection. Success in transitioning from the environment to the human host and back requires the bacterium to rapidly respond...
Letter to the Editor | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyConcerns about “Stress-Induced MazF-Mediated Proteins in Escherichia coli”
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyStress-Induced Changes in the Lipid Microenvironment of β-(1,3)-d-Glucan Synthase Cause Clinically Important Echinocandin Resistance in Aspergillus fumigatusResistance to first-line triazole antifungal agents among Aspergillus species has prompted the use of second-line therapy with echinocandins. As the number of Aspergillus-infected patients treated with echinocandins is rising, clinical observations of drug resistance are also increasing, indicating an emerging global health threat. Our knowledge regarding the development of clinical echinocandin resistance is largely...
Author Reply | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyReply to Wade and Laub, ‘Concerns about “Stress-Induced MazF-Mediated Proteins in Escherichia coli”’