The FEBS Journal

🎉 We are thrilled to share our newest collection: Biochemistry & beyond 🎉

Through our commitment to publishing rigorous, high-impact research in all aspects of the molecular life sciences, the journal brings together diverse communities.

🔎To get you started on your Biochemistry & Beyond journey with us, explore our inaugural collections on:

🪴Plants & biotechnology,

🐁Organismal biology,

🫀Cardiobiology,

🔬 Developmental biology & Stem cells,

🧬RNA biology & epigenetics.

Explore our newest collections, here ➡️ buff.ly/MFwRpDl

🚀 At The FEBS Journal, biochemistry is the starting point – not the limit!

#BeyondBiochem

💡 Bioluminescence is more than just a pretty glow! By adapting bioluminescence for the lab, scientists worldwide can visualize complex cellular processes, track cancer cells, or map brain activity everyday.

🌟 Issue 20 features two brilliant studies that bring valuable new insights into the fungal bioluminescence pathway, confirming the exact role that caffeylpyruvate hydrolase (CPH) plays in making fungi glow:

📕 Caffeylpyruvate hydrolase from the bioluminescent fungus Neonothopanus gardneri is the key recycling enzyme in the fungal bioluminescence pathway

📖 Caffeic acid is a central metabolite in the fungal bioluminescence pathway. We identified and characterized caffeylpyruvate hydrolase from Neonothopanus gardneri (ngarCPH) and demonstrate its ability to hydrolyze fungal oxyluciferin into caffeic and pyruvic acids, confirming a complete and self-sustained fungal bioluminescence cycle.

✍ Caio Klocke Zamuner, Douglas M. M. Soares, Bianca de Barros Nobrega, Etelvino José Bechara, Zinaida M. Kaskova, Alexander Mishin, Karen Sarkisyan , Ilia V. Yampolsky, Cassius Vinicius Stevani

Access full study here ➡️ buff.ly/jLlDB4K

📕 Fungal oxyluciferin is recycled by caffeylpyruvate hydrolases

📖 In fungal bioluminescence, light production generates oxyluciferin, which can inhibit the luciferase enzyme. This study shows that the new enzyme caffeylpyruvate hydrolase (CPH) recycles oxyluciferin back into metabolic intermediates, relieving inhibition and sustaining light emission. This recycling step helps maintain efficient bioluminescence in plants and represents a potential target for pathway optimisation.

✍ Alena K. Malyshevskaia, Aleksei D. Barykin, Daria A. Kisilichuk, Tatiana V. Chepurnykh, Ekaterina Shakhova, Maxim M. Perfilov, Olga A. Belozerova, Kseniia A. Palkina, Nadezhda Markina, Caio Klocke Zamuner, Douglas M. M. Soares, Renata I. Zagitova, Zinaida M. Kaskova, Cassius Vinicius Stevani, Andrey Y. Gorokhovatsky, Alexander S. Mishin, Karen Sarkisyan, Ilia Yampolsky

Access full study here ➡️ buff.ly/nSRUdKj

🍄 Isn't it stunning that some of our most advanced scientific tools come directly from the brilliance of the natural world? We’d love to hear your thoughts, drop them in the comments below!

For further reading, check out our FEBS Network post here ➡️ buff.ly/yDBppoy

#bioluminescence #fungi #caffeylpyruvatehydrolase #bioluminescencepathway

🔦 Featured as an Editor’s Choice article in our Issue 20, this outstanding study reveals a novel link between ER stress and AMPK signalling, showing that ER stress promotes AMPK activation independently of the unfolded protein response.

📕 Bip1 regulates AMPK signaling in response to endoplasmic reticulum stress

📖 The accumulation of misfolded and unfolded proteins within the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) induces stress, which triggers the unfolded protein response. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a cellular stress sensor. However, the interplay between AMPK and ER stress remains poorly understood. Using the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe as a model, we find that ER stress-induced accumulation of Bip1 prevents the degradation of Ssp1, an upstream kinase responsible for activating AMPK. AMPK activation is an adaptive response required to sustain cell viability in cells lacking Erd2, the central component of the ER-resident protein retrieval system. Collectively, our findings demonstrate the role of Erd2 in cellular homeostasis and establish a link between ER stress and AMPK signalling.

✍ Mengdan Zhu, Chuanhai Fu

🏛️ University of Science and Technology of China

Access the article here ➡️ buff.ly/MJYtxnP

Check out the insightful Commentary accompanying this article ✍ Erik Snapp here ➡️ buff.ly/VSSJDFO

#AMPK #ERstress #UPR #Erd2 #Ssp1 #SPompe

🩸 Whilst best known for regulating development and metabolism in tissues of endodermal origin, the nuclear receptor LRH-1 (NR5A2) is emerging as an underappreciated but powerful player in immune-mediated diseases and blood cancers.

🎯 This Mini Review in Issue 20 of The FEBS Journal highlights how targeting LRH-1's tissue-specific pathways could unlock selective, highly targeted therapies for leukemia and immunopathological diseases ⬇️

📕 From hepatic to hematopoietic: LRH-1's expanding cellular repertoire to the immune system

📖 The nuclear receptor LRH-1 is a well-characterized regulator of endodermal tissue. Yet, increasing evidence indicates that LRH-1, although expressed at low levels, is also a critical regulator of the hematopoietic system. LRH-1 regulates the immune system by contributing to immune cell-specific functions. Consequently, its deregulation promotes the onset and progression of immune cell-mediated diseases and inflammation and even hematopoietic cancer.

✍ Lukas Meisinger, Alice Wiedmann, Rayan Hassan M. Elshikhidriss, Thomas Brunner

🏛️ University of Konstanz, University of Khartoum

Read this brilliant review article here ➡️ buff.ly/I8gVqJV

#LRH1 #leukemia #immunopathology #hematopoieticsystem #nuclearreceptors

🚀 Our Issue 20 is now online, packed with fascinating research from across the life sciences!

This new issue features:

🦠 A Review article exploring the effects of GLP-1 agonists on the gut microbiota in type 2 diabetes.

🧫 A Mini Review article dissecting the role of the nuclear receptor LRH-1 in hematopoietic and immune system regulation, highlighting how its deregulation promotes the onset and progression of immune cell-mediated diseases.

🧩 An Editor's Choice article investigating the interplay between AMPK and ER stress, putting Bip1 and Erd2 under the spotlight, accompanied by an insightful Commentary.

🍄 Additionally, two exciting Original Articles delving into the fungal bioluminescence pathway and proposing novel key players.

📚 And a diverse collection of outstanding original research across the life sciences!

Discover the full issue here ➡️ buff.ly/TN747Ag

#GLP1 #microbiota #hematopoiesis #ERstress #AMPK #bioluminescence