Control of asparagine homeostasis in : identification of promiscuous amino acid importers and exporters.

The Gram-positive model bacterium is able to import all proteinogenic amino acids from the environment as well as to synthesize them. However, the players involved in the acquisition of asparagine have not yet been identified for this bacterium. In this work, we used d-asparagine as a toxic analog of l-asparagine to identify asparagine transporters.

Short-term modulation of the lesioned language network.

Language is sustained by large-scale networks in the human brain. Stroke often severely affects function and network dynamics. However, the adaptive potential of the brain to compensate for lesions is poorly understood.

Dynamics of language reorganization after left temporo-parietal and frontal stroke.

The loss and recovery of language functions are still incompletely understood. This longitudinal functional MRI study investigated the neural mechanisms underlying language recovery in patients with post-stroke aphasia putting particular emphasis on the impact of lesion site. To identify patterns of language-related activation, an auditory functional MRI sentence comprehension paradigm was administered to patients with circumscribed lesions of either left frontal (n = 17) or temporo-parietal (n = 17) cortex.

Rapid short-term reorganization in the language network.

The adaptive potential of the language network to compensate for lesions remains elusive. We show that perturbation of a semantic region in the healthy brain induced suppression of activity in a large semantic network and upregulation of neighbouring phonological areas. After perturbation, the disrupted area increased its inhibitory influence on another semantic key node.

Fronto-temporal interactions are functionally relevant for semantic control in language processing.

Semantic cognition, i.e. processing of meaning is based on semantic representations and their controlled retrieval.