Aims: Thraustochytrids have been shown to be excellent lipid producers due to their ability to accumulate over 50% lipid (g/g biomass) containing up to 50% docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). However, efficient and cost-effective cell recovery of lipid-rich biomass has become a significant challenge at the industrial scale. In this study, we attempted to enhance the harvesting efficiency (HE) and the DHA content of Aurantiochytrium sp. through co-cultivation with a γ-linolenic acid (GLA)-producing oleaginous filamentous fungus, Cunninghamella bainieri 2A1. Methodology and results: A 72 h old C. bainieri 2A1 culture in the form of loose mycelia or pellets of various sizes was added into 72 h old Aurantiochytrium sp. cultures and further incubated for 48 h. The HE of Aurantiochytrium sp. was then determined by comparing the remaining OD values of the supernatant with and without minimal centrifugation at 4000× g. Results showed that 63.23% of HE was achieved without centrifugation from co-cultivation with dispersed mycelia. Higher HE between 96.71-99.55% was achieved when centrifugation was implemented, with the highest value resulting from co-cultivation with dispersed mycelia. These are higher than HE of centrifuged control cultures (80%) consisting of Aurantiochytrium sp. monocultures, suggesting that co-cultivation with C. bainieri 2A1 facilitates the recovery of Aurantiochytrium sp. cells. Moreover, the co-cultivation also resulted in a 28% increase in DHA compared to non-optimized cultures. Conclusion, significance and impact of study This study provides the first evidence of enhancement in harvesting and DHA content of oleaginous thraustochytrids that could be achieved through co-cultivation with oleaginous fungi.
Heterotrophic Processes ; Cunninghamella ; Eukaryota

The intron has been a big biological mystery since it was first discovered in several aspects. First, all of the completely sequenced eukaryotes harbor introns in the genomic structure, whereas no prokaryotes identified so far carry introns. Second, the amount of total introns varies in different species. Third, the length and number of introns vary in different genes, even within the same species genome. Fourth, all introns are copied into RNAs by transcription and DNAs by replication processes, but intron sequences do not participate in protein-coding sequences. The existence of introns in the genome should be a burden to some cells, because cells have to consume a great deal of energy to copy and excise them exactly at the correct positions with the help of complicated spliceosomal machineries. The existence throughout the long evolutionary history is explained, only if selective advantages of carrying introns are assumed to be given to cells to overcome the negative effect of introns. In that regard, we summarize previous research about the functional roles or benefits of introns. Additionally, several other studies strongly suggesting that introns should not be junk will be introduced.
DNA ; Eukaryota ; Genome* ; Introns* ; RNA

The fungal bioluminescence pathway (FBP) is a metabolic pathway responsible for the generation of bioluminescence derived from fungi. This pathway utilizes caffeic acid as the substrate, generating a high-energy intermediate, and the decomposition of which yields green fluorescence with a wavelength of approximately 520 nm. The FBP is evolutionally conserved in luminescent fungal groups. Unlike other bioluminescent systems, the FBP is particularly suitable for engineering applications in eukaryotic organisms, especially in plants. Currently, metabolically engineered luminescent plants are able to emit visible light to illuminate its surroundings, which can be visualized clearly in the dark. The fungal bioluminescent system could be explored in various applications in molecular biology, biosensors and glowing ornamental plants, and even green lighting along city streets.
Luminescence ; Light ; Fluorescence ; Eukaryota ; Green Light

The BTB (broad-complex, tramtrack, and bric-à-brac) domain is a highly conserved protein interaction motif in eukaryotes. They are widely involved in transcriptional regulation, protein degradation and other processes. Recently, an increasing number of studies have shown that these genes play important roles in plant growth and development, biotic and abiotic stress processes. Here, we summarize the advances of these proteins ubiquitination-mediated development and abiotic stress responses in plants based on the protein structure, which may facilitate the study of this type of gene in plants.
Eukaryota ; Plant Development/genetics* ; Proteolysis ; Ubiquitination

Cell membrane proteins play crucial roles in the cell's molecular interaction with its environment and within itself. They consist of membrane-bound proteins and many types of transmembrane (TM) proteins such as receptors, transporters, channel proteins, and enzymes. Membrane proteomes of cellular organisms reveal some characteristics in their global topological distribution according to their evolutionary positions, and show their own information transfer complexity. Predicted transmembrane segments (TMSs) in membrane proteomes with HMMTOP showed near power-law distribution and frequency characteristics in 6-TMS and 7-TMS proteins in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, respectively. This reaffirms the important roles of membrane receptors in cellular communication and biological evolutionary history.
Eukaryota ; Membrane Proteins ; Membranes ; Proteins ; Proteome ; Signal Transduction

OBJECTIVE: To construct a eukaryotic expression vector of human tissue factor pathway inhibitor-2 (TFPI-2) and to investigate the effect of TFPI-2 gene on the growth of acute monocytic leukemia cell line (SHI-1). METHODS: The cDNA of TFPI-2 was obtained by genetic chemical synthesis, the TFPI-2 gene and the linear vector fragment were ligated and inserted into the multiple cloning site of PEGFP-N1 vector, and the eukaryotic expression vector PEGFP-N1-TFPI-2 was transfected SHI-1 cells, then the obtained SHI-1 cells was observed by fluorescence microscopy; MTT assay was used to detect the effect of TFPI-2 gene on the relative growth rate of SHI-1 cells at the different time-point; RT-PCR was used to detect TFPI-2 mRNA expression levels in the cells of each group before and after TFPI-2 transfection; TFPI-2 protein expression was detected by Western blot. The cells which successfully transfected with PEGFP-N1-TFPI-2 vector were named as SHI-1-TFPI-2 (experimental group), and the cells transfected with the empty vector pEGFP-N1 and the untransfected cells were named as SHI-1-V and SHI-1-P and used as the control group. RESULTS: The human TFPI-2 gene eukaryotic expression vector PEGFP-N1-TFPI-2 was successfully constructed, then the transfected into SHI-1 cells, observed by fluorescence microscopy 24 hours later, as a result, the PEGFP-N1-TFPI-2 was successfully transferred into SHI-1 cells, and the number of fluorescent cells increased after 48 h and 72 h. RT-PCR showed that the gray scale ratio of TFPI-2 gene to β- actin in the experimental group was higher than that in the control group. The gray scale ratio was 0.51±0.04 in SHI-1-V group, 0.52±0.03 in SHI-1-P group, 0.87±0.08 in SHI-1-TFPI-2 group, and the difference between SHI-1-TFPI-2 and SHI-1-V, SHI-1-P group was statistically significant (P＜0.05). CONCLUSION The expression of TFPI-2 gene in PEGFP-N1-TFPI-2 can inhibit the growth of SHI-1 cells, which provides a research direction for gene therapy of leukemia in the future.
Eukaryota ; Genetic Vectors ; Glycoproteins ; metabolism ; Green Fluorescent Proteins ; Humans ; Transfection

Group Ⅱ introns are self-splicing ribozymes, which insert directly into target sites in DNA with high frequency through "retrohoming". They specifically and efficiently recognize and splice DNA target sites, endowing themselves with great potential in genetic engineering. This paper reviewed the gene targeting principle of group Ⅱ introns and the application in microbial genetic modification, and then analyzed the limitations of them in multi-functional gene editing and eukaryotes based on the "retrohoming" characteristics and the dependence on high Mg²⁺ concentration. Finally, we dissected the potential of group Ⅱ introns in the development of novel gene editing tools based on our previous research outcome and the structural characteristics of the introns, hoping to provide a reference for the application of group Ⅱ introns in biotechnology.
DNA ; Eukaryota ; Gene Targeting ; Introns/genetics* ; RNA, Catalytic/genetics*

Proteins in DNAJ/K families are ubiquitous, from prokaryotes to eukaryotes, and function as molecular chaperones. For systematic phylogenomics of the DNAJ/K families, we developed the Eukaryotic DNAJ/K Database (EDD). A total of 12,908 DNAJs and 4,886 DNAKs were identified from 339 eukaryotic genomes in the EDD. Kingdom-wide comparison of DNAJ/K families provides new insights on the evolutionary relationship within these families. Empowered by 'class', 'cluster', and 'taxonomy' browsers and the 'favorite' function, the EDD provides a versatile platform for comparative genomic analyses of DNAJ/K families.
Eukaryota ; Genome ; HSP40 Heat-Shock Proteins ; HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins ; Humans ; Molecular Chaperones ; Proteins

Heat shock proteins are a class of molecular chaperones that can be found in nearly all organisms from Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya domains. Heat shock proteins experience increased transcription during periods of heat induced osmotic stress and are involved in protein disaggregation and refolding as part of a cell's danger signaling cascade. Heat shock protein, Hsp20 is a small molecular chaperone that is approximately 20kDa in weight and is hypothesized to prevent aggregation and denaturation. Hsp20 can be found in several strains of Proteobacteria, which comprises the largest phyla of the Bacteria domain and also contains several medically significant bacterial strains. Genomic analyses were performed to determine a common evolutionary pattern among Hsp20 sequences in Proteobacteria. It was found that Hsp20 shared a common ancestor within and among the five subclasses of Proteobacteria.This is readily apparent from the amount of sequence similarities within and between Hsp20 protein sequences as well as phylogenetic analysis of sequences from proteobacterial and non-proteobacterial species.
Actinobacteria ; Archaea ; Bacteria ; Computational Biology ; Eukaryota ; Heat-Shock Proteins ; Hot Temperature ; Molecular Chaperones ; Proteins ; Proteobacteria ; Shock

DEAD/DExH-box RNA helicases catalyze the folding and remodeling of RNA molecules in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, as well as in many viruses. They are characterized by the presence of the helicase domain with conserved motifs that are essential for ATP binding and hydrolysis, RNA interaction, and unwinding activities. Large families of DEAD/DExH-box proteins have been described in different organisms, and their role in all molecular processes involving RNA, from transcriptional regulation to mRNA decay, have been described. This review aims to summarize the current knowledge about DEAD/DExH-box proteins in selected protozoan and nematode parasites of medical importance worldwide, such as Plasmodium falciparum, Leishmania spp., Trypanosoma spp., Giardia lamblia, Entamoeba histolytica, and Brugia malayi. We discuss the functional characterization of several proteins in an attempt to understand better the molecular mechanisms involving RNA in these pathogens. The current data also highlight that DEAD/DExH-box RNA helicases might represent feasible drug targets due to their vital role in parasite growth and development.
Animals ; Eukaryota/*enzymology ; *Gene Expression Regulation ; Parasites/*enzymology ; RNA/*metabolism ; RNA Helicases/*metabolism