@article{22254,
  abstract     = {The global rise of antimicrobial resistance has intensified the search for new microbial metabolites from underexplored environments and taxonomic groups. Extreme and geographically isolated habitats such as Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems represent promising reservoirs of biosynthetic diversity, particularly among rare and difficult-to-cultivate actinomycetes that may produce chemically diverse metabolites with potential biotechnological applications. Here, we report the characterization of kineochelins, a previously undescribed group of siderophores produced by the Antarctic isolate Actinokineospora sp. UV203, representing a difficult-to-cultivate actinomycete lineage. Structural elucidation revealed a set of closely related congeners with a mixed-ligand architecture consistent with metal-chelating activity. Genome mining combined with transcriptomic analysis identified a dedicated nonribosomal peptide synthetase-encoding biosynthetic gene cluster responsible for kineochelin production. Comparative genomic analyses indicated that, although kineochelin biosynthetic genes share limited similarity with known mixed-ligand siderophores, their gene content and organization differ substantially, suggesting a distinct biosynthetic lineage. Functional characterization of the culture supernatant and an enriched pre-purified kineochelin fraction demonstrated strong and selective iron chelation, with high affinity for ferric and ferrous iron. Crude culture extracts inhibited the growth of bacterial strains isolated from the same Antarctic environment, indicating that kineochelins may contribute to iron-mediated microbial competition. In addition, kineochelin-enriched pre-purified fractions showed moderate selective inhibitory activity against the opportunistic yeast pathogen Nakaseomyces glabratus and a clinical isolate of Saccharomyces cerevisiae associated with invasive infection. These findings expand the chemical and biosynthetic diversity known within the genus Actinokineospora and demonstrate that Antarctic rare actinomycetes represent valuable sources of previously unexplored natural products. The discovery of kineochelins highlights the potential of genome-guided exploration of polar microorganisms for identifying bioactive metabolites with relevance for antimicrobial discovery and biotechnology.},
  author       = {Kralova, Stanislava and Spacek, Peter and Gafriller, Johannes and Bezdicek, Matej and Medvedcova, Viktoria and Séneca, Joana and Osvatic, Jay and Grienke, Ulrike and Rattei, Thomas and Sekurova, Olga N. and Zotchev, Sergey B. and Zehl, Martin and Loy, Alexander},
  issn         = {1751-7915},
  journal      = {Microbial Biotechnology},
  keywords     = {Actinokineospora, Antarctica, antimicrobial discovery, biosynthetic gene cluster, genome mining, microbial competition, nonribosomalpeptide synthetase, siderophores},
  number       = {6},
  publisher    = {Wiley},
  title        = {{Kineochelins - A new group of siderophores from an antarctic bacterium}},
  doi          = {10.1111/1751-7915.70386},
  volume       = {19},
  year         = {2026},
}

@misc{14705,
  abstract     = {Since the commercialization of brine shrimp (genus Artemia) in the 1950s, this lineage, and in particular the model species Artemia franciscana, has been the subject of extensive research. However, our understanding of the genetic mechanisms underlying various aspects of their reproductive biology, including sex determination, are still lacking. This is partly due to the scarcity of genomic resources for Artemia species and crustaceans in general. Here, we present a chromosome-level genome assembly of Artemia franciscana (Kellogg 1906), from the Great Salt Lake, USA. The genome is 1GB, and the majority of the genome (81%) is scaffolded into 21 linkage groups using a previously published high-density linkage map. We performed coverage and FST analyses using male and female genomic and transcriptomic reads to quantify the extent of differentiation between the Z and W chromosomes. Additionally, we quantified the expression levels in male and female heads and gonads and found further evidence for dosage compensation in this species.},
  author       = {Elkrewi, Marwan N},
  keywords     = {sex chromosome evolution, genome assembly, dosage compensation},
  publisher    = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria},
  title        = {{Data from "Chromosome-level assembly of Artemia franciscana sheds light on sex-chromosome differentiation"}},
  doi          = {10.15479/AT:ISTA:14705},
  year         = {2024},
}

@misc{14614,
  abstract     = {Many insects carry an ancient X chromosome—the Drosophila Muller element F—that likely predates their origin. Interestingly, the X has undergone turnover in multiple fly species (Diptera) after being conserved for more than 450 My. The long evolutionary distance between Diptera and other sequenced insect clades makes it difficult to infer what could have contributed to this sudden increase in rate of turnover. Here, we produce the first genome and transcriptome of scorpionflies (genus Panorpa), an insect belonging to a long overlooked sister-order to Diptera: Mecoptera. Combining our genome assembly with genomic short-read data, we obtain genome coverage and identify X-linked super-scaffolds. We further perform a gene homology analysis between the Panorpa X and a closely related Diptera species, and we assess the conservation of the Panorpa X-linked gene content with that of more distantly related insect species. We explored the structure of the Panorpa X by determining its repeat content, GC content, and nucleotide diversity. Finally, we used RNAseq data to detect the presence of dosage compensation in somatic tissues, as well as to explore gene expression tissue-specificity, and sex-bias in gene expression. We find high conservation of gene content between the mecopteran X and the dipteran Muller F element, as well as several shared biological features, such as the presence of dosage compensation and a low amount of genetic diversity, consistent with a low recombination rate. However, the 2 homologous X chromosomes differ strikingly in their size and number of genes they carry. Our results therefore support a common ancestry of the mecopteran and ancestral dipteran X chromosomes, and suggest that Muller element F shrank in size and gene content after the split of Diptera and Mecoptera, which may have contributed to its turnover in dipteran insects.},
  author       = {Lasne, Clementine and Elkrewi, Marwan N},
  keywords     = {Panorpa, scorpionfly, genome, transcriptome},
  publisher    = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria},
  title        = {{The scorpionfly (Panorpa cognata) genome highlights conserved and derived features of the peculiar dipteran X chromosome}},
  doi          = {10.15479/AT:ISTA:14614},
  year         = {2023},
}

@article{896,
  abstract     = {Multicellular eukaryotes have evolved a range of mechanisms for immune recognition. A widespread family involved in innate immunity are the NACHT-domain and leucine-rich-repeat-containing (NLR) proteins.Mammals have small numbers of NLR proteins, whereas in some species, mostly those without adaptive immune systems, NLRs have expanded into very large families.We describe a family of nearly 400NLR proteins encoded in the zebrafish genome. The proteins share a defining overall structure, which arose in fishes after a fusion of the core NLR domains with a B30.2 domain, but can be subdivided into four groups based on their NACHT domains. Gene conversion acting differentially on the NACHT and B30.2 domains has shaped the family and created the groups. Evidence of positive selection in the B30.2 domain indicates that this domain rather than the leucine-rich repeats acts as the pathogen recognition module. In an unusual chromosomal organization, the majority of the genes are located on one chromosome arm, interspersed with other large multigene families, including a new family encoding zinc-finger proteins. The NLR-B30.2 proteins represent a new family with diversity in the specific recognition module that is present in fishes in spite of the parallel existence of an adaptive immune system.},
  author       = {Howe, Kerstin and Schiffer, Philipp and Zielinski, Julia and Wiehe, Thomas and Laird, Gavin and Marioni, John and Soylemez, Onuralp and Kondrashov, Fyodor and Leptin, Maria},
  issn         = {2046-2441},
  journal      = {Open Biology},
  keywords     = {NACHT, B30, SPRY, Gene conversion, Innate immune system, Genome evolution},
  number       = {4},
  publisher    = {Royal Society, The},
  title        = {{Structure and evolutionary history of a large family of NLR proteins in the zebrafish}},
  doi          = {10.1098/rsob.160009},
  volume       = {6},
  year         = {2016},
}