ERF114/115/109 are essential for jasmonate-repressed non-canonical JAZ8 activity in JA signaling by Jiaxuan Sui, Qianlan Yin, Yiying Chen, Min Sun, Xianzheng Yuan, Zhaojun Ding, Xiangpei Kong

“…We show that ERF114 positively regulates JA-induced transcriptional responses and that JA-promoted root hair growth is highly alleviated in erf114 mutants. Furthermore, the transcription of ERF114/115/109 is induced by JA in an MYC2-dependent manner, thus forming a positive feedback loop in JA signaling. …”
Get full text

Structural insights into how Cas9 targets nucleosomes by Reina Nagamura, Tomoya Kujirai, Junko Kato, Yutaro Shuto, Tsukasa Kusakizako, Hisato Hirano, Masaki Endo, Seiichi Toki, Hiroaki Saika, Hitoshi Kurumizaka, Osamu Nureki

“…The structure suggests interactions between Cas9 and nucleosomes at multiple sites. Mutants that reduce the interaction between nucleosomal DNA and Cas9 improve nucleosomal DNA cleavage activity in vitro, although inhibition by the interaction between Cas9 and nucleosomes is limited in vivo. …”
Get full text

Stress granules sequester autophagy proteins to facilitate plant recovery from heat stress by Xibao Li, Jun Liao, Ka Kit Chung, Lei Feng, Yanglan Liao, Zhixin Yang, Chuanliang Liu, Jun Zhou, Wenjin Shen, Hongbo Li, Chengwei Yang, Xiaohong Zhuang, Caiji Gao

“…Notably, autophagy activation is delayed in the SG-deficient (ubp1abc) mutants during the HS recovery phase, resulting in an insufficient clearance of ubiquitinated insoluble proteins that arise due to HS. …”
Get full text

Molecular characterization of siderophore biosynthesis in Paracoccidioides brasiliensis by Marielle Garcia Silva, Juliana Santana de Curcio, Mirelle Garcia Silva-Bailão, Raisa Melo Lima, Mariana Vieira Tomazett, Aparecido Ferreira de Souza, Vanessa Rafaela Milhomem Cruz-Leite, Nicolau Sbaraini, Alexandre Melo Bailão, Fernando Rodrigues, Maristela Pereira, Relber Aguiar Gonçales, Célia Maria de Almeida Soares

“…In order to support the importance of siderophores on Paracoccidioides sp. life and infection cycle, silenced mutants for the sidA gene were obtained by antisense RNA technology. …”
Get full text

SERT-Deficient Mice Fed Western Diet Reveal Altered Metabolic and Pro-Inflammatory Responses of the Liver: A Link to Abnormal Behaviors by Raymond Cespuglio, Anna Gorlova, Konstantin Zabegalov, Kirill Chaprov, Evgeniy Svirin, Kseniia Sitdikova, Alisa Burova, Boris Shulgin, Ksenia Lebedeva, Alexei V. Deikin, Sergey Morozov, Tatyana Strekalova

“…Results: In comparison to unchallenged mice, Sert-/-/WD mutants, but not the WT/WD group, had increased locomotion and anxiety-like behavior, increased hepatic steatosis, and elevated expression of insulin receptor B and pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-1β (Il-1β) and Tnf, as well as decreased expression of leptin receptor B. …”
Get full text

Establishing a CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing framework in pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L.) by targeting phytoene desaturase (PDS) gene disruption by Kameshwaran Senthil, Maniraj Rathinam, Manisha Parashar, Narasimham Dokka, Shaily Tyagi, Vandana Mathur, Sandhya Sharma, Kishor Gaikwad, Ramcharan Bhattacharya, Rohini Sreevathsa

“…Stability of the phenotype was demonstrated in T1 generation plants of in planta transformation-developed mutants. This system may support functional genomics studies and trait improvement in pigeonpea and other legumes.…”
Get full text

GmERF13 mediates salt inhibition of nodulation through interacting with GmLBD16a in soybean by Xinfang Zhu, Xifeng Yan, Weijun Li, Mengyue Zhang, Junchen Leng, Qianqian Yu, Like Liu, Dawei Xue, Dajian Zhang, Zhaojun Ding

“…Moreover, salt stress-inhibited nodule formation is greatly attenuated in GmERF13 loss-of-function mutants, whereas it becomes more pronounced when GmERF13 is overexpressed. …”
Get full text

Reverse mutational scanning of SARS-CoV-2 spike BA.2.86 identifies epitopes contributing to immune escape from polyclonal sera by Najat Bdeir, Tatjana Lüddecke, Henrike Maaß, Stefan Schmelz, Ulfert Rand, Henning Jacobsen, Kristin Metzdorf, Upasana Kulkarni, Anne Cossmann, Metodi V. Stankov, Markus Hoffmann, Stefan Pöhlmann, Wulf Blankenfeldt, Alexandra Dopfer-Jablonka, Georg M. N. Behrens, Luka Čičin-Šain

“…Here we generate 33 BA.2.86 mutants, each reverting a single mutation back to BA.2. …”
Get full text

Lowering the affinity of single-chain monovalent BBB shuttle scFc-scFv8D3 prolongs its half-life and increases brain concentration by Andrés de la Rosa, Nicole G. Metzendorf, Jonathan Efverström, Ana Godec, Dag Sehlin, Jamie Morrison, Greta Hultqvist

“…In the current study, a fine-tuning TfR affinity strategy has been employed to improve single-chain variable fragment (scFv) 8D3 (scFv8D3) affinity mutants. Initially, in silico protein-protein docking analysis was performed to identify amino acids (AAs) likely to contribute to 8D3s TfR binding affinity. …”
Get full text

Phytochrome-mediated shade avoidance responses impact the structure and composition of the bacterial phyllosphere microbiome of Arabidopsis by James A. O’Rourke, Stacey A. Vincent, Isabel E. I. Williams, Eleanor L. Gascoyne, Paul F. Devlin

“…A comparison of responses in both wild-type plants and phytochrome mutants, which inherently exhibit a shade-avoidance phenotype, revealed both indirect responses to host plant physiology and direct responses to light among the microbiota. …”
Get full text

Engineering a promiscuous prenyltransferase for selective biosynthesis of an undescribed bioactive cannabinoid analog by Qin Yan, Yue-Gui Chen, Xiao-Wen Yang, An Wang, Xiao-Ping He, Xue Tang, Hong Hu, Kai Guo, Zong-Hua Xiao, Yan Liu, Sheng-Hong Li

“…An efficient construct is established by incorporating an additional copy of AscC, resulting in a yield of 14.85 ± 0.91 mg/L of compound 4. Two mutants, L180Y and L180F, are engineered to selectively produce compound 4. …”
Get full text

G1 Cell Cycle Arrest Is Induced by the Fourth Extracellular Loop of Meningococcal PorA in Epithelial and Endothelial Cells by Matthew Vassey, Rininta Firdaus, Akhmed Aslam, Lee M. Wheldon, Neil J. Oldfield, Dlawer A. A. Ala’Aldeen, Karl G. Wooldridge

“…Using a circularized peptide corresponding to PorA-Loop4, as well as defined meningococcal mutants, we demonstrate that host cell interaction with PorA-Loop4 results in perturbation of p-CDK4 and Cyclin D1. …”
Get full text

The N-Terminal Domain of Y-Box Binding Protein-1 Induces Cell Cycle Arrest in G2/M Phase by Binding to Cyclin D1 by Payal Khandelwal, Mythili K. Padala, John Cox, Ramareddy V. Guntaka

“…The abnormalities seen in heterozygous mutants could be attributed to a dominant negative effect exerted by the disrupted YB-1 allele product. …”
Get full text

Establishment of a Breeding Approach Combined with Gamma Ray Irradiation and Tissue Regeneration for Highbush Blueberry by Xuan Yu, Haidi Yuan, Yihong Jin, Chuizheng Xia, Jiani Zhu, Jiali Che, Jiao Yang, Xiaofei Wang, Bingsong Zheng, Shufang Yang, Cristian Silvestri, Fuqiang Cui, Jianfang Zuo

“…The height of M1 plants quantitatively decreased with increasing irradiation doses. To evaluate the mutants induced by each irradiation dose, whole-genome resequencing was conducted on individuals from each dose group, revealing significant genomic alterations at the 80 Gy dose. …”
Get full text

Codeine 3-O-demethylase catalyzed biotransformation of morphinan alkaloids in Escherichia coli: site directed mutagenesis of terminal residues improves enzyme expression, stability... by Garrick W. K. Spencer, Xu Li, Kenny W. L. Lam, George Mutch, Fiona H. Fry, Sally L. Gras

“…Whole cell biotransformation performance was significantly improved in Escherichia coli expressing codeine 3-O-demethylase mutants, with a ~ 2.8-fold increase in the production of oripavine from thebaine and ~ 1.3-fold increase in the production of morphine from codeine. …”
Get full text

MicroRNA-3145 as a potential therapeutic target for hepatitis B virus: inhibition of viral replication via downregulation of HBS and HBX by Amrizal Muchtar, Amrizal Muchtar, Daichi Onomura, Daichi Onomura, Dan Ding, Dan Ding, Hironori Nishitsuji, Kunitada Shimotohno, Shunpei Okada, Keiji Ueda, Koichi Watashi, Takaji Wakita, Kei Iida, Kei Iida, Hironori Yoshiyama, Hisashi Iizasa

“…Current treatments for hepatitis B virus (HBV), such as interferons and nucleic acid analogs, have limitations due to side effects like depression and the development of drug-resistant mutants, highlighting the need for new therapeutic approaches. …”
Get full text

Carbonic anhydrase 2-derived drug-responsive domain regulates membrane-bound cytokine expression and function in engineered T cells by Mara C. Inniss, Sean G. Smith, Dan Jun Li, Benjamin Primack, Dexue Sun, Grace Y. Olinger, Kerri-Lynn Sheahan, Theresa Ross, Meghan Langley, Violet Young, Andres Alvarado, Shabnam Davoodi, Jiefei Geng, Michael Schebesta, Michelle L. Ols, Jeremy Tchaicha, Jan ter Meulen, Dhruv K. Sethi

“…We develop conditional degrons using library-based screening of mutants and show characterization of one DRD using crystallography and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. …”
Get full text

Replication-IDentifier links epigenetic and metabolic pathways to the replication stress response by Sophie C. van der Horst, Leonie Kollenstart, Amandine Batté, Sander Keizer, Kees Vreeken, Praveen Pandey, Andrei Chabes, Haico van Attikum

“…During Repli-ID, the replicative polymerase epsilon (Pol ε) is tracked at a barcoded origin of replication by chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) coupled to next-generation sequencing of the barcode in thousands of hydroxyurea-treated yeast mutants. Using this approach, 423 genes that promote Pol ε binding at replication forks were uncovered, including LGE1 and ROX1. …”
Get full text

The circadian clock gene period regulates the composition and daily bacterial load of the gut microbiome in Drosophila melanogaster by Matteo Battistolli, Irene Varponi, Ottavia Romoli, Federica Sandrelli

“…In 12:12 LD and DD conditions, per 01 mutants showed significant daily variations in gut bacterial quantity, unlike wild-type flies. …”
Get full text

Epithelial cells detect functional type III secretion system of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli through a novel NF-κB signaling pathway. by Yael Litvak, Shir Sharon, Meirav Hyams, Li Zhang, Simi Kobi, Naama Katsowich, Shira Dishon, Gabriel Nussbaum, Na Dong, Feng Shao, Ilan Rosenshine

“…Accordingly, this NF-κB activation is evident only in cells infected with EPEC mutants deleted of nleB, nleC, and nleE. The TTSS-dependent NF-κB activation involves a unique pathway, which is independent of TLRs and Nod1/2 and converges with other pathways at the level of TAK1 activation. …”
Get full text