Evolution of cellular stress response mechanisms

Abstract

The cellular stress response (CSR) is pervasive to all domains of life. It has shaped the interaction between organisms and their environment since the origin of the first cell. Although the CSR has been subject to a myriad of nuanced modifications in the various branches of life present today, its core features remain preserved. The scientific literature covering the CSR is enormous and the broad scope of this brief overview was challenging. However, it is critical to conceptually understand how cells respond to stress in a holistic sense and to point out how fundamental aspects of the CSR framework are integrated. It was necessary to be extremely selective and not feasible to even mention many interesting and important developments in this expansive field. The purpose of this overview is to sketch out general and emerging CSR concepts with emphasis on the initial cellular strain resulting from stress (macromolecular damage) and the evolutionarily most highly conserved elements of the CSR. Examples emphasize fish and aquatic invertebrates to highlight what is known in organisms beyond mammals, yeast and other common models. Nonetheless, select pioneering studies using canonical models are also considered and the concepts discussed are applicable to all cells. More detail on important aspects of the CSR in aquatic animals is provided in the accompanying articles of this special issue. This is the author manuscript accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as

Proteotoxic Stress and Cell Death in Cancer Cells

“…The evolution has sculptured elaborate interconnected mechanisms to maintain proteostasis. Some of these mechanisms have been highly conserved through evolution and, with the appearance of eukaryotic cells, each subcellular compartment has evolved a dedicated set of strategies [220,221]. Proteostasis alterations and the induction of proteotoxic stress are responsible for several pathological conditions, particularly in neurodegenerative diseases, including Huntington's, Parkinson's, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Alzheimer's diseases [222].…”

COVID-19: A Redox Disease—What a Stress Pandemic Can Teach Us About Resilience and What We May Learn from the Reactive Species Interactome About Its Treatment

“…A cardinal feature of the acute-phase response is the ability to maintain appropriate redox responses within the framework of the central coordinating response (215,216,375). Most aspects of metabolism and metabolic control are affected, but most important is the ability to protect those pathways central to maintaining homeostasis in the face of shifting metabolic demands (375,470).…”

“…This system is fundamental to an organism's ability to achieve bodily homeostasis while adapting to changes in demand. It accomplishes this by using reactive small chemicals (specifically, reactive oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur species; ROS, RNS and RSS) and the 'cellular stress response' to integrate inputs generated by interaction with its environment (214,215) while maintaining electron balance according to a set of principles outlined in the 'Redox Code' (188). Given the interdependencies of the many interconnected systems within the human body, COVID-19 is a 'complex systems' disease that has the potential to overwhelm the body's ability to cope and maintain homeostasis.…”

Cold‐induced chromatin compaction and nuclear retention of clock mRNAs resets the circadian rhythm

“…Organisms are continually exposed to a variety of dynamic biological and environmental stressors. In order to survive, their cells must sense stresses and respond with structural alterations and the production of an adequate repertoire of metabolites and chaperones that enables them to reinstate cellular homeostasis and adapt to the new conditions (Kültz, 2020). Transcriptional reprograming (Vihervaara et al , 2018) and post‐transcriptional (Chua et al , 2020) adjustments of specific mRNA and protein levels in response to a particular stress are central to this adaptation.…”