The fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe is a rod-shaped cell that grows by linear extension at the cell tips, with a nearly constant width throughout the cell cycle. This simple geometry makes it an ideal system for studying the control of cellular dimensions. In this study, we carried out a near-genome-wide screen for mutants wider than wild-type cells. We found 11 deletion mutants that we...

The cell cycle checkpoint kinases play central roles in the genome maintenance of eukaryotes. Activation of the yeast checkpoint kinase Rad53 involves Rad9 or Mrc1 adaptor-mediated phospho-priming by Mec1 kinase, followed by auto-activating phosphorylation within its activation loop. However, the mechanisms by which these adaptors regulate priming phosphorylation of specific sites and how this ...

Cancer cells display different metabolic requirements compared to nonmalignant cells imposed by their need for rapid proliferation. Alterations in cellular metabolic pathways of lipid and cholesterol synthesis have been linked to tumorigenesis and cancer progression but have not been exploited in clinical diagnosis. Here, the expression of genes related to cholesterol/lipid metabolism was measu...

UNLABELLED Trans-10, cis-12-conjugated linoleic acid (CLA)-enriched diets promote fatty liver in mice, while cis-9, trans-11-CLA ameliorates this effect, suggesting regulation of multiple genes. To test this hypothesis, apoE-deficient mice were fed a Western-type diet enriched with linoleic acid isomers, and their hepatic gene expression was analyzed with DNA microarrays. To provide an initial ...

Cancer cells present sustained de novo fatty acid (FA) synthesis with increased production of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs). This change in FA metabolism is associated with overexpression of stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1), which catalyses the transformation of SFAs into MUFAs (e.g., oleic acid). In this study, we provide new evidence that SCD1 inhibition...

In fission yeast, Scd1/Ral1 is a putative guanine nucleotide exchange factor for Cdc42sp and also acts as a Ras1 effector necessary for the regulation of cytoskeleton organization. In this study, we have characterized a protein, Moe1, that binds directly to Scd1. A moe1 null (Delta) mutant exhibits numerous phenotypes indicative of abnormal microtubule functioning, including an abnormality in t...

Citation: Du X, Huang Q, Guan Y, Lv M, He X, Fang C, Wang X and Sheng J (2018) Caffeine Promotes Conversion of Palmitic Acid to Palmitoleic Acid by Inducing Expression of fat-5 in Caenorhabditis elegans and scd1 in Mice. Front. Pharmacol. 9:321. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2018.00321 Caffeine Promotes Conversion of Palmitic Acid to Palmitoleic Acid by Inducing Expression of fat-5 in Caenorhabditis elega...

Technology is moving to the background and interoperability between devices increases. The handles for users to explore, make and break connections between devices seem to disappear in overly complex menu structures displayed on small screens. Two prototypes have been developed that introduce a tangible approach towards exploring, making and breaking connections between devices in the living ro...