Project description:Zinc is indispensable for the catalytic activity and structural stability of many proteins, and its deficiency can have severe consequences for microbial growth in natural and industrial environments. For example, Zn depletion in wort negatively affects beer fermentation and quality. Several studies have investigated yeast adaptation to low Zn supply, but were all performed in batch cultures, where specific growth rate depends on Zn availability. The transcriptional responses to growth-rate and Zn availability are then intertwined, which obscures result interpretation. In the present study, transcriptional responses of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to Zn availability were investigated at a fixed specific growth rate under Zn limitation and excess in chemostat culture. To investigate the context-dependency of this transcriptional response, yeast was grown under several chemostat regimes resulting in various carbon (glucose), nitrogen (ammonium) and oxygen supplies. A robust set of genes that responded consistently to Zn limitation was identified and enabled the definition of a Zn-specific Zap1 regulon comprising of 26 genes and characterized by a broader ZRE consensus (MHHAACCBYNMRGGT) than so far described. Most surprising was the Zn-dependent regulation of genes involved in storage carbohydrate metabolism. Their concerted down-regulation was physiologically relevant as revealed by a substantial decrease in glycogen and trehalose cellular content under Zn limitation. An unexpectedly large amount of genes were synergistically or antagonistically regulated by oxygen and Zn availability. This combinatorial regulation suggested a more prominent involvement of Zn in mitochondrial biogenesis and function than hitherto identified. Experiment Overall Design: Zinc is indispensable for the catalytic activity and structural stability of many proteins, and its deficiency can have severe consequences for microbial growth in natural and industrial environments. For example, Zn depletion in wort negatively affects beer fermentation and quality. Several studies have investigated yeast adaptation to low Zn supply, but were all performed in batch cultures, where specific growth rate depends on Zn availability. The transcriptional responses to growth-rate and Zn availability are then intertwined, which obscures result interpretation. In the present study, transcriptional responses of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to Zn availability were investigated at a fixed specific growth rate under Zn limitation and excess in chemostat culture. To investigate the context-dependency of this transcriptional response, yeast was grown under several chemostat regimes resulting in various carbon (glucose), nitrogen (ammonium) and oxygen supplies. A robust set of genes that responded consistently to Zn limitation was identified and enabled the definition of a Zn-specific Zap1 regulon comprising of 26 genes and characterized by a broader ZRE consensus (MHHAACCBYNMRGGT) than so far described. Most surprising was the Zn-dependent regulation of genes involved in storage carbohydrate metabolism. Their concerted down-regulation was physiologically relevant as revealed by a substantial decrease in glycogen and trehalose cellular content under Zn limitation. An unexpectedly large amount of genes were synergistically or antagonistically regulated by oxygen and Zn availability. This combinatorial regulation suggested a more prominent involvement of Zn in mitochondrial biogenesis and function than hitherto identified.

Project description:Zinc is indispensable for the catalytic activity and structural stability of many proteins, and its deficiency can have severe consequences for microbial growth in natural and industrial environments. For example, Zn depletion in wort negatively affects beer fermentation and quality. Several studies have investigated yeast adaptation to low Zn supply, but were all performed in batch cultures, where specific growth rate depends on Zn availability. The transcriptional responses to growth-rate and Zn availability are then intertwined, which obscures result interpretation. In the present study, transcriptional responses of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to Zn availability were investigated at a fixed specific growth rate under Zn limitation and excess in chemostat culture. To investigate the context-dependency of this transcriptional response, yeast was grown under several chemostat regimes resulting in various carbon (glucose), nitrogen (ammonium) and oxygen supplies. A robust set of genes that responded consistently to Zn limitation was identified and enabled the definition of a Zn-specific Zap1 regulon comprising of 26 genes and characterized by a broader ZRE consensus (MHHAACCBYNMRGGT) than so far described. Most surprising was the Zn-dependent regulation of genes involved in storage carbohydrate metabolism. Their concerted down-regulation was physiologically relevant as revealed by a substantial decrease in glycogen and trehalose cellular content under Zn limitation. An unexpectedly large amount of genes were synergistically or antagonistically regulated by oxygen and Zn availability. This combinatorial regulation suggested a more prominent involvement of Zn in mitochondrial biogenesis and function than hitherto identified Experiment Overall Design: Zinc is indispensable for the catalytic activity and structural stability of many proteins, and its deficiency can have severe consequences for microbial growth in natural and industrial environments. For example, Zn depletion in wort negatively affects beer fermentation and quality. Several studies have investigated yeast adaptation to low Zn supply, but were all performed in batch cultures, where specific growth rate depends on Zn availability. The transcriptional responses to growth-rate and Zn availability are then intertwined, which obscures result interpretation. In the present study, transcriptional responses of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to Zn availability were investigated at a fixed specific growth rate under Zn limitation and excess in chemostat culture. To investigate the context-dependency of this transcriptional response, yeast was grown under several chemostat regimes resulting in various carbon (glucose), nitrogen (ammonium) and oxygen supplies. A robust set of genes that responded consistently to Zn limitation was identified and enabled the definition of a Zn-specific Zap1 regulon comprising of 26 genes and characterized by a broader ZRE consensus (MHHAACCBYNMRGGT) than so far described. Most surprising was the Zn-dependent regulation of genes involved in storage carbohydrate metabolism. Their concerted down-regulation was physiologically relevant as revealed by a substantial decrease in glycogen and trehalose cellular content under Zn limitation. An unexpectedly large amount of genes were synergistically or antagonistically regulated by oxygen and Zn availability. This combinatorial regulation suggested a more prominent involvement of Zn in mitochondrial biogenesis and function than hitherto identified

Project description:Previously, it has been demonstrated that formate can be utilized by Saccharomyces cerevisiae as additional energy source using cells grown in a glucose-limited chemostat. Here, we investigated utilization of formaldehyde as co-substrate. Since endogenous formaldehyde dehydrogenase activities were insufficient to allow co-feeding of formaldehyde, the Hansenula polymorpha FLD1, encoding formaldehyde dehydrogenase, was introduced in S. cerevisiae. Chemostat cultivations revealed that formaldehyde was co-utilized with glucose, but the yield was lower than predicted. Moreover, formate was secreted by the cells. Upon co-expression of the H. polymorpha gene encoding formate dehydrogenase, FMD, the levels of secreted formate decreased, but the biomass yield was still lower than anticipated. Transcriptome comparisons of cells of the engineered FLD1/FMD-expressing S. cerevisiae strain grown with or without formaldehyde feed, suggested that the cells experienced biotin limitation, possibly due to inactivation of biotin by formaldehyde in the feed. When separate feeds were used for formaldehyde and biotin, the engineered S. cerevisiae strain was able to efficiently utilize formaldehyde as additional energy source. Experiment Overall Design: In industrial biotechnology, the cost of feedstocks (often sugars) are crucial for production of both biomass related products, such as proteins, or for the production of commodity chemicals. In many such processes a large fraction of the sugars is dissimilated to either provide free-energy (in the form of ATP) or to provide electrons (in the form of NADH). Co-consumption of methanol, which can be derived from fossil sources (via natural gas) or from biomass (via syngas) , via the above mentioned route can provide NADH and/or ATP, thereby creating the possibility to utilise the sugars more efficiently. It would therefore be advantageous to co-feed S. cerevisiae with methanol during fermentations since it is a cheap alternative to sugars as energy source. Experiment Overall Design: Efficient dissimilation of the intermediate formaldehyde is a crucial first step for utilisation of methanol by S. cerevisiae. Therefore, his study analyses the effect of co-expression of H. polymorpha FLD1 encoding NAD+-dependent formaldehyde and FMD encoding formate dehydrogenases, on tolerance to formaldehyde and co-consumption of formaldehyde by S. cerevisiae.

Project description:To obtain insight in the genome-wide response of heterologous carotenoid production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we have analyzed the transcriptome of S. cerevisiae strains overexpressing carotenogenic genes from the yeast Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous. For this purpose, two strains producing different levels of carotenoids were grown in carbon-limited continuous cultures and genome-wide expression was analyzed. The strain producing low carotenoid levels did not exhibit a clear genome-wide transcriptional response, suggesting that low carotenoid levels do not result in cellular stress. Transcriptome analysis of a strain producing high carotenoid levels resulted in specific induction of genes involved in pleiotropic drug resistance (PDR). These genes encode ATP-binding cassette (ABC) type transporters and major facilitator transporters which are involved in secretion of toxic compounds out of cells. Our results suggest that production of high amounts of carotenoids in S. cerevisiae lead to toxicity and that these cells are prone to secrete carotenoids out of the cell. Indeed, secretion of ï¢-carotene into sunflower oil was observed upon addition of this hydrophobic solvent to the growth medium. Finally, it was observed that deletion of the ABC transporter pdr10, one of the induced PDR transporters, highly decreased the transformation efficiency of an episomal vector containing carotenogenic genes. The few colored transformants that were obtained had decreased growth rates and lower carotenoid production levels compared to control strains transformed with the same carotenogenic genes. These results indicate that Pdr10 might be specifically involved in carotenoid tolerance in S. cerevisiae strains. Experiment Overall Design: The genome wide transcriptional response of S. cerevisiae cells that heterologously produce carotenoids might provide information concerning the impact of carotenoid production on yeast physiology and might identify bottlenecks relevant for the production of these compounds. DNA microarray experiments have been proven to be a powerful tool to study the genome wide transcriptional response of S. cerevisiae to changes of the physiological state and the environment (for example 3,. Genomics approaches on cells producing heterologous metabolites to study their impact on yeast physiology have not been reported yet for S. cerevisiae. Additionally, most transcriptome studies with S. cerevisiae have been performed with cells grown in shake flasks cultures. The main drawback of shake flask cultivation is that the environment is continuously changing, which may be of high influence on carotenoid production, and interpretation of transcriptome data . Chemostat cultivation offers advantages for studies with DNA microarrays because it enables cultivation of microorganisms under tightly defined environmental conditions. An interlaboratory comparison of transcriptome data obtained in chemostat cultures has indeed demonstrated that the accuracy and reproducibility of this approach are superior to those obtained in previous studies with shake-flask cultures .

Project description:Sucrose is a major carbon source for industrial bioethanol production by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In yeasts, two modes of sucrose metabolism occur: (i) extracellular hydrolysis by invertase, followed by uptake and metabolism of glucose and fructose, and (ii) uptake via sucrose-H+ symport followed by intracellular hydrolysis and metabolism. Although alternative start codons in the SUC2 gene enable synthesis of extracellular and intracellular invertase isoforms, sucrose hydrolysis in S. cerevisiae predominantly occurs extracellularly. In anaerobic cultures, intracellular hydrolysis theoretically enables a 9 % higher ethanol yield than extracellular hydrolysis, due to energy costs of sucrose-proton symport. This prediction was tested by engineering the promoter and 5’ coding sequences of SUC2, resulting in relocation of invertase to the cytosol. In anaerobic sucrose-limited chemostats, this iSUC2-strain showed an only 4% increased ethanol yield and high residual sucrose concentrations indicated suboptimal sucrose-transport kinetics. To improve sucrose-uptake affinity, it was subjected to 95 generations of anaerobic, sucrose-limited chemostat cultivation, resulting in a 20-fold decrease of residual sucrose concentrations and a 10-fold increase of the sucrose-transport capacity. A single-cell isolate showed an 11 % higher ethanol yield on sucrose in chemostat and batch cultures than an isogenic SUC2 reference strain, while transcriptome analysis revealed elevated expression of AGT1, encoding a disaccharide-proton symporter, and other maltose-related genes. Deletion of AGT1, which had been duplicated during laboratory evolution, restored the growth characteristics of the unevolved iSUC2 strain. This study demonstrates that engineering the topology of sucrose metabolism is an attractive strategy to improve ethanol yields in industrial processes. The goal of the present study was to investigate whether a relocation of sucrose hydrolysis to the cytosol can be used to improve ethanol yields on sucrose and which additional steps may be required to improve sucrose utilization by strains that only express intracellular invertase. To this end, the SUC2 gene was modified to cause an exclusive intracellular localization. Growth and product formation by the engineered strain were compared with that of the parental strain in anaerobic sucrose-limited chemostat cultures. Subsequently, evolutionary engineering was used to improve sucrose uptake kinetics and an evolved strain was characterized for growth and product formation in chemostat cultures. Transcriptome analysis and gene deletion studies were used to identify genetic changes in the evolved strain that contribute to its improved sucrose-uptake kinetics.

Project description:Despite the scientific and applied interest in anaerobic metabolism of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, not all genes whose transcription is up-regulated under anaerobic conditions have yet been linked to known transcription factors. Experiments with a reporter construct in which the promoter of the anaerobically up-regulated TIR1 gene was fused to LacZ revealed a complete loss of anaerobic up-regulation in a snf7Δ mutant. Anaerobic up-regulation was restored by expression of a truncated allele of RIM101 that encodes for a constitutively active Rim101p transcription factor. Analysis of LacZ expression in several deletion mutants confirmed that the effect of Snf7p on anaerobic up-regulation of TIR1 involved Rim101p and did not require a functional multi-vesicular body sorting pathway (in which Snf7p also participates). Transcriptome analysis in anaerobic chemostat cultures revealed that 26 additional genes exhibited a Snf7p/Rim101p dependent anaerobic up-regulation. Since, in its activated form, Rim101p is generally known as a transcriptional repressor, its role in anaerobic up regulation of TIR1 and other ‘anaerobic’ yeast genes must involve additional factors. Further studies with deletion mutants in NRG1, NRG2 and SMP1, which were previously shown to be regulated by Rim101p, showed that these genes were not involved in the regulation of TIR1. However, the aerobic repression mechanism of TIR1 involved the general repressor Ssn6p-Tup1p complex. The physiological relevance of Snf7p/Rim101p-mediated transcriptional up-regulation of several genes in anaerobic yeast cultures was evident from reduced growth of a snf7Δ under anaerobic conditions. Experiment Overall Design: The aim of the present study is to investigate the role of SNF7 in the regulation of TIR1, to assess whether this role involves the Rim101p pathway, and to investigate whether Snf7p and/or Rim101p are also involved in regulation of other ‘anaerobic’ S. cerevisiae genes. After analyzing transcriptional regulation of TIR1 in several genetic backgrounds, a chemostat-based transcriptome analysis was performed on snf7Δ and rim101Δ strains as well as on the isogenic reference strain. Sets of genes that were differentially expressed in the snf7 and rim101 deletion strains were then compared to sets of genes that were previously shown to be transcriptionally up-regulated in anaerobic chemostat cultures of S. cerevisiae (Piper et al., 2002; Tai et al., 2005) Experiment Overall Design: Piper MD, Daran-Lapujade P, Bro C, Regenberg B, Knudsen S, Nielsen J & Pronk JT (2002) Reproducibility of oligonucleotide microarray transcriptome analyses. An interlaboratory comparison using chemostat cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. J Biol Chem 277: 37001-37008. Experiment Overall Design: Tai SL, Boer VM, Daran-Lapujade P, Walsh MC, de Winde JH, Daran JM & Pronk JT (2005) Two-dimensional transcriptome analysis in chemostat cultures. Combinatorial effects of oxygen availability and macronutrient limitation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. J Biol Chem 280: 437-447.

Dataset Information

Transcriptional responses of yeast to preferred and non-preferred nitrogen sources in C-lim chemostat cultures

Publications

Transcriptional responses of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to preferred and nonpreferred nitrogen sources in glucose-limited chemostat cultures.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure