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Tetz V, Tetz G. Novel prokaryotic system employing previously unknown nucleic acids-based receptors. Microb Cell Fact 2022; 21:202. [PMID: 36195904 PMCID: PMC9531389 DOI: 10.1186/s12934-022-01923-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2022] [Accepted: 09/16/2022] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
The present study describes a previously unknown universal system that orchestrates the interaction of bacteria with the environment, named the Teazeled receptor system (TR-system). The identical system was recently discovered within eukaryotes. The system includes DNA- and RNA-based molecules named "TezRs", that form receptor's network located outside the membrane, as well as reverse transcriptases and integrases. TR-system takes part in the control of all major aspects of bacterial behavior, such as intra cellular communication, growth, biofilm formation and dispersal, utilization of nutrients including xenobiotics, virulence, chemo- and magnetoreception, response to external factors (e.g., temperature, UV, light and gas content), mutation events, phage-host interaction, and DNA recombination activity. Additionally, it supervises the function of other receptor-mediated signaling pathways. Importantly, the TR-system is responsible for the formation and maintenance of cell memory to preceding cellular events, as well the ability to "forget" preceding events. Transcriptome and biochemical analysis revealed that the loss of different TezRs instigates significant alterations in gene expression and proteins synthesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victor Tetz
- Human Microbiology Institute, New York, NY, 10013, USA
| | - George Tetz
- Human Microbiology Institute, New York, NY, 10013, USA.
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2
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Correspondence insights into the role of genes in cell functionality. Comments on "The gene: An appraisal" by K. Baverstock. PROGRESS IN BIOPHYSICS AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2021; 167:152-160. [PMID: 34624359 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2021.09.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2021] [Revised: 09/27/2021] [Accepted: 09/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
One of the most important goals of the post-genomic era is to understand the different sources of molecular information that regulate the functional and structural architecture of cells. In this regard, Prof. K. Baverstock underscores in his recent article "The gene: An appraisal" (Baverstock, 2021) that genes are not the leading elements in cellular functionality, inheritance and evolution. As a consequence, the theory of evolution based on the Neo-Darwinian synthesis, is inadequate for today's scientific evidence. Conversely, the author contends that life processes viewed on the basis of thermodynamics, complex system dynamics and self-organization provide a new framework for the foundations of Biology. I consider it necessary to comment on some essential aspects of this relevant work, and here I present a short overview of the main non-genetic sources of biomolecular order and complexity that underline the molecular dynamics and functionality of cells. These sources generate different processes of complexity, which encompasses from the most elementary levels of molecular activity to the emergence of systemic behaviors, and the information necessary to sustain them is not contained in the genome.
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3
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Baluška F, Miller WB, Reber AS. Biomolecular Basis of Cellular Consciousness via Subcellular Nanobrains. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms22052545. [PMID: 33802617 PMCID: PMC7961929 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22052545] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2021] [Revised: 02/24/2021] [Accepted: 02/25/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Cells emerged at the very beginning of life on Earth and, in fact, are coterminous with life. They are enclosed within an excitable plasma membrane, which defines the outside and inside domains via their specific biophysical properties. Unicellular organisms, such as diverse protists and algae, still live a cellular life. However, fungi, plants, and animals evolved a multicellular existence. Recently, we have developed the cellular basis of consciousness (CBC) model, which proposes that all biological awareness, sentience and consciousness are grounded in general cell biology. Here we discuss the biomolecular structures and processes that allow for and maintain this cellular consciousness from an evolutionary perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- František Baluška
- Institute of Cellular and Molecular Botany, University of Bonn, 53115 Bonn, Germany
- Correspondence:
| | | | - Arthur S. Reber
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada;
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4
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De la Fuente IM, Bringas C, Malaina I, Fedetz M, Carrasco-Pujante J, Morales M, Knafo S, Martínez L, Pérez-Samartín A, López JI, Pérez-Yarza G, Boyano MD. Evidence of conditioned behavior in amoebae. Nat Commun 2019; 10:3690. [PMID: 31417086 PMCID: PMC6695432 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11677-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2018] [Accepted: 07/26/2019] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Associative memory is the main type of learning by which complex organisms endowed with evolved nervous systems respond efficiently to certain environmental stimuli. It has been found in different multicellular species, from cephalopods to humans, but never in individual cells. Here we describe a motility pattern consistent with associative conditioned behavior in the microorganism Amoeba proteus. We use a controlled direct-current electric field as the conditioned stimulus, and a specific chemotactic peptide as the unconditioned stimulus. The amoebae are capable of linking two independent past events, generating persistent locomotion movements that can prevail for 44 min on average. We confirm a similar behavior in a related species, Metamoeba leningradensis. Thus, our results indicate that unicellular organisms can modify their behavior during migration by associative conditioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ildefonso M De la Fuente
- Department of Nutrition, CEBAS-CSIC Institute, Espinardo University Campus, Murcia, 30100, Spain.
- Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Leioa, 48940, Spain.
| | - Carlos Bringas
- Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Faculty of Medicine and Nursing, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Leioa, 48940, Spain
| | - Iker Malaina
- Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Leioa, 48940, Spain
| | - María Fedetz
- Department of Cell Biology and Immunology, Institute of Parasitology and Biomedicine "López-Neyra", CSIC, Granada, 18016, Spain
| | - Jose Carrasco-Pujante
- Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Faculty of Medicine and Nursing, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Leioa, 48940, Spain
| | - Miguel Morales
- Biophysics Institute, CSIC-UPV/EHU, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, 48940, Spain
| | - Shira Knafo
- Biophysics Institute, CSIC-UPV/EHU, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, 48940, Spain
- Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, 48013, Spain
- Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, and The National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
| | - Luis Martínez
- Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Leioa, 48940, Spain
- Basque Center of Applied Mathematics (BCAM), Bilbao, 48009, Spain
| | - Alberto Pérez-Samartín
- Department of Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine and Nursing, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Leioa, 48940, Spain
| | - José I López
- Department of Pathology, Cruces University Hospital, Biocruces-Bizkaia Health Research Institute, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Barakaldo, 48903, Spain
| | - Gorka Pérez-Yarza
- Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Faculty of Medicine and Nursing, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Leioa, 48940, Spain
| | - María Dolores Boyano
- Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Faculty of Medicine and Nursing, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Leioa, 48940, Spain
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5
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Pfaltz JL. Humans Have a Distributed, Molecular Long-Term Memory. Brain Inform 2018. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-05587-5_9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022] Open
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6
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The living organism: Strengthening the basis. Biosystems 2017; 158:10-16. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2017.04.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2017] [Revised: 04/25/2017] [Accepted: 04/27/2017] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
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7
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Korte M, Schmitz D. Cellular and System Biology of Memory: Timing, Molecules, and Beyond. Physiol Rev 2016; 96:647-93. [PMID: 26960344 DOI: 10.1152/physrev.00010.2015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The storage of information in the mammalian nervous systems is dependent on a delicate balance between change and stability of neuronal networks. The induction and maintenance of processes that lead to changes in synaptic strength to a multistep process which can lead to long-lasting changes, which starts and ends with a highly choreographed and perfectly timed dance of molecules in different cell types of the central nervous system. This is accompanied by synchronization of specific networks, resulting in the generation of characteristic "macroscopic" rhythmic electrical fields, whose characteristic frequencies correspond to certain activity and information-processing states of the brain. Molecular events and macroscopic fields influence each other reciprocally. We review here cellular processes of synaptic plasticity, particularly functional and structural changes, and focus on timing events that are important for the initial memory acquisition, as well as mechanisms of short- and long-term memory storage. Then, we cover the importance of epigenetic events on the long-time range. Furthermore, we consider how brain rhythms at the network level participate in processes of information storage and by what means they participating in it. Finally, we examine memory consolidation at the system level during processes of sleep.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Korte
- Zoological Institute, Division of Cellular Neurobiology, Braunschweig, Germany; Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, AG NIND, Braunschweig, Germany; and Neuroscience Research Centre, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Dietmar Schmitz
- Zoological Institute, Division of Cellular Neurobiology, Braunschweig, Germany; Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, AG NIND, Braunschweig, Germany; and Neuroscience Research Centre, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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8
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(Actino)Bacterial “intelligence”: using comparative genomics to unravel the information processing capacities of microbes. Curr Genet 2016; 62:487-98. [DOI: 10.1007/s00294-016-0569-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2015] [Revised: 01/20/2016] [Accepted: 01/22/2016] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
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Abstract
Bacterial spores, despite being metabolically dormant, possess the remarkable capacity to detect nutrients and other molecules in their environment through a biochemical sensory apparatus that can trigger spore germination, allowing the return to vegetative growth within minutes of exposure of germinants. We demonstrate here that bacterial spores of multiple species retain memory of transient exposures to germinant stimuli that can result in altered responses to subsequent exposure. The magnitude and decay of these memory effects depend on the pulse duration as well as on the separation time, incubation temperature, and pH values between the pulses. Spores of Bacillus species germinate in response to nutrients that interact with germinant receptors (GRs) in the spore’s inner membrane, with different nutrient types acting on different receptors. In our experiments, B. subtilis spores display memory when the first and second germinant pulses target different receptors, suggesting that some components of spore memory are downstream of GRs. Furthermore, nonnutrient germinants, which do not require GRs, exhibit memory either alone or in combination with nutrient germinants, and memory of nonnutrient stimulation is found to be more persistent than that induced by GR-dependent stimuli. Spores of B. cereus and Clostridium difficile also exhibit germination memory, suggesting that memory may be a general property of bacterial spores. These observations along with experiments involving strains with mutations in various germination proteins suggest a model in which memory is stored primarily in the metastable states of SpoVA proteins, which comprise a channel for release of dipicolinic acid, a major early event in spore germination. Cellular memory is defined as a sustained response to a transient environmental stimulus, and yet its generation and storage have not been described in bacterial spores. We demonstrate here that bacterial spores of multiple species retain memory of transient exposures to germinant stimuli that can result in altered responses to subsequent exposure. Memory was induced by activation of germinant receptors (GRs) or by GR-independent germinants and was accessed by both GR-dependent and GR-independent germinants. Analysis of effects on memory of exposure to GR-dependent and GR-independent germinants as well as in spores lacking various germination proteins suggests a model in which memory is stored primarily in metastable states of SpoVA proteins which comprise a channel for release of spore dipicolinic acid. Spore memory can also significantly reduce the concentration of nutrient germinants necessary to trigger germination, and this may be used to respond to low levels of nutrient germinants.
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10
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Marino G, Eckhard U, Overall CM. Protein Termini and Their Modifications Revealed by Positional Proteomics. ACS Chem Biol 2015; 10:1754-64. [PMID: 26042555 DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.5b00189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
A myriad of co- and post-translational modifications occur at protein N- and C-termini, resulting in an extra layer of proteome complexity and an additional source of protein regulation. Here, we review N- and C-terminal modifications and the contemporary positional proteomics techniques used to isolate protein terminal peptides from complex protein mixtures and characterize their diversity and occurrence in biological systems. Furthermore, these degradomics strategies--often referred to as N- and C-terminomics--represent dedicated high-throughput techniques to study proteolysis in dynamic living systems. Over the past decade, terminomics studies have provided indispensable information on the functional states of individual proteins, cell types, tissues, and biological processes and delivered fundamental new data for the Human Proteome Project, including high confidence identifications of many so-called "missing proteins", which had not been identified by traditional proteomics analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giada Marino
- Centre
for Blood Research, Department of Oral Biological and Medical Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Ulrich Eckhard
- Centre
for Blood Research, Department of Oral Biological and Medical Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Christopher M. Overall
- Centre
for Blood Research, Department of Oral Biological and Medical Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Department
of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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11
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De la Fuente IM. Elements of the cellular metabolic structure. Front Mol Biosci 2015; 2:16. [PMID: 25988183 PMCID: PMC4428431 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2015.00016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2014] [Accepted: 04/12/2015] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
A large number of studies have demonstrated the existence of metabolic covalent modifications in different molecular structures, which are able to store biochemical information that is not encoded by DNA. Some of these covalent mark patterns can be transmitted across generations (epigenetic changes). Recently, the emergence of Hopfield-like attractor dynamics has been observed in self-organized enzymatic networks, which have the capacity to store functional catalytic patterns that can be correctly recovered by specific input stimuli. Hopfield-like metabolic dynamics are stable and can be maintained as a long-term biochemical memory. In addition, specific molecular information can be transferred from the functional dynamics of the metabolic networks to the enzymatic activity involved in covalent post-translational modulation, so that determined functional memory can be embedded in multiple stable molecular marks. The metabolic dynamics governed by Hopfield-type attractors (functional processes), as well as the enzymatic covalent modifications of specific molecules (structural dynamic processes) seem to represent the two stages of the dynamical memory of cellular metabolism (metabolic memory). Epigenetic processes appear to be the structural manifestation of this cellular metabolic memory. Here, a new framework for molecular information storage in the cell is presented, which is characterized by two functionally and molecularly interrelated systems: a dynamic, flexible and adaptive system (metabolic memory) and an essentially conservative system (genetic memory). The molecular information of both systems seems to coordinate the physiological development of the whole cell.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ildefonso M. De la Fuente
- Department of Cell Biology and Immunology, Institute of Parasitology and Biomedicine “López-Neyra,” Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasGranada, Spain
- Department of Mathematics, University of the Basque Country, UPV/Euskal Herriko UnibertsitateaLeioa, Spain
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12
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Rosenberg T, Gal-Ben-Ari S, Dieterich DC, Kreutz MR, Ziv NE, Gundelfinger ED, Rosenblum K. The roles of protein expression in synaptic plasticity and memory consolidation. Front Mol Neurosci 2014; 7:86. [PMID: 25429258 PMCID: PMC4228929 DOI: 10.3389/fnmol.2014.00086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 103] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2014] [Accepted: 10/24/2014] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The amount and availability of proteins are regulated by their synthesis, degradation, and transport. These processes can specifically, locally, and temporally regulate a protein or a population of proteins, thus affecting numerous biological processes in health and disease states. Accordingly, malfunction in the processes of protein turnover and localization underlies different neuronal diseases. However, as early as a century ago, it was recognized that there is a specific need for normal macromolecular synthesis in a specific fragment of the learning process, memory consolidation, which takes place minutes to hours following acquisition. Memory consolidation is the process by which fragile short-term memory is converted into stable long-term memory. It is accepted today that synaptic plasticity is a cellular mechanism of learning and memory processes. Interestingly, similar molecular mechanisms subserve both memory and synaptic plasticity consolidation. In this review, we survey the current view on the connection between memory consolidation processes and proteostasis, i.e., maintaining the protein contents at the neuron and the synapse. In addition, we describe the technical obstacles and possible new methods to determine neuronal proteostasis of synaptic function and better explain the process of memory and synaptic plasticity consolidation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tali Rosenberg
- Sagol Department of Neurobiology, University of Haifa Haifa, Israel
| | | | - Daniela C Dieterich
- Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany ; Research Group Neuralomics, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology Magdeburg, Germany ; Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Michael R Kreutz
- Research Group Neuroplasticity, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Noam E Ziv
- Network Biology Research Laboratories and Faculty of Medicine, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology Haifa, Israel
| | - Eckart D Gundelfinger
- Department of Neurochemistry and Molecular Biology, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology Magdeburg, Germany ; Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences Magdeburg, Germany ; Medical School, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Kobi Rosenblum
- Sagol Department of Neurobiology, University of Haifa Haifa, Israel ; Center for Gene Manipulation in the Brain, University of Haifa Haifa, Israel
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13
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathon D. Crystal
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405-7007, USA
| | - David L. Glanzman
- Departments of Integrative Biology and Physiology, and Neurobiology, and the Integrative Center for Learning and Memory, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
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