During industrial production process using yeast, cells are exposed to the stress due to the accumulation of ethanol, which affects the cell growth activity and productivity of target products, thus, ...the ethanol stress-tolerant yeast strains are highly desired. To identify the target gene(s) for constructing ethanol stress tolerant yeast strains, we obtained the gene expression profiles of two strains of
Saccharomyces cerevisiae, namely, a laboratory strain and a strain used for brewing Japanese rice wine (sake), in the presence of 5% (v/v) ethanol, using DNA microarray. For the selection of target genes for breeding ethanol stress tolerant strains, clustering of DNA microarray data was performed. For further selection, the ethanol sensitivity of the knockout mutants in each of which the gene selected by DNA microarray analysis is deleted, was also investigated. The integration of the DNA microarray data and the ethanol sensitivity data of knockout strains suggests that the enhancement of expression of genes related to tryptophan biosynthesis might confer the ethanol stress tolerance to yeast cells. Indeed, the strains overexpressing tryptophan biosynthesis genes showed a stress tolerance to 5% ethanol. Moreover, the addition of tryptophan to the culture medium and overexpression of tryptophan permease gene conferred ethanol stress tolerance to yeast cells. These results indicate that overexpression of the genes for trypophan biosynthesis increases the ethanol stress tolerance. Tryptophan supplementation to culture and overexpression of the tryptophan permease gene are also effective for the increase in ethanol stress tolerance. Our methodology for the selection of target genes for constructing ethanol stress tolerant strains, based on the data of DNA microarray analysis and phenotypes of knockout mutants, was validated.
Microorganisms can adapt to perturbations of the surrounding environment to grow. To analyze the adaptation process of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to a high ethanol concentration, repetitive ...cultivation was performed with a stepwise increase in the ethanol concentration in the culture medium.
First, a laboratory strain of S. cerevisiae was cultivated in medium containing a low ethanol concentration, followed by repetitive cultivations. Then, the strain repeatedly cultivated in the low ethanol concentration was transferred to medium containing a high ethanol concentration and cultivated repeatedly in the same high-ethanol-concentration medium. When subjected to a stepwise increase in ethanol concentration with the repetitive cultivations, the yeast cells adapted to the high ethanol concentration; the specific growth rate of the adapted yeast strain did not decrease during repetitive cultivation in the medium containing the same ethanol concentration, while that of the non-adapted strain decreased during repetitive cultivation. A comparison of the fatty acid composition of the cell membrane showed that the contents in oleic acid (C(18:1)) in ethanol-adapted and non-adapted strains were similar, but the content of palmitic acid (C(16:0)) in the ethanol-adapted strains was lower than that in the non-adapted strain in media containing ethanol. Moreover, microscopic observation showed that the mother cells of the adapted yeast were significantly larger than those of the non-adapted strain.
Our results suggest that activity of cell growth defined by specific growth rate of the yeast cells adapted to stepwise increase in ethanol concentration did not decrease during repetitive cultivation in high-ethanol-concentration medium. Moreover, fatty acid content of cell membrane and the size of ethanol-adapted yeast cells were changed during adaptation process. Those might be the typical phenotypes of yeast cells adapted to high ethanol concentration. In addition, the difference in sizes of the mother cell between the non-adapted and ethanol strains suggests that the cell size, cell cycle and adaptation to ethanol are thought to be closely correlated.
Corynebacterium glutamicum has several anaplerotic pathways (anaplerosis), which are essential for the productions of amino acids, such as lysine and glutamate. It is still not clear how flux changes ...in anaplerotic pathways happen when glutamate production is induced by triggers, such as biotin depletion and the addition of the detergent material, Tween 40. In this study, we quantitatively analyzed which anaplerotic pathway flux most markedly changes the glutamate overproduction induced by Tween 40 addition.
We performed a metabolic flux analysis (MFA) with 1-13C- and U-13C-labeled glucose in the glutamate production phase of C. glutamicum, based on the analysis of the time courses of 13C incorporation into proteinogenic amino acids by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The flux from phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) to oxaloacetate (Oxa) catalyzed by phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPc) was active in the growth phase not producing glutamate, whereas that from pyruvate to Oxa catalyzed by pyruvate carboxylase (Pc) was inactive. In the glutamate overproduction phase induced by the addition of the detergent material Tween 40, the reaction catalyzed by Pc also became active in addition to the reaction catalyzed by PEPc.
It was clarified by a quantitative 13C MFA that the reaction catalyzed by Pc is most markedly increased, whereas other fluxes of PEPc and PEPck remain constant in the glutamate overproduction induced by Tween 40. This result is consistent with the previous results obtained in a comparative study on the glutamate productions of genetically recombinant Pc- and PEPc-overexpressing strains. The importance of a specific reaction in an anaplerotic pathway was elucidated at a metabolic level by MFA.
We found that penicillin-induced glutamate production by Corynebacterium glutamicum is inhibited when a de novo protein synthesis inhibitor, chloramphenicol, is added simultaneously with penicillin. ...When chloramphenicol was added 4 h after penicillin addition, glutamate production was essentially unaffected. ³H-Leucine incorporation experiments revealed that protein synthesis continued for 1 h after penicillin addition and then gradually decreased. These results suggest that de novo protein synthesis within 4 h of penicillin treatment is required for the induction of glutamate production. To identify the protein(s) necessary for penicillin-induced glutamate production, proteome analysis of penicillin-treated C. glutamicum cells was performed with two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Of more than 500 proteins detected, the amount of 13 proteins, including OdhI (an inhibitory protein for 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex), significantly increased upon penicillin treatment. Artificial overexpression of the odhI gene resulted in the decreased specific activity of the 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex and increased glutamate production without any triggers. These results suggest that the de novo synthesis of OdhI is the necessary factor for penicillin-induced glutamate overproduction by C. glutamicum. Moreover, continuous glutamate production was achieved by overexpression of odhI without any triggers. Thus, the odhI-overexpressing strain of C. glutamicum can be useful for efficient glutamate production.
Volatile compounds cause undesirable flavor when their concentrations exceed threshold values in beer fermentation. The objective of this study is to develop a system for controlling apparent extract ...concentration, which indicates the fermentation degree and which should be decreased below a targeted value at a fixed time under a constraint of tolerable amounts of volatile compounds. In beer fermentation, even though the production of volatile compounds is suppressed by maintaining a low fermentation temperature, a low temperature causes a delay in the control of apparent extract concentration. Volatile compound concentration was estimated on-line, and the simulation of apparent extract consumption and volatile compound production was performed. To formulate various beer tastes and conserve energy for attemperation, optimal temperature profiles were determined using a genetic algorithm (GA). The developed feedback control of the brewing temperature profile was successfully applied, and apparent extract and volatile compound concentrations at a fixed time reached their target concentrations. Additionally, the control technique developed in this study enables us to brew a wide variety of beers with different tastes.
Corynebacterium glutamicum is a biotin auxotrophic bacterium in which glutamate production is induced under biotin-limited conditions. During glutamate production, anaplerotic reactions catalyzed by ...phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) and a biotin-containing enzyme pyruvate carboxylase (PC) are believed to play an important role in supplying oxaloacetate in the tricarboxylic acid cycle. To understand the distinct roles of PEPC and PC on glutamate production by
C. glutamicum, we observed glutamate production induced under biotin-limited conditions in the disruptants of the genes encoding PEPC (
ppc) and PC (
pyc), respectively. The
pyc disruptant retained the ability to produce high amounts of glutamate, and lactate was simultaneously produced probably due to the increased intracellular pyruvate levels. On the other hand, the
ppc knockout mutant could not produce glutamate. Additionally, glutamate production in the
pyc disruptant was enhanced by overexpression of
ppc rather than disruption of the lactate dehydrogenase gene (
ldh), which is involved in lactate production. Metabolic flux analysis based on the
13C-labeling experiment and measurement of
13C-enrichment in glutamate using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy revealed that the flux for anaplerotic reactions in the
pyc disruptant was lower than that in the wild type, concomitantly increasing the flux for lactate formation. Moreover, overexpression of
ppc increased this flux in both the
pyc disruptant and the wild type. Our results suggest that the PEPC-catalyzed anaplerotic reaction is necessary for glutamate production induced under biotin-limited conditions, because PC is not active during glutamate production, and overexpression of
ppc effectively enhances glutamate production under biotin-limited conditions.
In order to determine whether transcriptome data obtained by DNA microarray analysis could be used to identify the genes involved in target metabolite production, we tried to identify the genes ...involved in l-lactate production by l-lactate-producing recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains. We obtained DNA microarray data for these strains. Plasmids carrying lactic acid bacteria, bovine, and human l-lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) genes were introduced into PDC1-disrupted S. cerevisiae strains. l-Lactate productivity of the strains harboring the human and bovine LDH genes was higher than that of the strains harboring lactic acid bacteria LDH genes. DNA microarray analysis revealed that the expression of 388 genes was significantly altered in the strains with the human and bovine LDH genes. Of these, the l-lactate productivity of human LDH-harboring deletion strains of 289 genes was compared with that of the standard and 56 randomly selected deletion strains containing the same LDH gene to validate the effectiveness of DNA microarray analysis for identifying the genes responsible for l-lactate production in the recombinant strains. Only deletion strains of the genes selected on the basis of the DNA microarray data showed significantly altered l-lactate production as compared to the standard and the randomly selected deletion strains. Our results indicated that the genes related to l-lactate production could be successfully identified by selecting the genes that exhibited significantly altered expression on DNA microarray analysis, and the effectiveness of DNA microarray analysis for identifying the genes responsible for l-lactate production was discussed.
In industrial process, yeast cells are exposed to ethanol stress that affects the cell growth and the productivity. Thus, investigating the intracellular state of yeast cells under high ethanol ...concentration is important. In this study, using DNA microarray analysis, we performed comprehensive expression profiling of two strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, i.e., the ethanol-adapted strain that shows active growth under the ethanol stress condition and its parental strain used as the control. By comparing the expression profiles of these two strains under the ethanol stress condition, we found that the genes related to ribosomal proteins were highly up-regulated in the ethanol-adapted strain. Further, genes related to ATP synthesis in mitochondria were suggested to be important for growth under ethanol stress. We expect that the results will provide a better understanding of ethanol tolerance of yeast.
The difference in responses to osmotic stress between the laboratory and sake-brewing strains of
Saccharomyces cerevisiae at the translational level was compared by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel ...electrophoresis. Proteins, whose production was significantly changed by the osmotic stress, were identified by peptide mass fingerprinting. In the laboratory strain, translation of Hor2p, the protein responsible for glycerol biosynthesis, and Ald6p, related to acetate biosynthesis, was induced under high osmotic pressure conditions. In addition, production of proteins related to translation and stress response was also changed under this condition. On the other hand, in the sake-brewing strain, translation of Hor2p, Hsp26p, and some stress-related proteins was upregulated. The change in the production of enzymes related to glycolysis and ethanol formation was small; however, the production of enzymes related to glycerol formation increased in both strains. These results suggest that enhancement of glycerol formation due to enhancement of the translation of proteins, such as Hor2p, is required for growth of
S. cerevisiae under high osmotic pressure condition. This is the first report on the analysis of responses of a sake-brewing strain to high osmotic pressure stress based on proteomics.
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