RuX: A Novel, Flexible, and Sensitive Mifepristone-Induced Transcriptional Regulation System.

Inducible gene regulation methods are indispensable in diverse biological applications, yet many of them have severe limitations in their applicability. These include inducer toxicity, a limited variety of organisms the given system can be used in, and side effects of the induction method. In this study, a novel inducible system, the , was created using a mutant ligand-binding domain of the glucocorticoid receptor (CS1/CD), used together with various genetic elements such as the Gal4 DNA-binding domain or Cre recombinase.

3D cell segregation geometry and dynamics are governed by tissue surface tension regulation.

Tissue morphogenesis and patterning during development involve the segregation of cell types. Segregation is driven by differential tissue surface tensions generated by cell types through controlling cell-cell contact formation by regulating adhesion and actomyosin contractility-based cellular cortical tensions. We use vertebrate tissue cell types and zebrafish germ layer progenitors as in vitro models of 3-dimensional heterotypic segregation and developed a quantitative analysis of their dynamics based on 3D time-lapse microscopy.

Semisynthetic teicoplanin derivatives with dual antimicrobial activity against SARS-CoV-2 and multiresistant bacteria.

Patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 risk co-infection with Gram-positive bacteria, which severely affects their prognosis. Antimicrobial drugs with dual antiviral and antibacterial activity would be very useful in this setting. Although glycopeptide antibiotics are well-known as strong antibacterial drugs, some of them are also active against RNA viruses like SARS-CoV-2.

Natural Apocarotenoids and Their Synthetic Glycopeptide Conjugates Inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Replication.

The protracted global COVID-19 pandemic urges the development of new drugs against the causative agent SARS-CoV-2. The clinically used glycopeptide antibiotic, teicoplanin, emerged as a potential antiviral, and its efficacy was improved with lipophilic modifications. This prompted us to prepare new lipophilic apocarotenoid conjugates of teicoplanin, its pseudoaglycone and the related ristocetin aglycone.

Subcellular Dissection of a Simple Neural Circuit: Functional Domains of the Mauthner-Cell During Habituation.

Sensorimotor integration is a pivotal feature of the nervous system for ensuring a coordinated motor response to external stimuli. In essence, such neural circuits can optimize behavioral performance based on the saliency of environmental cues. In zebrafish, habituation of the acoustic startle response (ASR) is a simple behavior integrated into the startle command neurons, called the Mauthner cells.

Conserved Serotonergic Background of Experience-Dependent Behavioral Responsiveness in Zebrafish ().

Forming effective responses to threatening stimuli requires the adequate and coordinated emergence of stress-related internal states. Such ability depends on early-life experiences and, in connection, the adequate formation of neuromodulatory systems, particularly serotonergic signaling. Here, we assess the serotonergic background of experience-dependent behavioral responsiveness using male and female zebrafish ().

A versatile modular vector set for optimizing protein expression among bacterial, yeast, insect and mammalian hosts.

We have developed a unified, versatile vector set for expression of recombinant proteins, fit for use in any bacterial, yeast, insect or mammalian cell host. The advantage of this system is its versatility at the vector level, achieved by the introduction of a novel expression cassette. This cassette contains a unified multi-cloning site, affinity tags, protease cleavable linkers, an optional secretion signal, and common restriction endonuclease sites at key positions.

The swimming plus-maze test: a novel high-throughput model for assessment of anxiety-related behaviour in larval and juvenile zebrafish (Danio rerio).

Larval zebrafish (Danio rerio) has the potential to supplement rodent models due to the availability of resource-efficient, high-throughput screening and high-resolution imaging techniques. Although behavioural models are available in larvae, only a few can be employed to assess anxiety. Here we present the swimming plus-maze (SPM) test paradigm, a tool to assess anxiety-related avoidance of shallow water bodies in early developmental stages.

A highly soluble, non-phototoxic, non-fluorescent blebbistatin derivative.

Blebbistatin is a commonly used molecular tool for the specific inhibition of various myosin II isoforms both in vitro and in vivo. Despite its popularity, the use of blebbistatin is hindered by its poor water-solubility (below 10 micromolar in aqueous buffer) and blue-light sensitivity, resulting in the photoconversion of the molecule, causing severe cellular phototoxicity in addition to its cytotoxicity. Furthermore, blebbistatin forms insoluble aggregates in water-based media above 10 micromolar with extremely high fluorescence and also high adherence to different types of surfaces, which biases its experimental usage.

Full transcriptome analysis of early dorsoventral patterning in zebrafish.

Understanding the molecular interactions that lead to the establishment of the major body axes during embryogenesis is one of the main goals of developmental biology. Although the past two decades have revolutionized our knowledge about the genetic basis of these patterning processes, the list of genes involved in axis formation is unlikely to be complete. In order to identify new genes involved in the establishment of the dorsoventral (DV) axis during early stages of zebrafish embryonic development, we employed next generation sequencing for full transcriptome analysis of normal embryos and embryos lacking overt DV pattern.

Zebrafish genomics comes of age.

The ZF-HEALTH/EuFishBiomed workshop on "Genomics and High-throughput Sequencing Technologies with the Zebrafish Model" took place in December 2012 in Cambridge, United Kingdom. The organisers, Fiona Wardle and Ferenc Müller, brought together developmental biologists, geneticists, and bioinformaticians from Europe and the rest of the world to share findings and insights about the latest genomic capabilities and applications in this popular model organism.