metabolism

Viewing posts tagged metabolism

New features in Coenzyme Q identitifed

Coenzyme Q (CoQ), an essential lipid, is manufactured by virtually all cells, but how eukaryotes make the universal CoQ head group precursor 4-hydroxybenzoate (4-HB) from tyrosine is unknown. In this study, Robinson et al. study this pathway with genetic screens, targeted LC-MS, and chemical genetics. The results of their work defines new features of 4-HB synthesis in yeast, demonstrate the redundant nature of this pathway, and provide a foundation for further study.

Read the article: Defining intermediates and redundancies in coenzyme Q precursor biosynthesis

LipidGenie, a genome-guided lipid identification tool

Despite the crucial roles of lipids in metabolism, we are still in the early stages of annotating lipid species and their genetic basis. To help in this work, a team of researchers led by Vanessa Linke recently developed LipidGenie, an interactive, query-able resource for lipid identification. The research team used high-resolution liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry to quantify 3,283 molecular features from the liver and plasma of outbred mice. These features were then mapped to 5,622 lipid quantitative trait loci, compiled and cross-referenced to the human genome.

Download the software and read the manuscript.

Collaboration Yields Insight on Role of Metabolism in Bacterial Growth

Bacterial biofilms are everywhere in nature and play an important role in many clinical, industrial, and ecological settings. Although much is known about the transcriptional regulatory networks that control biofilm formation in model bacteria such as Bacillus subtilis, very little is known about the role of metabolism in this process. To address this important knowledge gap, this study used a time-resolved analysis of the metabolic changes associated with bacterial biofilm development in B. subtilis by combining metabolomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic analyses. This report serves as a unique resource for future studies and will be relevant to future research in microbial physiology and metabolism. The full publication can be found here.