transcriptional regulation
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyNuclear Factor Y (NF-Y) Modulates Encystation in Entamoeba via Stage-Specific Expression of the NF-YB and NF-YC SubunitsThe human parasite Entamoeba histolytica is an important pathogen with significant global impact and is a leading cause of parasitic death in humans. Since only the cyst form can be transmitted, blocking encystation would prevent new infections, making the encystation pathway an attractive target for the development of new drugs. Identification of the genetic signals...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyEnterococcus faecalis Encodes an Atypical Auxiliary Acyl Carrier Protein Required for Efficient Regulation of Fatty Acid Synthesis by Exogenous Fatty Acids...AcpB homologs are encoded by many, but not all, lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillales), including many members of the human microbiome. The mechanisms regulating fatty acid synthesis by exogenous fatty acids play a key role in resistance of these bacteria to those antimicrobials targeted at fatty acid synthesis enzymes. Defective regulation can increase resistance to such inhibitors and also reduce pathogenesis.
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyAtrR Is an Essential Determinant of Azole Resistance in Aspergillus fumigatusAspergillus fumigatus is the major filamentous fungal pathogen in humans. Infections associated with A. fumigatus are often treated with azole drugs, but resistance to these antifungal agents is increasing. Mortality from aspergillosis associated with azole-resistant fungi is extremely high....
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyBldC Delays Entry into Development To Produce a Sustained Period of Vegetative Growth in Streptomyces venezuelaeUnderstanding the mechanisms that drive bacterial morphogenesis depends on the dissection of the regulatory networks that underpin the cell biological processes involved. Recently, Streptomyces venezuelae has emerged as an attractive model system for the study of morphological differentiation in Streptomyces. This has led to significant progress in...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyPAS Domain Protein Pas3 Interacts with the Chromatin Modifier Bre1 in Regulating Cryptococcal MorphogenesisFor the ubiquitous environmental pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans, the morphological transition from yeast to filament confers resistance to natural predators like soil amoeba and is an integral differentiation event to produce infectious spores. Interestingly, filamentation is immuno-stimulatory and attenuates cryptococcal virulence in a mammalian host. Consistently...
- Research ArticleDefining the DNA Binding Site Recognized by the Fission Yeast Zn2Cys6 Transcription Factor Pho7 and Its Role in Phosphate Homeostasis
Fungi respond to phosphate starvation by inducing the transcription of a set of phosphate acquisition genes that comprise a phosphate regulon. Pho7, a member of the Zn2Cys6 family of fungal transcription regulators, is the central player in the phosphate starvation response in fission yeast. The present study identifies a 12-nucleotide Pho7 DNA binding motif [5′-TCG(G/C)(A/T)xxTTxAA] in the promoters of phosphate-...
- Editor's Pick Research ArticleAlternative Evolutionary Pathways for Drug-Resistant Small Colony Variant Mutants in Staphylococcus aureus
Small colony variants (SCVs) of Staphylococcus aureus are a significant clinical problem, causing persistent and antibiotic-resistant infections. However, SCVs are unstable and can rapidly evolve growth-compensated mutants. Previous data suggested that growth compensation only occurred with the loss of antibiotic resistance. We have used selection with serial passaging to uncover four distinct pathways of growth compensation...
- Research ArticleA Herpesviral Immediate Early Protein Promotes Transcription Elongation of Viral Transcripts
HSV-1 interacts with many cellular proteins throughout productive infection. Here, we demonstrate the interaction of a viral protein, ICP22, with a subset of cellular proteins known to be involved in transcription elongation. We determined that ICP22 is required to recruit the FACT complex and other transcription elongation factors to viral genomes and that in the absence of ICP22 viral transcription is globally reduced late in...