Biology subjects

Giannakopoulou, A.

Publications and source records attributed to Giannakopoulou, A..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Enhanced GPP synthesis by Erg20p-peptide fusions and biomolecular condensates boosts monoterpene production in yeast

Monoterpenes are a diverse class of natural products with broad industrial and pharmaceutical applications. While there is great interest in transitioning their production from chemical synthesis and natural source extraction to yeast bioprocesses, this approach remains limited by the dual functionality of the endogenous farnesyl diphosphate synthase Erg20p, which produces the monoterpene precursor geranyl diphosphate (GPP) but favors its subsequent conversion to farnesyl diphosphate (FPP). To address this limitation, we recruited Erg20p and monoterpene synthases into synthetic membraneless organelles, improving production. In doing so, we found that short C-terminal peptide fusions used for recruitment also significantly enhance GPP synthase activity relative to FPP synthase activity. The combined effects of metabolic spatial organization and GPP synthase activity enhancement significantly boost production of different monoterpenes, including geraniol titers exceeding 4 g/L. The strategies presented here can be readily integrated with other traditional metabolic engineering approaches to build yeast strains with high levels of monoterpene production.

bioengineering↗

bioRxiv2025

Virtual Reality and Tablet Cognitive Training Improve Attention and Academic Skills Without Dose Effects

We evaluated the cognitive and academic effects of a closed-loop video game delivered in virtual reality (VR) and tablet formats, at two different dosages, in a school-based setting. A total of 158 children aged 8-9 with a range of attention abilities completed 30 training sessions over 10 weeks. Compared to an expectancy-matched control group, both VR and tablet training led to significant improvements in teacher-rated inattention, performance-based attention tasks, and eye-tracking measures. While both VR and tablet versions of the intervention showed benefits on specific attention-related and academic outcomes, the VR version showed select advantages in both regards. Notably, intervention dose did not significantly moderate outcomes, suggesting that efficacy may depend more on reaching a threshold of engagement than on total duration. These findings demonstrate the utility and benefits of using each type of technology to enhance measures of cognitive and academic abilities as part of a regular school curriculum.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2017

Gene expression polymorphism underpins evasion of host immunity in an asexual lineage of the Irish potato famine pathogen

Outbreaks caused by asexual lineages of fungal and oomycete pathogens are an expanding threat to crops, wild animals and natural ecosystems (Fisher et al. 2012,Kupferschmidt 2012). However, the mechanisms underlying genome evolution and phenotypic plasticity in asexual eukaryotic microbes remain poorly understood (Seidl and Thomma 2014). Ever since the 19th century Irish famine, the oomycete Phytophthora infestans has caused recurrent outbreaks on potato and tomato crops that have been primarily caused by the successive rise and migration of pandemic asexual lineages (Cooke et al. 2012, Yoshida et al. 2013,Yoshida et al. 2014). Here, we reveal patterns of genomic and gene expression variation within a P. infestans asexual lineage by compared sibling strains belonging to the South American EC-1 clone that has dominated Andean populations since the 1990s (Forbes et al. 1997, Oyarzun et al. 1998, Delgado et al. 2013, Yoshida et al. 2013, Yoshida et al. 2014). We detected numerous examples of structural variation, nucleotide polymorphisms and gene conversion within the EC-1 clone. Remarkably, 17 genes are not expressed in one of the two EC-1 isolates despite apparent absence of sequence polymorphisms. Among these, silencing of an effector gene was associated with evasion of disease resistance conferred by a potato immune receptor. These results highlight the exceptional genetic and phenotypic plasticity that underpins host adaptation in a pandemic clonal lineage of a eukaryotic plant pathogen.

plant biology↗