Project description:Total RNA versus genomic DNA hybridization on custom arrays designed for all Kluyveromyces lactis genes Total RNA was collected in mid-log phase from Kluyveromyces lactis cells grown in rich medium (abbreviated CM, in house recipe). RNA was then converted to cDNA, Cy3-labeled and hybridized competitively against Cy5 labeled genomic DNA from Kluyveromyces lactis.
Project description:The coenzyme NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) is a critical electron carrier in central metabolism and is required for cellular health. It is proposed that cells sense intracellular NAD+ levels using sirtuin deacetylases, which require NAD+ for their enzymatic activity. We tested this hypothesis by examining how intracellular NAD+ levels affect expression of Sir2-repressed genes in the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis. Because K. lactis cannot synthesize NAD+, we could create a gradient of intracellular NAD+ levels by growing cells in varying concentrations of the precursor nicotinic acid. We found that as NAD+ levels decreased, acetylation of histones at target promoters increased, as did expression of these genes. RNA-Seq analysis revealed that genes induced in low nicotinic acid include some that would restore NAD+ levels, such as the high-affinity nicotinic acid transporter TNA1, and some that would enable long term survival, such as genes promoting sporulation. Most genes induced in low nicotinic acid (100 of 114 or 88%) were also induced in the absence of Sir2. Moreover, in sir2Δ cells, few transcriptional changes occurred in response to low nicotinic acid. Thus, Sir2 is the primary sensor responsible for the transcriptional response to low NAD+ in K. lactis. In addition, the degree of induction varied across NAD+ levels, suggesting that Sir2 behaves as a rheostat, tuning gene expression to NAD+ availability.
Project description:The transcription factor KlPdr1p, belonging to the Zn2Cys6 family, is a central regulator of efflux pump expression in Kluyveromyces lactis. To better understand how KlPDR1-mediated drug resistance is achieved in K. lactis, we used DNA microarrays to identify genes whose expression was affected by deletion or overexpression of the KlPDR1 gene. All microarray experiments were performed using the 30K Kluyveromyces lactis NRRL Y-1140 microarray (MYcroarray, 5692 Plymouth Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, USA). Exponentially growing (1 x 107 cells ml-1) K. lactis PM6-7A cells (wild-type, PM6-7A/pdr1∆ and the wild-type transformed with multicopy plasmid carrying the gain-of-function allele of KlPDR1* gene) (Balazfyova et al. 2013), were collected and total RNA was isolated using RNeasy midi kit (Qiagen GmbH, Germany). 1 mg of total RNA was linearly amplified and labelled using Amino allyl MessageAmpII aRNA Amplification kit (Ambion, USA) with two different fluorescent dyes; AlexaFluor647 and AlexaFluor555 (Life Technologies, Germany). 4 µg of labelled RNA was hybridized (18 h at 45°C) in 6x SSPE with addition of formamide (10%), tween-20 (0,01%) and microarray-specofoc control oligos (1%, MYcroarray, USA). After washing, microarray images and two-color GPR output files were obtained using the microarray scanner InnoScan 900 and Mapix software version 7.3.1 (Inopsys, France). The two-color GPR files were processed using the R version 3.0.2 (R Core Team (2014). R: A language and enviroment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL http://www.R-project.org) and functions available in the limma package (Smyth 2005). Briefly, the two-color GPR files were omported using the read.maimages() function, background-substracted using the “minimum“ method and within-array-normalized using the “loess“ method. The between-array normalisation was achieved using the “Aquantile“ method. For further analysis, only genes with log2FC ˃2 were selected and confirmed using qPCR.
Project description:The goal of the study was to compare the response to Protien Kinase A (PKA) inhibition between Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Kluyveromyces lactis. The ancestor of K. lactis did not undergo the Whole Genome Duplication (or Whole Genome Hybridization) event that S. cerevisiae experienced. We found that many paralog pairs in S. cerevisiae were differentially induced in response to PKA inhibition, and that the shared ortholog for these paralog paris in K. lactis was typically not induced. To inhibit PKA, strains containing point mutations rendering PKA sensitive to inhibition by the ATP analog 1-NM-PP1 were generated. The transcription factors Msn2/4 and Rph1/Gis1 in S. cerevisiae and their shared orthologs in K. lactis were deleted in both species to quantify and compare the effect of those transcription factors on the response to PKA inhibition in each species.