Summary: Dictyostelium discoideum is one of eight non‐mammalian model organisms recognized by the National Institute of Health for the study of human pathology. The use of this slime mould is possible owing to similarities in cell structure, behaviour and intracellular signalling with mammalian cells. Its haploid set of chromosomes completely sequenced amenable to genetic manipulation, its unique and short life cycle with unicellular and multicellular stages, and phenotypic richness encoding many human orthologues, make Dictyostelium a representative and simple model organism to unveil cellular processes in human disease. Dictyostelium studies within the biomedical field have provided fundamental knowledge in the areas of bacterial infection, immune cell chemotaxis, autophagy/phagocytosis and mitochondrial and neurological disorders. Consequently, Dictyostelium has been used to the development of related pharmacological treatments. Herein, we review the utilization of Dictyostelium as a model organism in biomedicine.

The development of lipogenic biocatalysts with enhanced ability for agro‐waste bioconversion represents a critical challenge in microbial biotechnology, requiring the metabolic optimisation of different oil‐producing microorganisms. Ashbya gossypii , although not classified as an oleaginous microorganism, exhibits a significant capacity for intracellular lipid accumulation and can efficiently metabolise various low‐cost substrates, including xylose‐rich feedstocks. Indeed, previous works have shown metabolically engineered strains of A. gossypii reaching between 20% and 40% of the cell dry weight in lipid content when using xylose as the primary carbon source. Building on these findings, this study employs a multigenic optimisation strategy to further enhance lipid production by increasing the lipogenic supply of both acetyl‐CoA and NADPH, while simultaneously abolishing β‐oxidation, in a strain engineered for efficient xylose utilisation. The optimised strain achieved approximately 60% lipid content when cultivated on mixed sugar formulations designed to simulate xylose‐rich feedstocks. These results underscore the potential of A. gossypii as a promising microbial platform for sustainable lipid production from renewable resources, reinforcing its utility in biotechnological applications for bio‐based chemical and biofuel production.

Gangliosides are glycolipids occurring in higher animals, with a sphingoid core in the form of ceramide, bound to a glycan moiety including several units of sialic acid. Gangliosides are involved in important (patho)-physiological processes as components of cell membranes in humans, which has led to intensive study and interest in production strategies. Their structural variability depends on the combination of a sphingoid base, a fatty acyl chain, and an attached oligosaccharide. The combinatorial diversity differs and grows exponentially in synthetic biology approaches, e.g., use of microbial cell factories. A specific analytical platform accounting for this complexity is not available to date. However, quantification of the intermediates of the whole biosynthetic route is needed to boost projects on biotechnological ganglioside production. In this study, a fast high-throughput quantitative LC-MS/MS methodology was developed to cover analysis of gangliosides, with a wider structural perspective adapted to fungal organisms. This work was achieved using metabolically engineered strains that further allowed to test detection in biological complex matrixes. Ganglioside backbones—hitherto uncharacterized—with the five most common fungal sphingoid bases and both simple and hydroxylated fatty acids were subjected to characterization. The addition of glycans to the polar head was also successfully monitored with up to 4 units—corresponding to GD3 which bears two sialic acid units and furthermore represents the common precursor for the whole ganglio-series. This platform represents an improved methodology to study the biochemical diversity associated to gangliosides for natural and metabolically engineered biosynthetic pathways.