Obtaining source material for cellular agriculture.

Cellular Agriculture (CellAg) is an attractive concept for innovative technology with the intent to provide food and nutrition complementary to existing supply streams. The past decade has seen considerable progress in the field with advancement of cellular technology that delivers the initial building blocks for meaningful implementation. The availability of natural cell-based material that can serve as nutrient-filled source for human consumption at low cost is a critical challenge for the emerging cellular agriculture industry.

Immunity-related GTPase IRGM at the intersection of autophagy, inflammation, and tumorigenesis.

The human immunity-related GTPase M (IRGM) is a GTP-binding protein that regulates selective autophagy including xenophagy and mitophagy. IRGM impacts autophagy by (1) affecting mitochondrial fusion and fission, (2) promoting the co-assembly of ULK1 and Beclin 1, (3) enhancing Beclin 1 interacting partners (AMBRA1, ATG14L1, and UVRAG), (4) interacting with other key proteins (ATG16L1, p62, NOD2, cGAS, TLR3, and RIG-I), and (5) regulating lysosomal biogenesis. IRGM also negatively regulates NLRP3 inflammasome formation and therefore, maturation of the important pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-1β, impacting inflammation and pyroptosis.