Mitochondrial ATP generation is more proteome efficient than glycolysis.

Metabolic efficiency profoundly influences organismal fitness. Nonphotosynthetic organisms, from yeast to mammals, derive usable energy primarily through glycolysis and respiration. Although respiration is more energy efficient, some cells favor glycolysis even when oxygen is available (aerobic glycolysis, Warburg effect). A leading explanation is that glycolysis is more efficient in terms of ATP production per unit mass of protein (that is, faster). Through quantitative flux analysis and proteomics, we find, however, that mitochondrial respiration is actually more proteome efficient than aerobic glycolysis. This is shown across yeast strains, T cells, cancer cells, and tissues and tumors in vivo. Instead of aerobic glycolysis being valuable for fast ATP production, it correlates with high glycolytic protein expression, which promotes hypoxic growth. Aerobic glycolytic yeasts do not excel at aerobic growth but outgrow respiratory cells during oxygen limitation. We accordingly propose that aerobic glycolysis emerges from cells maintaining a proteome conducive to both aerobic and hypoxic growth.

Functional analysis tools for post-translational modification: a post-translational modification database for analysis of proteins and metabolic pathways.

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) are critical regulators of protein function, and nearly 200 different types of PTM have been identified. Advances in high-resolution mass spectrometry have led to the identification of an unprecedented number of PTM sites in numerous organisms, potentially facilitating a more complete understanding of how PTMs regulate cellular behavior. While databases have been created to house the resulting data, most of these resources focus on individual types of PTM, do not consider quantitative PTM analyses or do not provide tools for the visualization and analysis of PTM data. Here, we describe the Functional Analysis Tools for Post-Translational Modifications (FAT-PTM) database (https://bioinformatics.cse.unr.edu/fat-ptm/), which currently supports eight different types of PTM and over 49 000 PTM sites identified in large-scale proteomic surveys of the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana. The FAT-PTM database currently supports tools to visualize protein-centric PTM networks, quantitative phosphorylation site data from over 10 different quantitative phosphoproteomic studies, PTM information displayed in protein-centric metabolic pathways and groups of proteins that are co-modified by multiple PTMs. Overall, the FAT-PTM database provides users with a robust platform to share and visualize experimentally supported PTM data, develop hypotheses related to target proteins or identify emergent patterns in PTM data for signaling and metabolic pathways.

Associations between phytohormones and cellulose biosynthesis in land plants.

BACKGROUND: Phytohormones are small molecules that regulate virtually every aspect of plant growth and development, from basic cellular processes, such as cell expansion and division, to whole plant environmental responses. While the phytohormone levels and distribution thus tell the plant how to adjust itself, the corresponding growth alterations are actuated by cell wall modification/synthesis and internal turgor. Plant cell walls are complex polysaccharide-rich extracellular matrixes that surround all plant cells. Among the cell wall components, cellulose is typically the major polysaccharide, and is the load-bearing structure of the walls. Hence, the cell wall distribution of cellulose, which is synthesized by large Cellulose Synthase protein complexes at the cell surface, directs plant growth. SCOPE: Here, we review the relationships between key phytohormone classes and cellulose deposition in plant systems. We present the core signalling pathways associated with each phytohormone and discuss the current understanding of how these signalling pathways impact cellulose biosynthesis with a particular focus on transcriptional and post-translational regulation. Because cortical microtubules underlying the plasma membrane significantly impact the trajectories of Cellulose Synthase Complexes, we also discuss the current understanding of how phytohormone signalling impacts the cortical microtubule array. CONCLUSION: Given the importance of cellulose deposition and phytohormone signalling in plant growth and development, one would expect that there is substantial cross-talk between these processes; however, mechanisms for many of these relationships remain unclear and should be considered as the target of future studies.

A Putative Protein O-Fucosyltransferase Facilitates Pollen Tube Penetration through the Stigma-Style Interface.

During pollen-pistil interactions in angiosperms, the male gametophyte (pollen) germinates to produce a pollen tube. To fertilize ovules located within the female pistil, the pollen tube must physically penetrate specialized tissues. Whereas the process of pollen tube penetration through the pistil has been anatomically well described, the genetic regulation remains poorly understood. In this study, we identify a novel Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) gene, O-FUCOSYLTRANSFERASE1 (AtOFT1), which plays a key role in pollen tube penetration through the stigma-style interface. Semi-in vivo growth assays demonstrate that oft1 mutant pollen tubes have a reduced ability to penetrate the stigma-style interface, leading to a nearly 2,000-fold decrease in oft1 pollen transmission efficiency and a 5- to 10-fold decreased seed set. We also demonstrate that AtOFT1 is localized to the Golgi apparatus, indicating its potential role in cellular glycosylation events. Finally, we demonstrate that AtOFT1 and other similar Arabidopsis genes represent a novel clade of sequences related to metazoan protein O-fucosyltransferases and that mutation of residues that are important for O-fucosyltransferase activity compromises AtOFT1 function in vivo. The results of this study elucidate a physiological function for AtOFT1 in pollen tube penetration through the stigma-style interface and highlight the potential importance of protein O-glycosylation events in pollen-pistil interactions.

Differential nuclear import sets the timing of protein access to the embryonic genome.

The development of a fertilized egg to an embryo requires the proper temporal control of gene expression. During cell differentiation, timing is often controlled via cascades of transcription factors (TFs). However, in early development, transcription is often inactive, and many TF levels stay constant, suggesting that alternative mechanisms govern the observed rapid and ordered onset of gene expression. Here, we find that in early embryonic development access of maternally deposited nuclear proteins to the genome is temporally ordered via importin affinities, thereby timing the expression of downstream targets. We quantify changes in the nuclear proteome during early development and find that nuclear proteins, such as TFs and RNA polymerases, enter the nucleus sequentially. Moreover, we find that the timing of nuclear proteins' access to the genome corresponds to the timing of downstream gene activation. We show that the affinity of proteins to importin is a major determinant in the timing of protein entry into embryonic nuclei. Thus, we propose a mechanism by which embryos encode the timing of gene expression in early development via biochemical affinities. This process could be critical for embryos to organize themselves before deploying the regulatory cascades that control cell identities.