Engineering heterothallic strains in fission yeast

In poor nitrogen conditions, fission yeast cells mate, undergo meiosis and form spores that are resistant to deleterious environments. Natural isolates of Schizosaccharomyces pombe are homothallic. This allows them to naturally switch between the two h- and h+ mating types with a high frequency, thereby ensuring the presence of both mating partners in a population of cells. However, alteration of the mating type locus can abolish mating type switching or reduce it to a very low frequency. Such heterothallic strains have been isolated and are common in research laboratories due to the simplicity of their use for Mendelian genetics. In addition to the standard laboratory strains, a large collection of natural S. pombe isolates is now available, representing a powerful resource for investigating the genetic diversity and biology of fission yeast. However, most of these strains are homothallic, and only tedious or mutagenic strategies have been described to obtain heterothallic cells from a homothallic parent. Here, we describe a simple approach to generate heterothallic strains. It takes advantage of an alteration of the mating type locus that was previously identified in a mating type switching-deficient strain and the CRISPR-Cas9 editing tool, allowing for a one-step engineering of heterothallic cells with high efficiency.

Long-term evolution of proliferating cells using the eVOLVER platform

Experimental evolution using fast-growing unicellular organisms is a unique strategy for deciphering the principles and mechanisms underlying evolutionary processes as well as the architecture and wiring of basic biological functions. Over the past decade, this approach has benefited from the development of powerful systems for the continuous control of the growth of independently evolving cultures. While the first devices compatible with multiplexed experimental evolution remained challenging to implement and required constant user intervention, the recently developed eVOLVER framework represents a fully automated closed-loop system for laboratory evolution assays. However, it remained difficult to maintain and compare parallel evolving cultures in tightly controlled environments over long periods of time using eVOLVER. Furthermore, a number of tools were lacking to cope with the various issues that inevitably occur when conducting such long-term assays. Here we present a significant upgrade of the eVOLVER framework, providing major modifications of the experimental methodology, hardware and software as well as a new stand-alone protocol. Altogether, these adaptations and improvements make the eVOLVER a versatile and unparalleled set-up for long-term experimental evolution.

Fluorescence exclusion: a rapid, accurate and powerful method for measuring yeast cell volume

Cells exist in an astonishing range of volumes across and within species. However, our understanding of cell size control remains limited, due in large part to the challenges associated with accurate determination of cell volume. Much of our comprehension of size regulation derives from yeast models, but even for these morphologically stereotypical cells, assessment of cell volume has mostly relied on proxies and extrapolations from two-dimensional measurements. Recently, the fluorescence exclusion method (FXm) was developed to evaluate the size of mammalian cells, but whether it could be applied to smaller cells remained unknown. Using specifically designed microfluidic chips and an improved data analysis pipeline, we show here that FXm reliably detects subtle differences in the volume of fission yeast cells, even for those with altered shapes. Moreover, it allows for the monitoring of dynamic volume changes at the single-cell level with high time resolution. Collectively, our work highlights how the coupling of FXm with yeast genetics will bring new insights into the complex biology of cell growth.

#EUROmicroMOOC: using Twitter to share trends in Microbiology worldwide

Twitter is one of the most popular social media networks that, in recent years, has been increasingly used by researchers as a platform to share science and discuss ongoing work. Despite its popularity, Twitter is not commonly used as a medium to teach science. Here, we summarize the results of #EUROmicroMOOC: the first worldwide Microbiology Massive Open Online Course taught in English using Twitter. Content analytics indicated that more than 3 million users saw posts with the hashtag #EUROmicroMOOC, which resulted in over 42 million Twitter impressions worldwide. These analyses demonstrate that free Microbiology MOOCs shared on Twitter are valuable educational tools that reach broad audiences throughout the world. We also describe our experience teaching an entire Microbiology course using Twitter and provide recommendations when using social media to communicate science to a broad audience.