Neuregulin 4 Downregulation Alters Mitochondrial Morphology and Induces Oxidative Stress in 3T3-L1 Adipocytes.

Neuregulin 4 (Nrg4) is an adipokine that belongs to the epidermal growth factor family and binds to ErbB4 tyrosine kinase receptors. In 3T3-L1 adipocytes, the downregulation of expression enhances inflammation and autophagy, resulting in insulin resistance. Here, we searched for the causes of this phenotype.

Chromosome level assemblies of Nakaseomyces (Candida) bracarensis uncover two distinct clades and define its adhesin repertoire.

Background: The Nakaseomyces clade is formed by at least nine described species among which three can be pathogenic to humans, namely Nakaseomyces glabratus (Candida glabrata), the second most-common cause of candidiasis worldwide, and two rarer emerging pathogens: Nakaseomyces (Candida) nivarensis and Nakaseomyces (Candida) bracarensis. Early comparative genomics analyses identified parallel expansions of subtelomeric adhesin genes in N. glabratus and N.

Threats from the complex: the surge of multidrug resistance and a hotbed for new emerging pathogens.

SUMMARY is a common agent of candidiasis that has gained increased attention in recent years, culminating with its recent consideration as a high-priority fungal pathogen by the World Health Organization. Reasons for this classification are the recent surge in incidence and the alarmingly growing rates of drug and multidrug resistance. In addition, several closely related species such as and may represent recently emerged opportunistic pathogens originated from environmental niches through interspecies hybridization.

Descriptors for Electrochemical CO Reduction in Imidazolium-Based Electrolytes.

Electrochemical CO reduction (COR) allows us to close the carbon cycle and store intermittent renewable energy into chemical products. Among these, syngas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, is particularly valuable due to its high market share and the low energy required for its electrocatalytic production. In addition to catalyst optimization, lately, electrolyte modifications to achieve a suitable CO/H ratio have also been considered.

Probing plexciton emission from 2D materials on gold nanotrenches.

Probing strongly coupled quasiparticle excitations at their intrinsic length scales offers unique insights into their properties and facilitates the design of devices with novel functionalities. In this work, we investigate the formation and emission characteristics of plexcitons, arising from the interaction between surface plasmons in narrow gold nanotrenches and excitons in monolayer WSe. We study this strong plasmon-exciton coupling in both the far-field and the near-field.

The Drosophila RNA binding protein Hrp48 binds a specific RNA sequence of the msl-2 mRNA 3' UTR to regulate translation.

Repression of msl-2 mRNA translation is essential for viability of Drosophila melanogaster females to prevent hypertranscription of both X chromosomes. This translational control event is coordinated by the female-specific protein Sex-lethal (Sxl) which recruits the RNA binding proteins Unr and Hrp48 to the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of the msl-2 transcript and represses translation initiation. The mechanism exerted by Hrp48 during translation repression and its interaction with msl-2 are not well understood.

Dynamic rRNA modifications as a source of ribosome heterogeneity.

Ribosomal RNAs (rRNA) are the most abundant RNA molecules in almost all cell types. The general consensus in the field is that rRNA modifications are largely species-specific, with most previous works and databases solely stratifying modifications by the species of origin, without taking other levels of complexity into account. However, new evidence has emerged suggesting dynamic rRNA modifications may have additional layers of complexity and might play an important role in development and disease.

Transcriptome-wide splicing network reveals specialized regulatory functions of the core spliceosome.

The spliceosome is the complex molecular machinery that sequentially assembles on eukaryotic messenger RNA precursors to remove introns (pre-mRNA splicing), a physiologically regulated process altered in numerous pathologies. We report transcriptome-wide analyses upon systematic knock down of 305 spliceosome components and regulators in human cancer cells and the reconstruction of functional splicing factor networks that govern different classes of alternative splicing decisions. The results disentangle intricate circuits of splicing factor cross-regulation, reveal that the precise architecture of late-assembling U4/U6.

Plant plasmodesmata bridges form through ER-dependent incomplete cytokinesis.

Diverging from conventional cell division models, plant cells undergo incomplete division to generate plasmodesmata communication bridges between daughter cells. Although fundamental for plant multicellularity, the molecular events leading to bridge stabilization, as opposed to severing, remain unknown. Using electron tomography, we mapped the transition from cell plate fenestrae to plasmodesmata.

Analyzing sex imbalance in EGA and dbGaP biological databases: Recommendations for better practices.

Precision medicine aims at tailoring treatments to individual patient's characteristics. In this regard, recognizing the significance of sex and gender becomes indispensable for meeting the distinct healthcare needs of diverse populations. To this end, continuing a trend of improving data quality observed since 2014, the European Genome-phenome Archive (EGA) established a policy in 2018 that mandates data providers to declare the sex of donor samples, aiming to enhance data accuracy and prevent imbalance in sex classification.

Opening the species box: what parsimonious microscopic models of speciation have to say about macroevolution.

In the last two decades, lineage-based models of diversification, where species are viewed as particles that can divide (speciate) or die (become extinct) at rates depending on some evolving trait, have been very popular tools to study macroevolutionary processes. Here, we argue that this approach cannot be used to break down the inner workings of species diversification and that "opening the species box" is necessary to understand the causes of macroevolution, but that too detailed speciation models also fail to make robust macroevolutionary predictions. We set up a general framework for parsimonious models of speciation that rely on a minimal number of mechanistic principles: (a) reproductive isolation is caused by excessive dissimilarity between genotypes; (b) dissimilarity results from a balance between differentiation processes and homogenizing processes; and (c) dissimilarity can feed back on these processes by decelerating homogenization.

hu.MAP3.0: Atlas of human protein complexes by integration of > 25,000 proteomic experiments.

Macromolecular protein complexes carry out most functions in the cell including essential functions required for cell survival. Unfortunately, we lack the subunit composition for all human protein complexes. To address this gap we integrated >25,000 mass spectrometry experiments using a machine learning approach to identify > 15,000 human protein complexes.

Reconstructing the sequence specificities of RNA-binding proteins across eukaryotes.

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are key regulators of gene expression. Here, we introduce EuPRI (Eukaryotic Protein-RNA Interactions) - a freely available resource of RNA motifs for 34,736 RBPs from 690 eukaryotes. EuPRI includes binding data for 504 RBPs, including newly collected RNAcompete data for 174 RBPs, along with thousands of reconstructed motifs.

Quantification of Histone H1 Subtypes Using Targeted Proteomics.

Histone H1 is involved in the regulation of chromatin structure. Human somatic cells express up to seven subtypes. The variability in the proportions of somatic H1s (H1 complement) is one piece of evidence supporting their functional specificity.