@article{12478, abstract = {In Gram negative bacteria, the multiple antibiotic resistance or mar operon, is known to control the expression of multi-drug efflux genes that protect bacteria from a wide range of drugs. As many different chemical compounds can induce this operon, identifying the parameters that govern the dynamics of its induction is crucial to better characterize the processes of tolerance and resistance. Most experiments have assumed that the properties of the mar transcriptional network can be inferred from population measurements. However, measurements from an asynchronous population of cells can mask underlying phenotypic variations of single cells. We monitored the activity of the mar promoter in single Escherichia coli cells in linear micro-colonies and established that the response to a steady level of inducer was most heterogeneous within individual colonies for an intermediate value of inducer. Specifically, sub-lineages defined by contiguous daughter-cells exhibited similar promoter activity, whereas activity was greatly variable between different sub-lineages. Specific sub-trees of uniform promoter activity persisted over several generations. Statistical analyses of the lineages suggest that the presence of these sub-trees is the signature of an inducible memory of the promoter state that is transmitted from mother to daughter cells. This single-cell study reveals that the degree of epigenetic inheritance changes as a function of inducer concentration, suggesting that phenotypic inheritance may be an inducible phenotype.}, author = {Guet, Calin C and Bruneaux, L and Oikonomou, P and Aldana, M and Cluzel, P}, issn = {1664-302X}, journal = {Frontiers in Microbiology}, publisher = {Frontiers}, title = {{Monitoring lineages of growing and dividing bacteria reveals an inducible memory of mar operon expression}}, doi = {10.3389/fmicb.2023.1049255}, volume = {14}, year = {2023}, } @article{10939, abstract = {Understanding and characterising biochemical processes inside single cells requires experimental platforms that allow one to perturb and observe the dynamics of such processes as well as computational methods to build and parameterise models from the collected data. Recent progress with experimental platforms and optogenetics has made it possible to expose each cell in an experiment to an individualised input and automatically record cellular responses over days with fine time resolution. However, methods to infer parameters of stochastic kinetic models from single-cell longitudinal data have generally been developed under the assumption that experimental data is sparse and that responses of cells to at most a few different input perturbations can be observed. Here, we investigate and compare different approaches for calculating parameter likelihoods of single-cell longitudinal data based on approximations of the chemical master equation (CME) with a particular focus on coupling the linear noise approximation (LNA) or moment closure methods to a Kalman filter. We show that, as long as cells are measured sufficiently frequently, coupling the LNA to a Kalman filter allows one to accurately approximate likelihoods and to infer model parameters from data even in cases where the LNA provides poor approximations of the CME. Furthermore, the computational cost of filtering-based iterative likelihood evaluation scales advantageously in the number of measurement times and different input perturbations and is thus ideally suited for data obtained from modern experimental platforms. To demonstrate the practical usefulness of these results, we perform an experiment in which single cells, equipped with an optogenetic gene expression system, are exposed to various different light-input sequences and measured at several hundred time points and use parameter inference based on iterative likelihood evaluation to parameterise a stochastic model of the system.}, author = {Davidović, Anđela and Chait, Remy P and Batt, Gregory and Ruess, Jakob}, issn = {1553-7358}, journal = {PLoS Computational Biology}, number = {3}, publisher = {Public Library of Science}, title = {{Parameter inference for stochastic biochemical models from perturbation experiments parallelised at the single cell level}}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009950}, volume = {18}, year = {2022}, } @article{11713, abstract = {Objective: MazF is a sequence-specific endoribonuclease-toxin of the MazEF toxin–antitoxin system. MazF cleaves single-stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA) regions at adenine–cytosine–adenine (ACA) sequences in the bacterium Escherichia coli. The MazEF system has been used in various biotechnology and synthetic biology applications. In this study, we infer how ectopic mazF overexpression affects production of heterologous proteins. To this end, we quantified the levels of fluorescent proteins expressed in E. coli from reporters translated from the ACA-containing or ACA-less messenger RNAs (mRNAs). Additionally, we addressed the impact of the 5′-untranslated region of these reporter mRNAs under the same conditions by comparing expression from mRNAs that comprise (canonical mRNA) or lack this region (leaderless mRNA). Results: Flow cytometry analysis indicates that during mazF overexpression, fluorescent proteins are translated from the canonical as well as leaderless mRNAs. Our analysis further indicates that longer mazF overexpression generally increases the concentration of fluorescent proteins translated from ACA-less mRNAs, however it also substantially increases bacterial population heterogeneity. Finally, our results suggest that the strength and duration of mazF overexpression should be optimized for each experimental setup, to maximize the heterologous protein production and minimize the amount of phenotypic heterogeneity in bacterial populations, which is unfavorable in biotechnological processes.}, author = {Nikolic, Nela and Sauert, Martina and Albanese, Tanino G. and Moll, Isabella}, issn = {1756-0500}, journal = {BMC Research Notes}, keywords = {General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, General Medicine}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Quantifying heterologous gene expression during ectopic MazF production in Escherichia coli}}, doi = {10.1186/s13104-022-06061-9}, volume = {15}, year = {2022}, } @article{10736, abstract = {Predicting function from sequence is a central problem of biology. Currently, this is possible only locally in a narrow mutational neighborhood around a wildtype sequence rather than globally from any sequence. Using random mutant libraries, we developed a biophysical model that accounts for multiple features of σ70 binding bacterial promoters to predict constitutive gene expression levels from any sequence. We experimentally and theoretically estimated that 10–20% of random sequences lead to expression and ~80% of non-expressing sequences are one mutation away from a functional promoter. The potential for generating expression from random sequences is so pervasive that selection acts against σ70-RNA polymerase binding sites even within inter-genic, promoter-containing regions. This pervasiveness of σ70-binding sites implies that emergence of promoters is not the limiting step in gene regulatory evolution. Ultimately, the inclusion of novel features of promoter function into a mechanistic model enabled not only more accurate predictions of gene expression levels, but also identified that promoters evolve more rapidly than previously thought.}, author = {Lagator, Mato and Sarikas, Srdjan and Steinrueck, Magdalena and Toledo-Aparicio, David and Bollback, Jonathan P and Guet, Calin C and Tkačik, Gašper}, issn = {2050-084X}, journal = {eLife}, publisher = {eLife Sciences Publications}, title = {{Predicting bacterial promoter function and evolution from random sequences}}, doi = {10.7554/eLife.64543}, volume = {11}, year = {2022}, } @article{10812, abstract = {Several promising strategies based on combining or cycling different antibiotics have been proposed to increase efficacy and counteract resistance evolution, but we still lack a deep understanding of the physiological responses and genetic mechanisms that underlie antibiotic interactions and the clinical applicability of these strategies. In antibiotic-exposed bacteria, the combined effects of physiological stress responses and emerging resistance mutations (occurring at different time scales) generate complex and often unpredictable dynamics. In this Review, we present our current understanding of bacterial cell physiology and genetics of responses to antibiotics. We emphasize recently discovered mechanisms of synergistic and antagonistic drug interactions, hysteresis in temporal interactions between antibiotics that arise from microbial physiology and interactions between antibiotics and resistance mutations that can cause collateral sensitivity or cross-resistance. We discuss possible connections between the different phenomena and indicate relevant research directions. A better and more unified understanding of drug and genetic interactions is likely to advance antibiotic therapy.}, author = {Römhild, Roderich and Bollenbach, Mark Tobias and Andersson, Dan I.}, issn = {1740-1534}, journal = {Nature Reviews Microbiology}, keywords = {General Immunology and Microbiology, Microbiology, Infectious Diseases}, pages = {478--490}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{The physiology and genetics of bacterial responses to antibiotic combinations}}, doi = {10.1038/s41579-022-00700-5}, volume = {20}, year = {2022}, } @article{11339, abstract = {The interaction between a cell and its environment shapes fundamental intracellular processes such as cellular metabolism. In most cases growth rate is treated as a proximal metric for understanding the cellular metabolic status. However, changes in growth rate might not reflect metabolic variations in individuals responding to environmental fluctuations. Here we use single-cell microfluidics-microscopy combined with transcriptomics, proteomics and mathematical modelling to quantify the accumulation of glucose within Escherichia coli cells. In contrast to the current consensus, we reveal that environmental conditions which are comparatively unfavourable for growth, where both nutrients and salinity are depleted, increase glucose accumulation rates in individual bacteria and population subsets. We find that these changes in metabolic function are underpinned by variations at the translational and posttranslational level but not at the transcriptional level and are not dictated by changes in cell size. The metabolic response-characteristics identified greatly advance our fundamental understanding of the interactions between bacteria and their environment and have important ramifications when investigating cellular processes where salinity plays an important role.}, author = {Glover, Georgina and Voliotis, Margaritis and Łapińska, Urszula and Invergo, Brandon M. and Soanes, Darren and O’Neill, Paul and Moore, Karen and Nikolic, Nela and Petrov, Peter and Milner, David S. and Roy, Sumita and Heesom, Kate and Richards, Thomas A. and Tsaneva-Atanasova, Krasimira and Pagliara, Stefano}, issn = {2399-3642}, journal = {Communications Biology}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Nutrient and salt depletion synergistically boosts glucose metabolism in individual Escherichia coli cells}}, doi = {10.1038/s42003-022-03336-6}, volume = {5}, year = {2022}, } @article{11843, abstract = {A key attribute of persistent or recurring bacterial infections is the ability of the pathogen to evade the host’s immune response. Many Enterobacteriaceae express type 1 pili, a pre-adapted virulence trait, to invade host epithelial cells and establish persistent infections. However, the molecular mechanisms and strategies by which bacteria actively circumvent the immune response of the host remain poorly understood. Here, we identified CD14, the major co-receptor for lipopolysaccharide detection, on mouse dendritic cells (DCs) as a binding partner of FimH, the protein located at the tip of the type 1 pilus of Escherichia coli. The FimH amino acids involved in CD14 binding are highly conserved across pathogenic and non-pathogenic strains. Binding of the pathogenic strain CFT073 to CD14 reduced DC migration by overactivation of integrins and blunted expression of co-stimulatory molecules by overactivating the NFAT (nuclear factor of activated T-cells) pathway, both rate-limiting factors of T cell activation. This response was binary at the single-cell level, but averaged in larger populations exposed to both piliated and non-piliated pathogens, presumably via the exchange of immunomodulatory cytokines. While defining an active molecular mechanism of immune evasion by pathogens, the interaction between FimH and CD14 represents a potential target to interfere with persistent and recurrent infections, such as urinary tract infections or Crohn’s disease.}, author = {Tomasek, Kathrin and Leithner, Alexander F and Glatzová, Ivana and Lukesch, Michael S. and Guet, Calin C and Sixt, Michael K}, issn = {2050-084X}, journal = {eLife}, publisher = {eLife Sciences Publications}, title = {{Type 1 piliated uropathogenic Escherichia coli hijack the host immune response by binding to CD14}}, doi = {10.7554/eLife.78995}, volume = {11}, year = {2022}, } @article{12333, abstract = {Together, copy-number and point mutations form the basis for most evolutionary novelty, through the process of gene duplication and divergence. While a plethora of genomic data reveals the long-term fate of diverging coding sequences and their cis-regulatory elements, little is known about the early dynamics around the duplication event itself. In microorganisms, selection for increased gene expression often drives the expansion of gene copy-number mutations, which serves as a crude adaptation, prior to divergence through refining point mutations. Using a simple synthetic genetic reporter system that can distinguish between copy-number and point mutations, we study their early and transient adaptive dynamics in real time in Escherichia coli. We find two qualitatively different routes of adaptation, depending on the level of functional improvement needed. In conditions of high gene expression demand, the two mutation types occur as a combination. However, under low gene expression demand, copy-number and point mutations are mutually exclusive; here, owing to their higher frequency, adaptation is dominated by copy-number mutations, in a process we term amplification hindrance. Ultimately, due to high reversal rates and pleiotropic cost, copy-number mutations may not only serve as a crude and transient adaptation, but also constrain sequence divergence over evolutionary time scales.}, author = {Tomanek, Isabella and Guet, Calin C}, issn = {2050-084X}, journal = {eLife}, publisher = {eLife Sciences Publications}, title = {{Adaptation dynamics between copynumber and point mutations}}, doi = {10.7554/ELIFE.82240}, volume = {11}, year = {2022}, } @misc{12339, abstract = {Copy-number and point mutations form the basis for most evolutionary novelty through the process of gene duplication and divergence. While a plethora of genomic sequence data reveals the long-term fate of diverging coding sequences and their cis-regulatory elements, little is known about the early dynamics around the duplication event itself. In microorganisms, selection for increased gene expression often drives the expansion of gene copy-number mutations, which serves as a crude adaptation, prior to divergence through refining point mutations. Using a simple synthetic genetic system that allows us to distinguish copy-number and point mutations, we study their early and transient adaptive dynamics in real-time in Escherichia coli. We find two qualitatively different routes of adaptation depending on the level of functional improvement selected for: In conditions of high gene expression demand, the two types of mutations occur as a combination. Under low gene expression demand, negative epistasis between the two types of mutations renders them mutually exclusive. Thus, owing to their higher frequency, adaptation is dominated by copy-number mutations. Ultimately, due to high rates of reversal and pleiotropic cost, copy-number mutations may not only serve as a crude and transient adaptation but also constrain sequence divergence over evolutionary time scales.}, author = {Tomanek, Isabella and Guet, Calin C}, publisher = {Dryad}, title = {{Flow cytometry YFP and CFP data and deep sequencing data of populations evolving in galactose}}, doi = {10.5061/dryad.rfj6q57ds}, year = {2022}, } @article{9046, author = {Römhild, Roderich and Andersson, Dan I.}, issn = {15537374}, journal = {PLoS Pathogens}, number = {1}, publisher = {Public Library of Science}, title = {{Mechanisms and therapeutic potential of collateral sensitivity to antibiotics}}, doi = {10.1371/journal.ppat.1009172}, volume = {17}, year = {2021}, } @article{9647, abstract = {Gene expression is regulated by the set of transcription factors (TFs) that bind to the promoter. The ensuing regulating function is often represented as a combinational logic circuit, where output (gene expression) is determined by current input values (promoter bound TFs) only. However, the simultaneous arrival of TFs is a strong assumption, since transcription and translation of genes introduce intrinsic time delays and there is no global synchronisation among the arrival times of different molecular species at their targets. We present an experimentally implementable genetic circuit with two inputs and one output, which in the presence of small delays in input arrival, exhibits qualitatively distinct population-level phenotypes, over timescales that are longer than typical cell doubling times. From a dynamical systems point of view, these phenotypes represent long-lived transients: although they converge to the same value eventually, they do so after a very long time span. The key feature of this toy model genetic circuit is that, despite having only two inputs and one output, it is regulated by twenty-three distinct DNA-TF configurations, two of which are more stable than others (DNA looped states), one promoting and another blocking the expression of the output gene. Small delays in input arrival time result in a majority of cells in the population quickly reaching the stable state associated with the first input, while exiting of this stable state occurs at a slow timescale. In order to mechanistically model the behaviour of this genetic circuit, we used a rule-based modelling language, and implemented a grid-search to find parameter combinations giving rise to long-lived transients. Our analysis shows that in the absence of feedback, there exist path-dependent gene regulatory mechanisms based on the long timescale of transients. The behaviour of this toy model circuit suggests that gene regulatory networks can exploit event timing to create phenotypes, and it opens the possibility that they could use event timing to memorise events, without regulatory feedback. The model reveals the importance of (i) mechanistically modelling the transitions between the different DNA-TF states, and (ii) employing transient analysis thereof.}, author = {Petrov, Tatjana and Igler, Claudia and Sezgin, Ali and Henzinger, Thomas A and Guet, Calin C}, issn = {0304-3975}, journal = {Theoretical Computer Science}, pages = {1--16}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{Long lived transients in gene regulation}}, doi = {10.1016/j.tcs.2021.05.023}, volume = {893}, year = {2021}, } @article{9822, abstract = {Attachment of adhesive molecules on cell culture surfaces to restrict cell adhesion to defined areas and shapes has been vital for the progress of in vitro research. In currently existing patterning methods, a combination of pattern properties such as stability, precision, specificity, high-throughput outcome, and spatiotemporal control is highly desirable but challenging to achieve. Here, we introduce a versatile and high-throughput covalent photoimmobilization technique, comprising a light-dose-dependent patterning step and a subsequent functionalization of the pattern via click chemistry. This two-step process is feasible on arbitrary surfaces and allows for generation of sustainable patterns and gradients. The method is validated in different biological systems by patterning adhesive ligands on cell-repellent surfaces, thereby constraining the growth and migration of cells to the designated areas. We then implement a sequential photopatterning approach by adding a second switchable patterning step, allowing for spatiotemporal control over two distinct surface patterns. As a proof of concept, we reconstruct the dynamics of the tip/stalk cell switch during angiogenesis. Our results show that the spatiotemporal control provided by our “sequential photopatterning” system is essential for mimicking dynamic biological processes and that our innovative approach has great potential for further applications in cell science.}, author = {Zisis, Themistoklis and Schwarz, Jan and Balles, Miriam and Kretschmer, Maibritt and Nemethova, Maria and Chait, Remy P and Hauschild, Robert and Lange, Janina and Guet, Calin C and Sixt, Michael K and Zahler, Stefan}, issn = {19448252}, journal = {ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces}, number = {30}, pages = {35545–35560}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, title = {{Sequential and switchable patterning for studying cellular processes under spatiotemporal control}}, doi = {10.1021/acsami.1c09850}, volume = {13}, year = {2021}, } @article{9746, abstract = {Evolutionary adaptation is a major source of antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens. Evolution-informed therapy aims to constrain resistance by accounting for bacterial evolvability. Sequential treatments with antibiotics that target different bacterial processes were previously shown to limit adaptation through genetic resistance trade-offs and negative hysteresis. Treatment with homogeneous sets of antibiotics is generally viewed to be disadvantageous, as it should rapidly lead to cross-resistance. We here challenged this assumption by determining the evolutionary response of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to experimental sequential treatments involving both heterogenous and homogeneous antibiotic sets. To our surprise, we found that fast switching between only β-lactam antibiotics resulted in increased extinction of bacterial populations. We demonstrate that extinction is favored by low rates of spontaneous resistance emergence and low levels of spontaneous cross-resistance among the antibiotics in sequence. The uncovered principles may help to guide the optimized use of available antibiotics in highly potent, evolution-informed treatment designs.}, author = {Batra, Aditi and Römhild, Roderich and Rousseau, Emilie and Franzenburg, Sören and Niemann, Stefan and Schulenburg, Hinrich}, issn = {2050-084X}, journal = {eLife}, publisher = {eLife Sciences Publications}, title = {{High potency of sequential therapy with only beta-lactam antibiotics}}, doi = {10.7554/elife.68876}, volume = {10}, year = {2021}, } @article{10363, abstract = {Erythropoietin enhances oxygen delivery and reduces hypoxia-induced cell death, but its pro-thrombotic activity is problematic for use of erythropoietin in treating hypoxia. We constructed a fusion protein that stimulates red blood cell production and neuroprotection without triggering platelet production, a marker for thrombosis. The protein consists of an anti-glycophorin A nanobody and an erythropoietin mutant (L108A). The mutation reduces activation of erythropoietin receptor homodimers that induce erythropoiesis and thrombosis, but maintains the tissue-protective signaling. The binding of the nanobody element to glycophorin A rescues homodimeric erythropoietin receptor activation on red blood cell precursors. In a cell proliferation assay, the fusion protein is active at 10−14 M, allowing an estimate of the number of receptor–ligand complexes needed for signaling. This fusion protein stimulates erythroid cell proliferation in vitro and in mice, and shows neuroprotective activity in vitro. Our erythropoietin fusion protein presents a novel molecule for treating hypoxia.}, author = {Lee, Jungmin and Vernet, Andyna and Gruber, Nathalie and Kready, Kasia M. and Burrill, Devin R. and Way, Jeffrey C. and Silver, Pamela A.}, issn = {1741-0134}, journal = {Protein Engineering, Design and Selection}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, title = {{Rational engineering of an erythropoietin fusion protein to treat hypoxia}}, doi = {10.1093/protein/gzab025}, volume = {34}, year = {2021}, } @article{9283, abstract = {Gene expression levels are influenced by multiple coexisting molecular mechanisms. Some of these interactions such as those of transcription factors and promoters have been studied extensively. However, predicting phenotypes of gene regulatory networks (GRNs) remains a major challenge. Here, we use a well-defined synthetic GRN to study in Escherichia coli how network phenotypes depend on local genetic context, i.e. the genetic neighborhood of a transcription factor and its relative position. We show that one GRN with fixed topology can display not only quantitatively but also qualitatively different phenotypes, depending solely on the local genetic context of its components. Transcriptional read-through is the main molecular mechanism that places one transcriptional unit (TU) within two separate regulons without the need for complex regulatory sequences. We propose that relative order of individual TUs, with its potential for combinatorial complexity, plays an important role in shaping phenotypes of GRNs.}, author = {Nagy-Staron, Anna A and Tomasek, Kathrin and Caruso Carter, Caroline and Sonnleitner, Elisabeth and Kavcic, Bor and Paixão, Tiago and Guet, Calin C}, issn = {2050-084X}, journal = {eLife}, keywords = {Genetics and Molecular Biology}, publisher = {eLife Sciences Publications}, title = {{Local genetic context shapes the function of a gene regulatory network}}, doi = {10.7554/elife.65993}, volume = {10}, year = {2021}, } @phdthesis{10307, abstract = {Bacteria-host interactions represent a continuous trade-off between benefit and risk. Thus, the host immune response is faced with a non-trivial problem – accommodate beneficial commensals and remove harmful pathogens. This is especially difficult as molecular patterns, such as lipopolysaccharide or specific surface organelles such as pili, are conserved in both, commensal and pathogenic bacteria. Type 1 pili, tightly regulated by phase variation, are considered an important virulence factor of pathogenic bacteria as they facilitate invasion into host cells. While invasion represents a de facto passive mechanism for pathogens to escape the host immune response, we demonstrate a fundamental role of type 1 pili as active modulators of the innate and adaptive immune response.}, author = {Tomasek, Kathrin}, issn = {2663-337X}, pages = {73}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{Pathogenic Escherichia coli hijack the host immune response}}, doi = {10.15479/at:ista:10307}, year = {2021}, } @unpublished{10316, abstract = {A key attribute of persistent or recurring bacterial infections is the ability of the pathogen to evade the host’s immune response. Many Enterobacteriaceae express type 1 pili, a pre-adapted virulence trait, to invade host epithelial cells and establish persistent infections. However, the molecular mechanisms and strategies by which bacteria actively circumvent the immune response of the host remain poorly understood. Here, we identified CD14, the major co-receptor for lipopolysaccharide detection, on dendritic cells as a previously undescribed binding partner of FimH, the protein located at the tip of the type 1 pilus of Escherichia coli. The FimH amino acids involved in CD14 binding are highly conserved across pathogenic and non-pathogenic strains. Binding of pathogenic bacteria to CD14 lead to reduced dendritic cell migration and blunted expression of co-stimulatory molecules, both rate-limiting factors of T cell activation. While defining an active molecular mechanism of immune evasion by pathogens, the interaction between FimH and CD14 represents a potential target to interfere with persistent and recurrent infections, such as urinary tract infections or Crohn’s disease.}, author = {Tomasek, Kathrin and Leithner, Alexander F and Glatzová, Ivana and Lukesch, Michael S. and Guet, Calin C and Sixt, Michael K}, booktitle = {bioRxiv}, publisher = {Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory}, title = {{Type 1 piliated uropathogenic Escherichia coli hijack the host immune response by binding to CD14}}, doi = {10.1101/2021.10.18.464770}, year = {2021}, } @inbook{8173, abstract = {Understanding how the activity of membrane receptors and cellular signaling pathways shapes cell behavior is of fundamental interest in basic and applied research. Reengineering receptors to react to light instead of their cognate ligands allows for generating defined signaling inputs with high spatial and temporal precision and facilitates the dissection of complex signaling networks. Here, we describe fundamental considerations in the design of light-regulated receptor tyrosine kinases (Opto-RTKs) and appropriate control experiments. We also introduce methods for transient receptor expression in HEK293 cells, quantitative assessment of signaling activity in reporter gene assays, semiquantitative assessment of (in)activation time courses through Western blot (WB) analysis, and easy to implement light stimulation hardware.}, author = {Kainrath, Stephanie and Janovjak, Harald L}, booktitle = {Photoswitching Proteins}, editor = {Niopek, Dominik}, issn = {19406029}, pages = {233--246}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Design and application of light-regulated receptor tyrosine kinases}}, doi = {10.1007/978-1-0716-0755-8_16}, volume = {2173}, year = {2020}, } @phdthesis{8155, abstract = {In the thesis we focus on the interplay of the biophysics and evolution of gene regulation. We start by addressing how the type of prokaryotic gene regulation – activation and repression – affects spurious binding to DNA, also known as transcriptional crosstalk. We propose that regulatory interference caused by excess regulatory proteins in the dense cellular medium – global crosstalk – could be a factor in determining which type of gene regulatory network is evolutionarily preferred. Next,we use a normative approach in eukaryotic gene regulation to describe minimal non-equilibrium enhancer models that optimize so-called regulatory phenotypes. We find a class of models that differ from standard thermodynamic equilibrium models by a single parameter that notably increases the regulatory performance. Next chapter addresses the question of genotype-phenotype-fitness maps of higher dimensional phenotypes. We show that our biophysically realistic approach allows us to understand how the mechanisms of promoter function constrain genotypephenotype maps, and how they affect the evolutionary trajectories of promoters. In the last chapter we ask whether the intrinsic instability of gene duplication and amplification provides a generic alternative to canonical gene regulation. Using mathematical modeling, we show that amplifications can tune gene expression in many environments, including those where transcription factor-based schemes are hard to evolve or maintain. }, author = {Grah, Rok}, issn = {2663-337X}, pages = {310}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{Gene regulation across scales – how biophysical constraints shape evolution}}, doi = {10.15479/AT:ISTA:8155}, year = {2020}, } @unpublished{7675, abstract = {In prokaryotes, thermodynamic models of gene regulation provide a highly quantitative mapping from promoter sequences to gene expression levels that is compatible with in vivo and in vitro bio-physical measurements. Such concordance has not been achieved for models of enhancer function in eukaryotes. In equilibrium models, it is difficult to reconcile the reported short transcription factor (TF) residence times on the DNA with the high specificity of regulation. In non-equilibrium models, progress is difficult due to an explosion in the number of parameters. Here, we navigate this complexity by looking for minimal non-equilibrium enhancer models that yield desired regulatory phenotypes: low TF residence time, high specificity and tunable cooperativity. We find that a single extra parameter, interpretable as the “linking rate” by which bound TFs interact with Mediator components, enables our models to escape equilibrium bounds and access optimal regulatory phenotypes, while remaining consistent with the reported phenomenology and simple enough to be inferred from upcoming experiments. We further find that high specificity in non-equilibrium models is in a tradeoff with gene expression noise, predicting bursty dynamics — an experimentally-observed hallmark of eukaryotic transcription. By drastically reducing the vast parameter space to a much smaller subspace that optimally realizes biological function prior to inference from data, our normative approach holds promise for mathematical models in systems biology.}, author = {Grah, Rok and Zoller, Benjamin and Tkačik, Gašper}, booktitle = {bioRxiv}, publisher = {Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory}, title = {{Normative models of enhancer function}}, doi = {10.1101/2020.04.08.029405}, year = {2020}, } @article{7569, abstract = {Genes differ in the frequency at which they are expressed and in the form of regulation used to control their activity. In particular, positive or negative regulation can lead to activation of a gene in response to an external signal. Previous works proposed that the form of regulation of a gene correlates with its frequency of usage: positive regulation when the gene is frequently expressed and negative regulation when infrequently expressed. Such network design means that, in the absence of their regulators, the genes are found in their least required activity state, hence regulatory intervention is often necessary. Due to the multitude of genes and regulators, spurious binding and unbinding events, called “crosstalk”, could occur. To determine how the form of regulation affects the global crosstalk in the network, we used a mathematical model that includes multiple regulators and multiple target genes. We found that crosstalk depends non-monotonically on the availability of regulators. Our analysis showed that excess use of regulation entailed by the formerly suggested network design caused high crosstalk levels in a large part of the parameter space. We therefore considered the opposite ‘idle’ design, where the default unregulated state of genes is their frequently required activity state. We found, that ‘idle’ design minimized the use of regulation and thus minimized crosstalk. In addition, we estimated global crosstalk of S. cerevisiae using transcription factors binding data. We demonstrated that even partial network data could suffice to estimate its global crosstalk, suggesting its applicability to additional organisms. We found that S. cerevisiae estimated crosstalk is lower than that of a random network, suggesting that natural selection reduces crosstalk. In summary, our study highlights a new type of protein production cost which is typically overlooked: that of regulatory interference caused by the presence of excess regulators in the cell. It demonstrates the importance of whole-network descriptions, which could show effects missed by single-gene models.}, author = {Grah, Rok and Friedlander, Tamar}, issn = {1553-7358}, journal = {PLOS Computational Biology}, number = {2}, publisher = {Public Library of Science}, title = {{The relation between crosstalk and gene regulation form revisited}}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007642}, volume = {16}, year = {2020}, } @misc{8951, abstract = {Gene expression levels are influenced by multiple coexisting molecular mechanisms. Some of these interactions, such as those of transcription factors and promoters have been studied extensively. However, predicting phenotypes of gene regulatory networks remains a major challenge. Here, we use a well-defined synthetic gene regulatory network to study how network phenotypes depend on local genetic context, i.e. the genetic neighborhood of a transcription factor and its relative position. We show that one gene regulatory network with fixed topology can display not only quantitatively but also qualitatively different phenotypes, depending solely on the local genetic context of its components. Our results demonstrate that changes in local genetic context can place a single transcriptional unit within two separate regulons without the need for complex regulatory sequences. We propose that relative order of individual transcriptional units, with its potential for combinatorial complexity, plays an important role in shaping phenotypes of gene regulatory networks.}, author = {Nagy-Staron, Anna A}, keywords = {Gene regulatory networks, Gene expression, Escherichia coli, Synthetic Biology}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{Sequences of gene regulatory network permutations for the article "Local genetic context shapes the function of a gene regulatory network"}}, doi = {10.15479/AT:ISTA:8951}, year = {2020}, } @misc{7383, abstract = {Organisms cope with change by employing transcriptional regulators. However, when faced with rare environments, the evolution of transcriptional regulators and their promoters may be too slow. We ask whether the intrinsic instability of gene duplication and amplification provides a generic alternative to canonical gene regulation. By real-time monitoring of gene copy number mutations in E. coli, we show that gene duplications and amplifications enable adaptation to fluctuating environments by rapidly generating copy number, and hence expression level, polymorphism. This ‘amplification-mediated gene expression tuning’ occurs on timescales similar to canonical gene regulation and can deal with rapid environmental changes. Mathematical modeling shows that amplifications also tune gene expression in stochastic environments where transcription factor-based schemes are hard to evolve or maintain. The fleeting nature of gene amplifications gives rise to a generic population-level mechanism that relies on genetic heterogeneity to rapidly tune expression of any gene, without leaving any genomic signature.}, author = {Grah, Rok}, keywords = {Matlab scripts, analysis of microfluidics, mathematical model}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{Matlab scripts for the Paper: Gene Amplification as a Form of Population-Level Gene Expression regulation}}, doi = {10.15479/AT:ISTA:7383}, year = {2020}, } @phdthesis{7680, abstract = {Proteins and their complex dynamic interactions regulate cellular mechanisms from sensing and transducing extracellular signals, to mediating genetic responses, and sustaining or changing cell morphology. To manipulate these protein-protein interactions (PPIs) that govern the behavior and fate of cells, synthetically constructed, genetically encoded tools provide the means to precisely target proteins of interest (POIs), and control their subcellular localization and activity in vitro and in vivo. Ideal synthetic tools react to an orthogonal cue, i.e. a trigger that does not activate any other endogenous process, thereby allowing manipulation of the POI alone. In optogenetics, naturally occurring photosensory domain from plants, algae and bacteria are re-purposed and genetically fused to POIs. Illumination with light of a specific wavelength triggers a conformational change that can mediate PPIs, such as dimerization or oligomerization. By using light as a trigger, these tools can be activated with high spatial and temporal precision, on subcellular and millisecond scales. Chemogenetic tools consist of protein domains that recognize and bind small molecules. By genetic fusion to POIs, these domains can mediate PPIs upon addition of their specific ligands, which are often synthetically designed to provide highly specific interactions and exhibit good bioavailability. Most optogenetic tools to mediate PPIs are based on well-studied photoreceptors responding to red, blue or near-UV light, leaving a striking gap in the green band of the visible light spectrum. Among both optogenetic and chemogenetic tools, there is an abundance of methods to induce PPIs, but tools to disrupt them require UV illumination, rely on covalent linkage and subsequent enzymatic cleavage or initially result in protein clustering of unknown stoichiometry. This work describes how the recently structurally and photochemically characterized green-light responsive cobalamin-binding domains (CBDs) from bacterial transcription factors were re-purposed to function as a green-light responsive optogenetic tool. In contrast to previously engineered optogenetic tools, CBDs do not induce PPI, but rather confer a PPI already upon expression, which can be rapidly disrupted by illumination. This was employed to mimic inhibition of constitutive activity of a growth factor receptor, and successfully implement for cell signalling in mammalian cells and in vivo to rescue development in zebrafish. This work further describes the development and application of a chemically induced de-dimerizer (CDD) based on a recently identified and structurally described bacterial oxyreductase. CDD forms a dimer upon expression in absence of its cofactor, the flavin derivative F420. Safety and of domain expression and ligand exposure are demonstrated in vitro and in vivo in zebrafish. The system is further applied to inhibit cell signalling output from a chimeric receptor upon F420 treatment. CBDs and CDD expand the repertoire of synthetic tools by providing novel mechanisms of mediating PPIs, and by recognizing previously not utilized cues. In the future, they can readily be combined with existing synthetic tools to functionally manipulate PPIs in vitro and in vivo.}, author = {Kainrath, Stephanie}, issn = {2663-337X}, pages = {98}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{Synthetic tools for optogenetic and chemogenetic inhibition of cellular signals}}, doi = {10.15479/AT:ISTA:7680}, year = {2020}, } @article{7652, abstract = {Organisms cope with change by taking advantage of transcriptional regulators. However, when faced with rare environments, the evolution of transcriptional regulators and their promoters may be too slow. Here, we investigate whether the intrinsic instability of gene duplication and amplification provides a generic alternative to canonical gene regulation. Using real-time monitoring of gene-copy-number mutations in Escherichia coli, we show that gene duplications and amplifications enable adaptation to fluctuating environments by rapidly generating copy-number and, therefore, expression-level polymorphisms. This amplification-mediated gene expression tuning (AMGET) occurs on timescales that are similar to canonical gene regulation and can respond to rapid environmental changes. Mathematical modelling shows that amplifications also tune gene expression in stochastic environments in which transcription-factor-based schemes are hard to evolve or maintain. The fleeting nature of gene amplifications gives rise to a generic population-level mechanism that relies on genetic heterogeneity to rapidly tune the expression of any gene, without leaving any genomic signature.}, author = {Tomanek, Isabella and Grah, Rok and Lagator, M. and Andersson, A. M. C. and Bollback, Jonathan P and Tkačik, Gašper and Guet, Calin C}, issn = {2397-334X}, journal = {Nature Ecology & Evolution}, number = {4}, pages = {612--625}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Gene amplification as a form of population-level gene expression regulation}}, doi = {10.1038/s41559-020-1132-7}, volume = {4}, year = {2020}, } @phdthesis{8653, abstract = {Mutations are the raw material of evolution and come in many different flavors. Point mutations change a single letter in the DNA sequence, while copy number mutations like duplications or deletions add or remove many letters of the DNA sequence simultaneously. Each type of mutation exhibits specific properties like its rate of formation and reversal. Gene expression is a fundamental phenotype that can be altered by both, point and copy number mutations. The following thesis is concerned with the dynamics of gene expression evolution and how it is affected by the properties exhibited by point and copy number mutations. Specifically, we are considering i) copy number mutations during adaptation to fluctuating environments and ii) the interaction of copy number and point mutations during adaptation to constant environments.  }, author = {Tomanek, Isabella}, issn = {2663-337X}, keywords = {duplication, amplification, promoter, CNV, AMGET, experimental evolution, Escherichia coli}, pages = {117}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{The evolution of gene expression by copy number and point mutations}}, doi = {10.15479/AT:ISTA:8653}, year = {2020}, } @article{6465, abstract = {Tight control over protein degradation is a fundamental requirement for cells to respond rapidly to various stimuli and adapt to a fluctuating environment. Here we develop a versatile, easy-to-handle library of destabilizing tags (degrons) for the precise regulation of protein expression profiles in mammalian cells by modulating target protein half-lives in a predictable manner. Using the well-established tetracycline gene-regulation system as a model, we show that the dynamics of protein expression can be tuned by fusing appropriate degron tags to gene regulators. Next, we apply this degron library to tune a synthetic pulse-generating circuit in mammalian cells. With this toolbox we establish a set of pulse generators with tailored pulse lengths and magnitudes of protein expression. This methodology will prove useful in the functional roles of essential proteins, fine-tuning of gene-expression systems, and enabling a higher complexity in the design of synthetic biological systems in mammalian cells.}, author = {Chassin, Hélène and Müller, Marius and Tigges, Marcel and Scheller, Leo and Lang, Moritz and Fussenegger, Martin}, issn = {20411723}, journal = {Nature Communications}, number = {1}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{A modular degron library for synthetic circuits in mammalian cells}}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-019-09974-5}, volume = {10}, year = {2019}, } @article{6717, abstract = {With the recent publication by Silpe and Bassler (2019), considering phage detection of a bacterial quorum-sensing (QS) autoinducer, we now have as many as five examples of phage-associated intercellular communication (Table 1). Each potentially involves ecological inferences by phages as to concentrations of surrounding phage-infected or uninfected bacteria. While the utility of phage detection of bacterial QS molecules may at first glance appear to be straightforward, we suggest in this commentary that the underlying ecological explanation is unlikely to be simple.}, author = {Igler, Claudia and Abedon, Stephen T.}, journal = {Frontiers in Microbiology}, publisher = {Frontiers}, title = {{Commentary: A host-produced quorum-sensing autoinducer controls a phage lysis-lysogeny decision}}, doi = {10.3389/fmicb.2019.01171}, volume = {10}, year = {2019}, } @article{6784, abstract = {Mathematical models have been used successfully at diverse scales of biological organization, ranging from ecology and population dynamics to stochastic reaction events occurring between individual molecules in single cells. Generally, many biological processes unfold across multiple scales, with mutations being the best studied example of how stochasticity at the molecular scale can influence outcomes at the population scale. In many other contexts, however, an analogous link between micro- and macro-scale remains elusive, primarily due to the challenges involved in setting up and analyzing multi-scale models. Here, we employ such a model to investigate how stochasticity propagates from individual biochemical reaction events in the bacterial innate immune system to the ecology of bacteria and bacterial viruses. We show analytically how the dynamics of bacterial populations are shaped by the activities of immunity-conferring enzymes in single cells and how the ecological consequences imply optimal bacterial defense strategies against viruses. Our results suggest that bacterial populations in the presence of viruses can either optimize their initial growth rate or their population size, with the first strategy favoring simple immunity featuring a single restriction modification system and the second strategy favoring complex bacterial innate immunity featuring several simultaneously active restriction modification systems.}, author = {Ruess, Jakob and Pleska, Maros and Guet, Calin C and Tkačik, Gašper}, issn = {1553-7358}, journal = {PLoS Computational Biology}, number = {7}, publisher = {Public Library of Science}, title = {{Molecular noise of innate immunity shapes bacteria-phage ecologies}}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007168}, volume = {15}, year = {2019}, } @misc{9786, author = {Ruess, Jakob and Pleska, Maros and Guet, Calin C and Tkačik, Gašper}, publisher = {Public Library of Science}, title = {{Supporting text and results}}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007168.s001}, year = {2019}, } @inproceedings{7147, abstract = {The expression of a gene is characterised by its transcription factors and the function processing them. If the transcription factors are not affected by gene products, the regulating function is often represented as a combinational logic circuit, where the outputs (product) are determined by current input values (transcription factors) only, and are hence independent on their relative arrival times. However, the simultaneous arrival of transcription factors (TFs) in genetic circuits is a strong assumption, given that the processes of transcription and translation of a gene into a protein introduce intrinsic time delays and that there is no global synchronisation among the arrival times of different molecular species at molecular targets. In this paper, we construct an experimentally implementable genetic circuit with two inputs and a single output, such that, in presence of small delays in input arrival, the circuit exhibits qualitatively distinct observable phenotypes. In particular, these phenotypes are long lived transients: they all converge to a single value, but so slowly, that they seem stable for an extended time period, longer than typical experiment duration. We used rule-based language to prototype our circuit, and we implemented a search for finding the parameter combinations raising the phenotypes of interest. The behaviour of our prototype circuit has wide implications. First, it suggests that GRNs can exploit event timing to create phenotypes. Second, it opens the possibility that GRNs are using event timing to react to stimuli and memorise events, without explicit feedback in regulation. From the modelling perspective, our prototype circuit demonstrates the critical importance of analysing the transient dynamics at the promoter binding sites of the DNA, before applying rapid equilibrium assumptions.}, author = {Guet, Calin C and Henzinger, Thomas A and Igler, Claudia and Petrov, Tatjana and Sezgin, Ali}, booktitle = {17th International Conference on Computational Methods in Systems Biology}, isbn = {9783030313036}, issn = {1611-3349}, location = {Trieste, Italy}, pages = {155--187}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Transient memory in gene regulation}}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-030-31304-3_9}, volume = {11773}, year = {2019}, } @article{138, abstract = {Autoregulation is the direct modulation of gene expression by the product of the corresponding gene. Autoregulation of bacterial gene expression has been mostly studied at the transcriptional level, when a protein acts as the cognate transcriptional repressor. A recent study investigating dynamics of the bacterial toxin–antitoxin MazEF system has shown how autoregulation at both the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels affects the heterogeneity of Escherichia coli populations. Toxin–antitoxin systems hold a crucial but still elusive part in bacterial response to stress. This perspective highlights how these modules can also serve as a great model system for investigating basic concepts in gene regulation. However, as the genomic background and environmental conditions substantially influence toxin activation, it is important to study (auto)regulation of toxin–antitoxin systems in well-defined setups as well as in conditions that resemble the environmental niche.}, author = {Nikolic, Nela}, journal = {Current Genetics}, number = {1}, pages = {133--138}, publisher = {Springer}, title = {{Autoregulation of bacterial gene expression: lessons from the MazEF toxin–antitoxin system}}, doi = {10.1007/s00294-018-0879-8}, volume = {65}, year = {2019}, } @article{196, abstract = {The abelian sandpile serves as a model to study self-organized criticality, a phenomenon occurring in biological, physical and social processes. The identity of the abelian group is a fractal composed of self-similar patches, and its limit is subject of extensive collaborative research. Here, we analyze the evolution of the sandpile identity under harmonic fields of different orders. We show that this evolution corresponds to periodic cycles through the abelian group characterized by the smooth transformation and apparent conservation of the patches constituting the identity. The dynamics induced by second and third order harmonics resemble smooth stretchings, respectively translations, of the identity, while the ones induced by fourth order harmonics resemble magnifications and rotations. Starting with order three, the dynamics pass through extended regions of seemingly random configurations which spontaneously reassemble into accentuated patterns. We show that the space of harmonic functions projects to the extended analogue of the sandpile group, thus providing a set of universal coordinates identifying configurations between different domains. Since the original sandpile group is a subgroup of the extended one, this directly implies that it admits a natural renormalization. Furthermore, we show that the harmonic fields can be induced by simple Markov processes, and that the corresponding stochastic dynamics show remarkable robustness over hundreds of periods. Finally, we encode information into seemingly random configurations, and decode this information with an algorithm requiring minimal prior knowledge. Our results suggest that harmonic fields might split the sandpile group into sub-sets showing different critical coefficients, and that it might be possible to extend the fractal structure of the identity beyond the boundaries of its domain. }, author = {Lang, Moritz and Shkolnikov, Mikhail}, issn = {1091-6490}, journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}, number = {8}, pages = {2821--2830}, publisher = {National Academy of Sciences}, title = {{Harmonic dynamics of the Abelian sandpile}}, doi = {10.1073/pnas.1812015116}, volume = {116}, year = {2019}, } @misc{7016, abstract = {Organisms cope with change by employing transcriptional regulators. However, when faced with rare environments, the evolution of transcriptional regulators and their promoters may be too slow. We ask whether the intrinsic instability of gene duplication and amplification provides a generic alternative to canonical gene regulation. By real-time monitoring of gene copy number mutations in E. coli, we show that gene duplications and amplifications enable adaptation to fluctuating environments by rapidly generating copy number, and hence expression level, polymorphism. This ‘amplification-mediated gene expression tuning’ occurs on timescales similar to canonical gene regulation and can deal with rapid environmental changes. Mathematical modeling shows that amplifications also tune gene expression in stochastic environments where transcription factor-based schemes are hard to evolve or maintain. The fleeting nature of gene amplifications gives rise to a generic population-level mechanism that relies on genetic heterogeneity to rapidly tune expression of any gene, without leaving any genomic signature.}, author = {Tomanek, Isabella}, keywords = {Escherichia coli, gene amplification, galactose, DOG, experimental evolution, Illumina sequence data, FACS data, microfluidics data}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{Data for the paper "Gene amplification as a form of population-level gene expression regulation"}}, doi = {10.15479/AT:ISTA:7016}, year = {2019}, } @phdthesis{6371, abstract = {Decades of studies have revealed the mechanisms of gene regulation in molecular detail. We make use of such well-described regulatory systems to explore how the molecular mechanisms of protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions shape the dynamics and evolution of gene regulation. i) We uncover how the biophysics of protein-DNA binding determines the potential of regulatory networks to evolve and adapt, which can be captured using a simple mathematical model. ii) The evolution of regulatory connections can lead to a significant amount of crosstalk between binding proteins. We explore the effect of crosstalk on gene expression from a target promoter, which seems to be modulated through binding competition at non-specific DNA sites. iii) We investigate how the very same biophysical characteristics as in i) can generate significant fitness costs for cells through global crosstalk, meaning non-specific DNA binding across the genomic background. iv) Binding competition between proteins at a target promoter is a prevailing regulatory feature due to the prevalence of co-regulation at bacterial promoters. However, the dynamics of these systems are not always straightforward to determine even if the molecular mechanisms of regulation are known. A detailed model of the biophysical interactions reveals that interference between the regulatory proteins can constitute a new, generic form of system memory that records the history of the input signals at the promoter. We demonstrate how the biophysics of protein-DNA binding can be harnessed to investigate the principles that shape and ultimately limit cellular gene regulation. These results provide a basis for studies of higher-level functionality, which arises from the underlying regulation. }, author = {Igler, Claudia}, issn = {2663-337X}, keywords = {gene regulation, biophysics, transcription factor binding, bacteria}, pages = {152}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{On the nature of gene regulatory design - The biophysics of transcription factor binding shapes gene regulation}}, doi = {10.15479/AT:ISTA:6371}, year = {2019}, } @article{305, abstract = {The hanging-drop network (HDN) is a technology platform based on a completely open microfluidic network at the bottom of an inverted, surface-patterned substrate. The platform is predominantly used for the formation, culturing, and interaction of self-assembled spherical microtissues (spheroids) under precisely controlled flow conditions. Here, we describe design, fabrication, and operation of microfluidic hanging-drop networks.}, author = {Misun, Patrick and Birchler, Axel and Lang, Moritz and Hierlemann, Andreas and Frey, Olivier}, journal = {Methods in Molecular Biology}, pages = {183 -- 202}, publisher = {Springer}, title = {{Fabrication and operation of microfluidic hanging drop networks}}, doi = {10.1007/978-1-4939-7792-5_15}, volume = {1771}, year = {2018}, } @article{723, abstract = {Escaping local optima is one of the major obstacles to function optimisation. Using the metaphor of a fitness landscape, local optima correspond to hills separated by fitness valleys that have to be overcome. We define a class of fitness valleys of tunable difficulty by considering their length, representing the Hamming path between the two optima and their depth, the drop in fitness. For this function class we present a runtime comparison between stochastic search algorithms using different search strategies. The (1+1) EA is a simple and well-studied evolutionary algorithm that has to jump across the valley to a point of higher fitness because it does not accept worsening moves (elitism). In contrast, the Metropolis algorithm and the Strong Selection Weak Mutation (SSWM) algorithm, a famous process in population genetics, are both able to cross the fitness valley by accepting worsening moves. We show that the runtime of the (1+1) EA depends critically on the length of the valley while the runtimes of the non-elitist algorithms depend crucially on the depth of the valley. Moreover, we show that both SSWM and Metropolis can also efficiently optimise a rugged function consisting of consecutive valleys.}, author = {Oliveto, Pietro and Paixao, Tiago and Pérez Heredia, Jorge and Sudholt, Dirk and Trubenova, Barbora}, journal = {Algorithmica}, number = {5}, pages = {1604 -- 1633}, publisher = {Springer}, title = {{How to escape local optima in black box optimisation when non elitism outperforms elitism}}, doi = {10.1007/s00453-017-0369-2}, volume = {80}, year = {2018}, } @article{503, abstract = {Buffers are essential for diluting bacterial cultures for flow cytometry analysis in order to study bacterial physiology and gene expression parameters based on fluorescence signals. Using a variety of constitutively expressed fluorescent proteins in Escherichia coli K-12 strain MG1655, we found strong artifactual changes in fluorescence levels after dilution into the commonly used flow cytometry buffer phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and two other buffer solutions, Tris-HCl and M9 salts. These changes appeared very rapidly after dilution, and were linked to increased membrane permeability and loss in cell viability. We observed buffer-related effects in several different E. coli strains, K-12, C and W, but not E. coli B, which can be partially explained by differences in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and outer membrane composition. Supplementing the buffers with divalent cations responsible for outer membrane stability, Mg2+ and Ca2+, preserved fluorescence signals, membrane integrity and viability of E. coli. Thus, stabilizing the bacterial outer membrane is essential for precise and unbiased measurements of fluorescence parameters using flow cytometry.}, author = {Tomasek, Kathrin and Bergmiller, Tobias and Guet, Calin C}, journal = {Journal of Biotechnology}, pages = {40 -- 52}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{Lack of cations in flow cytometry buffers affect fluorescence signals by reducing membrane stability and viability of Escherichia coli strains}}, doi = {10.1016/j.jbiotec.2018.01.008}, volume = {268}, year = {2018}, } @article{82, abstract = {In experimental cultures, when bacteria are mixed with lytic (virulent) bacteriophage, bacterial cells resistant to the phage commonly emerge and become the dominant population of bacteria. Following the ascent of resistant mutants, the densities of bacteria in these simple communities become limited by resources rather than the phage. Despite the evolution of resistant hosts, upon which the phage cannot replicate, the lytic phage population is most commonly maintained in an apparently stable state with the resistant bacteria. Several mechanisms have been put forward to account for this result. Here we report the results of population dynamic/evolution experiments with a virulent mutant of phage Lambda, λVIR, and Escherichia coli in serial transfer cultures. We show that, following the ascent of λVIR-resistant bacteria, λVIRis maintained in the majority of cases in maltose-limited minimal media and in all cases in nutrient-rich broth. Using mathematical models and experiments, we show that the dominant mechanism responsible for maintenance of λVIRin these resource-limited populations dominated by resistant E. coli is a high rate of either phenotypic or genetic transition from resistance to susceptibility—a hitherto undemonstrated mechanism we term "leaky resistance." We discuss the implications of leaky resistance to our understanding of the conditions for the maintenance of phage in populations of bacteria—their “existence conditions.”.}, author = {Chaudhry, Waqas and Pleska, Maros and Shah, Nilang and Weiss, Howard and Mccall, Ingrid and Meyer, Justin and Gupta, Animesh and Guet, Calin C and Levin, Bruce}, journal = {PLoS Biology}, number = {8}, publisher = {Public Library of Science}, title = {{Leaky resistance and the conditions for the existence of lytic bacteriophage}}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pbio.2005971}, volume = {16}, year = {2018}, } @misc{9810, author = {Chaudhry, Waqas and Pleska, Maros and Shah, Nilang and Weiss, Howard and Mccall, Ingrid and Meyer, Justin and Gupta, Animesh and Guet, Calin C and Levin, Bruce}, publisher = {Public Library of Science}, title = {{Numerical data used in figures}}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pbio.2005971.s008}, year = {2018}, } @article{457, abstract = {Temperate bacteriophages integrate in bacterial genomes as prophages and represent an important source of genetic variation for bacterial evolution, frequently transmitting fitness-augmenting genes such as toxins responsible for virulence of major pathogens. However, only a fraction of bacteriophage infections are lysogenic and lead to prophage acquisition, whereas the majority are lytic and kill the infected bacteria. Unless able to discriminate lytic from lysogenic infections, mechanisms of immunity to bacteriophages are expected to act as a double-edged sword and increase the odds of survival at the cost of depriving bacteria of potentially beneficial prophages. We show that although restriction-modification systems as mechanisms of innate immunity prevent both lytic and lysogenic infections indiscriminately in individual bacteria, they increase the number of prophage-acquiring individuals at the population level. We find that this counterintuitive result is a consequence of phage-host population dynamics, in which restriction-modification systems delay infection onset until bacteria reach densities at which the probability of lysogeny increases. These results underscore the importance of population-level dynamics as a key factor modulating costs and benefits of immunity to temperate bacteriophages}, author = {Pleska, Maros and Lang, Moritz and Refardt, Dominik and Levin, Bruce and Guet, Calin C}, journal = {Nature Ecology and Evolution}, number = {2}, pages = {359 -- 366}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Phage-host population dynamics promotes prophage acquisition in bacteria with innate immunity}}, doi = {10.1038/s41559-017-0424-z}, volume = {2}, year = {2018}, } @article{5984, abstract = {G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) form the largest receptor family, relay environmental stimuli to changes in cell behavior and represent prime drug targets. Many GPCRs are classified as orphan receptors because of the limited knowledge on their ligands and coupling to cellular signaling machineries. Here, we engineer a library of 63 chimeric receptors that contain the signaling domains of human orphan and understudied GPCRs functionally linked to the light-sensing domain of rhodopsin. Upon stimulation with visible light, we identify activation of canonical cell signaling pathways, including cAMP-, Ca2+-, MAPK/ERK-, and Rho-dependent pathways, downstream of the engineered receptors. For the human pseudogene GPR33, we resurrect a signaling function that supports its hypothesized role as a pathogen entry site. These results demonstrate that substituting unknown chemical activators with a light switch can reveal information about protein function and provide an optically controlled protein library for exploring the physiology and therapeutic potential of understudied GPCRs.}, author = {Morri, Maurizio and Sanchez-Romero, Inmaculada and Tichy, Alexandra-Madelaine and Kainrath, Stephanie and Gerrard, Elliot J. and Hirschfeld, Priscila and Schwarz, Jan and Janovjak, Harald L}, issn = {2041-1723}, journal = {Nature Communications}, number = {1}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Optical functionalization of human class A orphan G-protein-coupled receptors}}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-018-04342-1}, volume = {9}, year = {2018}, } @article{19, abstract = {Bacteria regulate genes to survive antibiotic stress, but regulation can be far from perfect. When regulation is not optimal, mutations that change gene expression can contribute to antibiotic resistance. It is not systematically understood to what extent natural gene regulation is or is not optimal for distinct antibiotics, and how changes in expression of specific genes quantitatively affect antibiotic resistance. Here we discover a simple quantitative relation between fitness, gene expression, and antibiotic potency, which rationalizes our observation that a multitude of genes and even innate antibiotic defense mechanisms have expression that is critically nonoptimal under antibiotic treatment. First, we developed a pooled-strain drug-diffusion assay and screened Escherichia coli overexpression and knockout libraries, finding that resistance to a range of 31 antibiotics could result from changing expression of a large and functionally diverse set of genes, in a primarily but not exclusively drug-specific manner. Second, by synthetically controlling the expression of single-drug and multidrug resistance genes, we observed that their fitness-expression functions changed dramatically under antibiotic treatment in accordance with a log-sensitivity relation. Thus, because many genes are nonoptimally expressed under antibiotic treatment, many regulatory mutations can contribute to resistance by altering expression and by activating latent defenses.}, author = {Palmer, Adam and Chait, Remy P and Kishony, Roy}, issn = {0737-4038}, journal = {Molecular Biology and Evolution}, number = {11}, pages = {2669 -- 2684}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, title = {{Nonoptimal gene expression creates latent potential for antibiotic resistance}}, doi = {10.1093/molbev/msy163}, volume = {35}, year = {2018}, } @article{438, abstract = {The MazF toxin sequence-specifically cleaves single-stranded RNA upon various stressful conditions, and it is activated as a part of the mazEF toxin–antitoxin module in Escherichia coli. Although autoregulation of mazEF expression through the MazE antitoxin-dependent transcriptional repression has been biochemically characterized, less is known about post-transcriptional autoregulation, as well as how both of these autoregulatory features affect growth of single cells during conditions that promote MazF production. Here, we demonstrate post-transcriptional autoregulation of mazF expression dynamics by MazF cleaving its own transcript. Single-cell analyses of bacterial populations during ectopic MazF production indicated that two-level autoregulation of mazEF expression influences cell-to-cell growth rate heterogeneity. The increase in growth rate heterogeneity is governed by the MazE antitoxin, and tuned by the MazF-dependent mazF mRNA cleavage. Also, both autoregulatory features grant rapid exit from the stress caused by mazF overexpression. Time-lapse microscopy revealed that MazF-mediated cleavage of mazF mRNA leads to increased temporal variability in length of individual cells during ectopic mazF overexpression, as explained by a stochastic model indicating that mazEF mRNA cleavage underlies temporal fluctuations in MazF levels during stress.}, author = {Nikolic, Nela and Bergmiller, Tobias and Vandervelde, Alexandra and Albanese, Tanino and Gelens, Lendert and Moll, Isabella}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Research}, number = {6}, pages = {2918--2931}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, title = {{Autoregulation of mazEF expression underlies growth heterogeneity in bacterial populations}}, doi = {10.1093/nar/gky079}, volume = {46}, year = {2018}, } @misc{5569, abstract = {Nela Nikolic, Tobias Bergmiller, Alexandra Vandervelde, Tanino G. Albanese, Lendert Gelens, and Isabella Moll (2018) “Autoregulation of mazEF expression underlies growth heterogeneity in bacterial populations” Nucleic Acids Research, doi: 10.15479/AT:ISTA:74; microscopy experiments by Tobias Bergmiller; image and data analysis by Nela Nikolic.}, author = {Bergmiller, Tobias and Nikolic, Nela}, keywords = {microscopy, microfluidics}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{Time-lapse microscopy data}}, doi = {10.15479/AT:ISTA:74}, year = {2018}, } @article{161, abstract = {Which properties of metabolic networks can be derived solely from stoichiometry? Predictive results have been obtained by flux balance analysis (FBA), by postulating that cells set metabolic fluxes to maximize growth rate. Here we consider a generalization of FBA to single-cell level using maximum entropy modeling, which we extend and test experimentally. Specifically, we define for Escherichia coli metabolism a flux distribution that yields the experimental growth rate: the model, containing FBA as a limit, provides a better match to measured fluxes and it makes a wide range of predictions: on flux variability, regulation, and correlations; on the relative importance of stoichiometry vs. optimization; on scaling relations for growth rate distributions. We validate the latter here with single-cell data at different sub-inhibitory antibiotic concentrations. The model quantifies growth optimization as emerging from the interplay of competitive dynamics in the population and regulation of metabolism at the level of single cells.}, author = {De Martino, Daniele and Mc, Andersson Anna and Bergmiller, Tobias and Guet, Calin C and Tkacik, Gasper}, journal = {Nature Communications}, number = {1}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Statistical mechanics for metabolic networks during steady state growth}}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-018-05417-9}, volume = {9}, year = {2018}, } @phdthesis{26, abstract = {Expression of genes is a fundamental molecular phenotype that is subject to evolution by different types of mutations. Both the rate and the effect of mutations may depend on the DNA sequence context of a particular gene or a particular promoter sequence. In this thesis I investigate the nature of this dependence using simple genetic systems in Escherichia coli. With these systems I explore the evolution of constitutive gene expression from random starting sequences at different loci on the chromosome and at different locations in sequence space. First, I dissect chromosomal neighborhood effects that underlie locus-dependent differences in the potential of a gene under selection to become more highly expressed. Next, I find that the effects of point mutations in promoter sequences are dependent on sequence context, and that an existing energy matrix model performs poorly in predicting relative expression of unrelated sequences. Finally, I show that a substantial fraction of random sequences contain functional promoters and I present an extended thermodynamic model that predicts promoter strength in full sequence space. Taken together, these results provide new insights and guides on how to integrate information on sequence context to improve our qualitative and quantitative understanding of bacterial gene expression, with implications for rapid evolution of drug resistance, de novo evolution of genes, and horizontal gene transfer.}, author = {Steinrück, Magdalena}, issn = {2663-337X}, pages = {109}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{The influence of sequence context on the evolution of bacterial gene expression}}, doi = {10.15479/AT:ISTA:th1059}, year = {2018}, } @article{67, abstract = {Gene regulatory networks evolve through rewiring of individual components—that is, through changes in regulatory connections. However, the mechanistic basis of regulatory rewiring is poorly understood. Using a canonical gene regulatory system, we quantify the properties of transcription factors that determine the evolutionary potential for rewiring of regulatory connections: robustness, tunability and evolvability. In vivo repression measurements of two repressors at mutated operator sites reveal their contrasting evolutionary potential: while robustness and evolvability were positively correlated, both were in trade-off with tunability. Epistatic interactions between adjacent operators alleviated this trade-off. A thermodynamic model explains how the differences in robustness, tunability and evolvability arise from biophysical characteristics of repressor–DNA binding. The model also uncovers that the energy matrix, which describes how mutations affect repressor–DNA binding, encodes crucial information about the evolutionary potential of a repressor. The biophysical determinants of evolutionary potential for regulatory rewiring constitute a mechanistic framework for understanding network evolution.}, author = {Igler, Claudia and Lagator, Mato and Tkacik, Gasper and Bollback, Jonathan P and Guet, Calin C}, journal = {Nature Ecology and Evolution}, number = {10}, pages = {1633 -- 1643}, publisher = {Nature Publishing Group}, title = {{Evolutionary potential of transcription factors for gene regulatory rewiring}}, doi = {10.1038/s41559-018-0651-y}, volume = {2}, year = {2018}, } @misc{5585, abstract = {Mean repression values and standard error of the mean are given for all operator mutant libraries.}, author = {Igler, Claudia and Lagator, Mato and Tkacik, Gasper and Bollback, Jonathan P and Guet, Calin C}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{Data for the paper Evolutionary potential of transcription factors for gene regulatory rewiring}}, doi = {10.15479/AT:ISTA:108}, year = {2018}, } @article{538, abstract = {Optogenetik und Photopharmakologie ermöglichen präzise räumliche und zeitliche Kontrolle von Proteinwechselwirkung und -funktion in Zellen und Tieren. Optogenetische Methoden, die auf grünes Licht ansprechen und zum Trennen von Proteinkomplexen geeignet sind, sind nichtweitläufig verfügbar, würden jedoch mehrfarbige Experimente zur Beantwortung von biologischen Fragestellungen ermöglichen. Hier demonstrieren wir die Verwendung von Cobalamin(Vitamin B12)-bindenden Domänen von bakteriellen CarH-Transkriptionsfaktoren zur Grünlicht-induzierten Dissoziation von Rezeptoren. Fusioniert mit dem Fibroblasten-W achstumsfaktor-Rezeptor 1 führten diese im Dunkeln in kultivierten Zellen zu Signalaktivität durch Oligomerisierung, welche durch Beleuchten umgehend aufgehoben wurde. In Zebrafischembryonen, die einen derartigen Rezeptor exprimieren, ermöglichte grünes Licht die Kontrolle über abnormale Signalaktivität während der Embryonalentwicklung. }, author = {Kainrath, Stephanie and Stadler, Manuela and Gschaider-Reichhart, Eva and Distel, Martin and Janovjak, Harald L}, journal = {Angewandte Chemie}, number = {16}, pages = {4679 -- 4682}, publisher = {Wiley}, title = {{Grünlicht-induzierte Rezeptorinaktivierung durch Cobalamin-bindende Domänen}}, doi = {10.1002/ange.201611998}, volume = {129}, year = {2017}, }