Molecular Biology and Physiology
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyUnique, Diverged, and Conserved Mitochondrial Functions Influencing Candida albicans RespirationCandida albicans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen of major clinical concern. The virulence of this pathogen is intimately intertwined with its metabolic behavior, and mitochondria have a central role in that metabolism. Mitochondria have undergone many evolutionary changes, which include lineage-specific adaptations in association with their eukaryotic host. Seven...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyDNA-Membrane Anchor Facilitates Efficient Chromosome Translocation at a Distance in Bacillus subtilisTo properly segregate their chromosomes, organisms tightly regulate the organization and dynamics of their DNA. Aspects of the process by which DNA is translocated during sporulation are not yet fully understood, such as what factors indirectly influence the activity of the motor protein SpoIIIE. In this work, we have shown that a DNA-membrane tether mediated by RacA contributes to the activity of SpoIIIE. Loss of RacA nearly doubles...
Editor's Pick Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyCharacterization of the Streptomyces coelicolor Glycoproteome Reveals Glycoproteins Important for Cell Wall BiogenesisIn prokaryotes, the role of protein glycosylation is poorly understood due to our limited understanding of their glycoproteomes. In some Actinobacteria, defects in protein O-glycosylation have been shown to retard growth and result in hypersensitivity to cell wall-targeting antibiotics, suggesting that this modification is important for maintaining cell wall structure. Here, we have characterized the glycoproteome in...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologySerine-Threonine Kinases Encoded by Split hipA Homologs Inhibit Tryptophanyl-tRNA SynthetaseBacterial toxin-antitoxin (TA) modules confer multidrug tolerance (persistence) that may contribute to the recalcitrance of chronic and recurrent infections. The first high-persister gene identified was hipA of Escherichia coli strain K-12, which encodes a kinase that inhibits glutamyl-tRNA synthetase. The hipA gene encodes the toxin of the hipBA...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyThe Lipid A 1-Phosphatase, LpxE, Functionally Connects Multiple Layers of Bacterial Envelope BiogenesisDephosphorylation of the lipid A 1-phosphate by LpxE in Gram-negative bacteria plays important roles in antibiotic resistance, bacterial virulence, and modulation of the host immune system. Our results demonstrate that in addition to removing the 1-phosphate from lipid A, LpxEs also dephosphorylate undecaprenyl pyrophosphate, an important metabolite for the synthesis of the essential envelope components, peptidoglycan and O-antigen....
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyIntegration of Fungus-Specific CandA-C1 into a Trimeric CandA Complex Allowed Splitting of the Gene for the Conserved Receptor Exchange Factor of CullinA E3 Ubiquitin Ligases in AspergilliAspergillus species are important for biotechnological applications, like the production of citric acid or antibacterial agents. Aspergilli can cause food contamination or invasive aspergillosis to immunocompromised humans or animals. Specific treatment is difficult due to limited drug targets and emerging resistances. The CandA complex regulates, as a receptor...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyTad Pili Play a Dynamic Role in Caulobacter crescentus Surface ColonizationBacteria are able to colonize surfaces in environmental, industrial, and medical settings, where they form resilient communities called biofilms. In order to control bacterial surface colonization, microbiologists need to gain a detailed understanding of the processes that bacteria use to live at the liquid-surface interface and that allow them to adhere to and move on surfaces and eventually grow and persist on solid media. To...
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...