Project description:Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an established microbial host for the production of non-native compounds. The synthesis of these compounds typically demands energy and competes with growth for carbon and energy substrate. Uncoupling product formation form growth would benefit product yields and decrease formation of by-product biomass. Studying non-growing metabolically-active yeast cultures provides a first step towards developing S. cerevisiae as a non-growing, robust cell factory. Non-growing metabolically-active cultures can be obtained in retentostat, a glucose-limited, continuous bioreactor system in which biomass accumulates while spent medium is constantly removed. Hitherto retentostat cultures of S. cerevisiae have only been reported under anaerobiosis, condition inappropriate for the production of energy-demanding products. The present study, using retentostat cultures, explores the physiology of non-dividing, fully respiring S. cerevisiae, focusing on industrially-relevant features. Following model-aided experimental design, retentostat cultivations were optimized for accelerated but smooth transition of S. cerevisiae from exponential growth to near-zero growth rates. During 20 days in retentostat the biomass concentration increased, leading very slow growth rates (specific growth rates below 0.001 h-1) but high culture viability (over 80% of viable cells). The maintenance requirement (mATP) was estimated at 0.64 mmolATP.gX-1.h-1, which is remarkably ca. 35% lower than the mATP measured in anaerobic retentostat cultures. Transcriptional down-regulation of genes involved in biosynthesis and up-regulation of stress-responsive genes towards near-zero growth rates corresponded well with data from anaerobic retentostats. More striking was the extreme heat-shock tolerance of S. cerevisiae, which exceeded by far previously reported heat shock tolerance of notoriously robust yeast cultures such as stationary phase cultures. Furthermore, while the metabolic fluxes in the retentostats were relatively low as a result of extreme caloric restriction, off-line measurements revealed that S. cerevisiae retained a high catabolic capacity. The high viability and extreme heat-shock tolerance revealed the robustness of S. cerevisiae at near-zero growth in retentostat. In addition, the relatively low maintenance requirements and high metabolic capacity under severe calorie restriction underline the potential of S. cerevisiae as a non-dividing microbial cell factory for the production of energy-intensive compounds. The retentostat is a promising tool to identify the molecular basis of this extreme robustness. The goal of the present study is to investigate the physiology of aerobic fully respiring S. cerevsiae at near-zero growth rates. Fundamental but industrially-relevant questions were addressed thanks to the design, implementation and study of aerobic retentostat cultivations enabling a rapid but smooth transition of S. cerevisiae from exponential growth to near-zero growth rates.

Project description:Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an established microbial host for the production of non-native compounds. The synthesis of these compounds typically demands energy and competes with growth for carbon and energy substrate. Uncoupling product formation form growth would benefit product yields and decrease formation of by-product biomass. Studying non-growing metabolically-active yeast cultures provides a first step towards developing S. cerevisiae as a non-growing, robust cell factory. Non-growing metabolically-active cultures can be obtained in retentostat, a glucose-limited, continuous bioreactor system in which biomass accumulates while spent medium is constantly removed. Hitherto retentostat cultures of S. cerevisiae have only been reported under anaerobiosis, condition inappropriate for the production of energy-demanding products. The present study, using retentostat cultures, explores the physiology of non-dividing, fully respiring S. cerevisiae, focusing on industrially-relevant features. Following model-aided experimental design, retentostat cultivations were optimized for accelerated but smooth transition of S. cerevisiae from exponential growth to near-zero growth rates. During 20 days in retentostat the biomass concentration increased, leading very slow growth rates (specific growth rates below 0.001 h-1) but high culture viability (over 80% of viable cells). The maintenance requirement (mATP) was estimated at 0.64 mmolATP.gX-1.h-1, which is remarkably ca. 35% lower than the mATP measured in anaerobic retentostat cultures. Transcriptional down-regulation of genes involved in biosynthesis and up-regulation of stress-responsive genes towards near-zero growth rates corresponded well with data from anaerobic retentostats. More striking was the extreme heat-shock tolerance of S. cerevisiae, which exceeded by far previously reported heat shock tolerance of notoriously robust yeast cultures such as stationary phase cultures. Furthermore, while the metabolic fluxes in the retentostats were relatively low as a result of extreme caloric restriction, off-line measurements revealed that S. cerevisiae retained a high catabolic capacity. The high viability and extreme heat-shock tolerance revealed the robustness of S. cerevisiae at near-zero growth in retentostat. In addition, the relatively low maintenance requirements and high metabolic capacity under severe calorie restriction underline the potential of S. cerevisiae as a non-dividing microbial cell factory for the production of energy-intensive compounds. The retentostat is a promising tool to identify the molecular basis of this extreme robustness.

Project description:Many cells in mammals exist in the state of quiescence, which is characterized by reversible exit from the cell cycle. Quiescent cells are widely reported to exhibit reduced size, nucleotide synthesis, and metabolic activity. Much lower glycolytic rates have been reported in quiescent compared with proliferating lymphocytes. In contrast, we show here that primary human fibroblasts continue to exhibit high metabolic rates when induced into quiescence via contact inhibition. By monitoring isotope labeling through metabolic pathways and quantitatively identifying fluxes from the data, we show that contact-inhibited fibroblasts utilize glucose in all branches of central carbon metabolism at rates similar to those of proliferating cells, with greater overflow flux from the pentose phosphate pathway back to glycolysis. Inhibition of the pentose phosphate pathway resulted in apoptosis preferentially in quiescent fibroblasts. By feeding the cells labeled glutamine, we also detected a “backwards” flux in the tricarboxylic acid cycle from α-ketoglutarate to citrate that was enhanced in contact-inhibited fibroblasts; this flux likely contributes to shuttling of NADPH from the mitochondrion to cytosol for redox defense or fatty acid synthesis. The high metabolic activity of the fibroblasts was directed in part toward breakdown and resynthesis of protein and lipid, and in part toward excretion of extracellular matrix proteins. Thus, reduced metabolic activity is not a hallmark of the quiescent state. Quiescent fibroblasts, relieved of the biosynthetic requirements associated with generating progeny, direct their metabolic activity to preservation of self integrity and alternative functions beneficial to the organism as a whole. mRNAs were analyzed by two color microarray from two separate human neonatal dermal fibroblasts cell lines in proliferating, 7 days contact inhibition, or 14 days contact inhibition. Contact inhibited samples were co-hybridized to proliferating samples as a control, while an additional array co-hybridized the two proliferating samples to analyze reproducibility.

Project description:The Escherichia coli quorum-sensing regulator, SdiA, belongs to the LuxR family of transcriptional regulators and is responsible for detecting signals from other bacteria. Previously we found that SdiA is necessary for E. coli to control its biofilm formation with indole just as SdiA is necessary for E. coli to alter its biofilm formation in the presence of N-acylhomoserine lactones (AHLs). Here we engineered SdiA by random mutagenesis to further control biofilm formation in the presence of indole and AHLs. After screening of 477?? mutants with indole and two AHLs (N-butyryl-DL-homoserine lactone, and N-(3-oxooctanoyl)-L-homoserine lactone, C6HSL), five SdiA variants were obtained that altered biofilm with and without signals of indole and AHLs. Two truncation variants (1E11 and 14C3) lacking the C-terminal DNA-binding domain of SdiA showed the reduction of biofilm formation by 5-fold and 10-fold in LB and LB glu, respectively. DNA microarrays show that the evolved SdiA (1E11) compared to wild-type SdiA influences indole synthesis genes, AI-2 uptake genes, acid-resistance genes, motility related genes, cold-shock protein genes, and several regulatory protein genes. Corroborating DNA microarrays, SdiA variants produced various amounts of indole which led to different survivals in low pH and influenced swimming motility and final cell density. Also, an AHL sensitive variant (2D10) 2-fold increased biofilm formation in the presence of C6HSL, while another variant (6B12) lowered biofilm formation in the presence of C6HSL. Hence, the results clearly showed that mutation of SdiA itself directly controls biofilm formation and SdiA variants could be further recognized by the inter-species signal AHLs. This is the first random protein engineering to control biofilm formation. Experiment Overall Design: For the microarray experiments, 10 g glass wool (Corning Glass Works, Corning, N.Y.) were used to form biofilms in 250 mL LB ( 1 mM IPTG + Cm30) in 1 L Erlenmeyer shake flasks which were inoculated with overnight cultures diluted that were 1:100. The cells were shaken at 250 rpm and 30C for 12 hours to form biofilms on the glass wool, and RNA was isolated from the the biofilm cells.

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Uncoupling growth and product formation kinetics to design improved strains for recombinant protein production in escherichia coli

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