Transcriptome profiling is a cornerstone of functional genomics, enabling the detailed characterization of gene expression in health and disease. Bulk RNA sequencing (bulk RNAseq) remains the most widely used approach in clinical and large-cohort studies due to its cost-effectiveness, robustness, and comprehensive transcriptome coverage. However, bulk RNAseq inherently averages gene expression signals across heterogeneous cell populations, thereby masking cellular diversity and obscuring rare cell types. In contrast, single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) enables a high-resolution analysis of cellular heterogeneity, allowing the identification of distinct cell types, transitional states, and developmental trajectories. Nevertheless, scRNAseq is associated with higher cost, limited scalability, increased technical noise, sparse expression matrices, and protocol-dependent biases introduced during tissue dissociation or nuclear isolation. In this review, we summarize the conceptual and methodological foundations of integrating bulk RNAseq and scRNAseq data, emphasizing their complementary strengths and limitations. We discuss how scRNAseq-derived cell-type atlases can serve as reference matrices for computational reconstruction (deconvolution) of bulk RNAseq profiles and examine key sources of technical and biological variability. Furthermore, we outline major integration strategies, including reference-based deconvolution, pseudobulk aggregation, and Bayesian joint modeling to provide an overview of widely used analytical tools and essential components of scRNAseq data processing workflows.

Cyanobacteria isolated from extreme habitats are promising in biotechnology due to their high adaptability to unfavorable environments and their specific natural products. Therefore, these organisms are stored under a reduced light supply in multiple collections worldwide. However, it remains unclear whether these strains maintain constitutively expressed primary metabolome features associated with their unique adaptations. To address this question, a comparative analysis of primary metabolomes of twelve cyanobacterial strains from diverse extreme habitats was performed by a combined GC-MS/LC-MS approach. The results revealed that all these cyanobacterial strains exhibited clear differences in their patterns of primary metabolites. These metabolic differences were more pronounced for the strains originating from ecologically different extreme environments. Extremotolerant terrestrial and freshwater strains contained lower strain-specifically accumulated primary metabolites than extremophilic species from habitats with high salinity and alkalinity. The latter group of strains was highly diverse in amounts of specific primary metabolites. This might indicate essentially different molecular mechanisms and metabolic pathways behind the survival of the microorganisms in saline and alkaline environments. The identified strain-specific metabolites are discussed with respect to the metabolic processes that might impact maintaining the viability of cyanobacteria during their storage and indicate unique adaptations formed in their original extreme habitats.

Filamin A (FLNA) is a key protein that binds actin filaments to transmembrane integrins and plays an important role in maintaining cell shape and signaling. In the brain, FLNA is emerging as a critical regulator of neurodevelopment, neuronal migration, actin organization, and neuromodulation. Mutations and/or aberrant expression of the FLNA gene are associated with various brain diseases, such as periventricular heterotopia, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and other disorders with impaired cognitive function and brain maldevelopment. Here, we discuss the critical role of FLNA in brain function; its interactions with receptors, integrins, and signaling molecules, as well as the implications of its activity for brain health and disease.

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by persistent hyperglycemia, insulin dysfunction, and a substantial global health burden. Current pharmacological therapies often bring undesired side effects and limited long-term efficiency. These factors drive interest in the direction of preventive and complementary strategies. Plant-derived secondary metabolites – phenolics, alkaloids, terpenes, organosulfur compounds and polyacetylenes, demonstrate promising anti-diabetic activities. These compounds can modulate key molecular targets involved in glucose metabolism, insulin signaling, and development of oxidative stress, thereby improving glycemic control and reducing the risk of complications. Also, natural products can inhibit carbohydrate-digesting enzymes, enhance insulin secretion and sensitivity, regulate glucose transporters, and suppress pathways associated with inflammatory responses and the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Many of them also demonstrate pronounced antioxidant and antiglycative properties with all accompanying features - metal-chelating effects, α-dicarbonyl trapping properties, and interference with the AGE-RAGE axis, collectively mitigating vascular damage and attenuating diabetic complications such as nephropathy, neuropathy, and retinopathy. Recent studies highlight that certain plant metabolites can stabilize Nrf2, inhibit NF-κB activation, improve pancreatic β-cell function, and reduce protein tyrosine phosphatase activity. In this review we comprehensively address all this aspects with a special emphasis on the antiglycative properties as one of the central component of the overall anti-diabetic activity. Further, we discuss the further prospective in the biochemistry of plant-derived natural products in terms of antidiabetic, antiglycative and antioxidant agents. Although further research is needed to clarify their pharmacokinetics, safety, and efficacy in humans, the emerging evidence underscores the potential of plant secondary metabolites as natural, multifaceted agents for the prevention and management of diabetes and its associated complications.

Cyanobacteria isolated from extreme habitats are promising in biotechnology due to their high adaptability to unfavorable environments and their specific natural products. Therefore, these organisms are stored under reduced light supply in multiple collections worldwide. However, it remains unclear whether these strains retain the primary metabolome features associated with their unique adaptations. To address this question, a comparative analysis of primary metabolomes of twelve cyanobacterial strains from diverse extreme habitats was performed by combined GC-MS/LC-MS approach. The results revealed that all these cyanobacterial strains exhibited clear differences in their patterns of primary metabolites. These metabolic differences were more pronounced for the strains originating from ecologically different extreme environments. Extremotolerant terrestrial and freshwater strains contained lower strain-specifically accumulated primary metabolites than extremophilic species from the habitats with high salinity and alkalinity. The latter group of strains was highly diverse in amounts of specific primary metabolites. This might indicate essentially different molecular mechanisms and metabolic pathways behind the survival of the microorganisms in saline and alkaline environments. The identified strain-specific metabolites are discussed with respect of the metabolic processes that might impact on maintaining the viability of cyanobacteria during their storage and indicate unique adaptations formed in their original extreme habitats.