Turnover of canavanine-containing proteins inSaccharomyces cerevisiae

Saccharomyces cerevisiae grown for 2 h in the presence of 0.5 mmol/L canavanine in a synthetic medium with ethanol as the sole carbon source (OEC) exhibited a slowing down of protein synthesis for 3–4 h after a shift to fresh ethanolbased medium containing 1.0 mmol/L arginine (OEA) in comparison with untreated cells grown on OEA. The change of carbon source from ethanol to glucose (OGA) after growth in the OEC medium resulted in an even deeper decline of protein synthesis. The degradation of canavanine-containing proteins in cells pregrown and labelled in an OEC medium after transfer to OEA was more rapid than in the OGA medium. The initial rate of protein degradation during the first hour in the OGA medium was less than 1%/h whereas in the OEA medium it reached almost 10%/h. The fraction of proteins with high turnover (half-life 0.46 h) constituted 8.3% on OEA, while during subsequent growth on OGA it was only 0.75% with a half-life of 0.12 h.     

Initial kinetics of Protein turnover in growing yeast

Proteins in yeast growing in a medium with glucose or ethanol as carbon source were pulse-labelled by a 20-min incubation with¹⁴C-leucine. The proteins in cells labelled and growing in a glucose medium were stable; when this population was transferred to the ethanol medium, the proteins were degraded at a rate of 1.1 %/h. The population labelled and growing in an ethanol medium displayed a fraction of short-lived proteins (about 4 %), decaying with a half-life of 0.5 h. The size of the short-lived protein fraction increased slightly after shifts to a glucose as well as to a starvation medium. The residual long-lived proteins underwent a turnover of 1.3 –1.4 %/h in the ethanol or the starvation medium and of 0.3 %/h in the glucose medium, respectively. Proteins labelled in the presence of canavanine or ethionine were degraded at only a slightly greater rate than the normal proteins. Participant of the UNESCO Postgraduate Course “On Modern Problems in Biology”.     

Degradation of abnormal proteins in growing yeast

Abstract Degradation of abnormal proteins in Saccharomyces cerevisiae , synthesized in an ethanol medium in the presence of 0.1 mM canavanine, proceeded more rapidly than that of the normal ones, the degradation constant of the 'long-lived' fraction being most affected. Higher concentrations of the analogue had an adverse effect on protein degradation during subsequent growth. Degradation of normal and abnormal proteins was suppressed by glucose but was increased substantially in cell-free extracts. This suggests that their internalization into the digestive organelle may be an important step in protein catabolism in yeast.     

Continuous production of ethanol in high concentration using immobilized growing yeast cells

Summary Application of an immobilized growing yeast cell system to continuous production of ethanol in high concentration (10%) was investigated using Saccharomyces cerevisiae IFO 2363. When a medium containing 25% glucose was fed, the growth of yeast cells in gel was inhibited. The inhibitory effect was found to be reduced by a stepwise increase in concentration of glucose in the feed medium. The stepwise operation resulted in constant growth of cells in the gel even in the medium containing 25% glucose. By this stepwise feeding system, continuous production of ethanol of 114 mg/ml was maintained at a retention time of 2.6 h for over 2 months and a conversion rate of glucose to ethanol of over 95% of theoretical, was achieved.     

Turnover of yeast fructose-bisphosphatase in different metabolic conditions

Earlier work demonstrated that addition of glucose to yeast growing on noncarbohydrate carbon sources sharply reduces the levels of fructose bisphosphatase. This report indicates that the decrease in the levels of fructose bisphosphatase is accompanied by a parallel decrease of cross-reacting material to specific antibody to fructose bisphosphatase. Use of the specific antibody shows that the loss of activity is irreversible and that its reapperance requires synthesis of protein de novo. The protein is highly stable during growth in ethanol (half life about 90 h). Addition of glucose increases the rate of degradation abut 200-fold. It is shown that the values of the rates of synthesis and degradation of fructose bisphosphatase vary with the metabolic situation of the yeast.     

Effect of metabolic conditions on protein turnover in yeast.

1. In yeast growing on ethanol a turnover rate of up to 2%/h was measured. As much as 80% of the protein was subject to turnover, and no marked heterogeneity in the rate of degradation of protein was observed. When the yeast grew on glucose, the protein was degraded at a lower rate (0.5-1%/h). 2. Starvation for a nitrogen source increased the rate of protein degradation severalfold, whereas deprivation of phosphate had only a marginal effect (30% increase). Removal of glucose from a medium containing 50mM-phosphate did not cause marked changes in the rate of protein degradation. In contrast, when the media were low in phosphate (0.1 mM) removal of glucose increased the rate of turnover 2-4-fold. 3. Protein degradation proceeded unimpaired when the intracellular concentration of ATP decreased from 4 to 1 mM, but stopped completely when it decreased below 0.3 mM.     

Metabolic flux screening of Saccharomyces cerevisiae single knockout strains on glucose and galactose supports elucidation of gene function

New methods for an extended physiological characterization of yeast at a microtiter plate scale were applied to 27 deletion mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cultivated on glucose and galactose as sole carbon sources. In this way, specific growth rates, specific rates of glucose consumption and ethanol production were determined. Flux distribution, particularly concerning branching into the pentose phosphate pathway was determined using a new (13)C-labelling method using MALDI-ToF-mass spectrometry. On glucose, the growth was predominantly fermentative whereas on galactose respiration was more active with correspondingly lower ethanol production. Some deletion strains showed unexpected behavior providing very informative data about the function of the corresponding gene. Deletion of malic enzyme gene, MAE1, did not show any significant phenotype when grown on glucose but a drastically increased branching from glucose 6-phosphate into the pentose phosphate pathway when grown on galactose. This allows the conclusion that MAE1 is important for the supply of NADPH during aerobic growth on galactose.     

Derepression of galactose metabolism in melibiase producing bakers' and distillers' yeast

Beet molasses is widely used as a growth substrate for bakers' and distillers' yeast in the production of biomass and ethanol. Most commercial yeasts do not fully utilise the carbohydrates in molasses since they are incapable of hydrolysing the disaccharide melibiose to glucose and galactose. Also, expression of genes encoding enzymes for the utilisation of carbon sources that are alternatives to glucose is tightly regulated, sometimes rates of yeast growth and/or ethanol production. The GAL genes are regulated by specific induction by galactose and repression during growth on glucose. In an industrial distillers' yeast, two genes interacting synergistically in glucose repression of galactose utilization, MIG1 and GAL80, have been disrupted with MEL1, encoding melibiase. The physiology of the wild-type strain and the recombinant strains was investigated on mixtures of glucose and galactose and on molasses. The recombinant strain started to ferment galactose when 9.7 g 1(-1) glucose was still present during a batch fermentation, whereas the wild-type strain did not consume any galactose in the presence of glucose. The ethanol yield in the recombinant strain was 0.50 g ethanol g sugar (-1) in an ethanol fermentation on molasses, compared with 0.48 g ethanol g sugar (-1) for the wild-type strain. The increased ethanol yield was due to utilization of melibiose in the molasses.     

Carbohydrate carbon sources induce loss of flocculation of an ale-brewing yeast strain

AIMS: To identify the nutrients that can trigger the loss of flocculation under growth conditions in an ale-brewing strain, Saccharomyces cerevisiae NCYC 1195. METHODS AND RESULTS: Flocculation was evaluated using the method of Soares, E.V. and Vroman, A. [Journal of Applied Microbiology (2003) 95, 325]. Yeast growth with metabolizable carbon sources (glucose, fructose, galactose, maltose or sucrose) at 2% (w/v), induced the loss of flocculation in yeast that had previously been allowed to flocculate. The yeast remained flocculent when transferred to a medium containing the required nutrients for yeast growth and a sole nonmetabolizable carbon source (lactose). Transfer of flocculent yeast into a growth medium with ethanol (4% v/v), as the sole carbon source did not induce the loss of flocculation. Even the addition of glucose (2% w/v) or glucose and antimycin A (0.1 mg l(-1)) to this culture did not bring about loss of flocculation. Cycloheximide addition (15 mg l(-1)) to glucose-growing cells stopped flocculation loss. CONCLUSIONS: Carbohydrates were the nutrients responsible for stimulating the loss of flocculation in flocculent yeast cells transferred to growing conditions. The glucose-induced loss of flocculation required de novo protein synthesis. Ethanol prevented glucose-induced loss of flocculation. This protective effect of ethanol was independent of the respiratory function of the yeast. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This work contributes to the elucidation of the role of nutrients in the control of the flocculation cycle in NewFlo phenotype yeast strains.     

The role of catalases in protection of proteins against oxidation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae utilizing ethanol as a carbon source

The content of protein carbonyls and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) in the wild and catalase-deficient strains of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae grown in glucose and ethanol media are compared. The deficient strain cells reproduced 10.6-fold slower in ethanol-containing medium. Activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in YWT1 cells was 1.7-fold lower when yeast are grown in ethanol, and content of protein carbonyls was 4.7-fold higher, than when they are grown in the medium with glucose. At the same time, reproduction of the wild type cells in ethanol was 2.7-fold slower and carbonyl groups of protein content was 2-fold lower, than under cultivation in glucose. TBARS content in both strains was similar when they were grown in ethanol and in glucose. It has been supposed that catalases play a certain role in the protection of S. cerevisiae proteins against oxidative modification when they are grown on the media with glucose and ethanol.     

Synthesis and degradation of tyrosinase in cultured melanoma cells

The tyrosinase (EC 1.14.18.1) activity of cultured B-16 mouse melanoma cells (C2M) in the stationary phase depends greatly on whether the culture medium contains glucose or galactose. The activity in medium containing galactose was about ten times that in medium containing glucose at pH 7.2. This difference in tyrosinase activity was concluded to be due to a shift of balance between synthesis and degradation of the enzyme. Experiments were conducted with stationary phase cultures in the presence of cycloheximide. The melanoma cells did not synthesize tyrosinase in medium containing glucose in the stationary phase. But when they were cultured under identical conditions, except that glucose was replaced by galactose, they continued to synthesize tyrosinase. The rate of synthesis in medium containing galactose at pH 6.3 was one third of that in the same medium at about pH 7, in which the increase in specific activity of tyrosinase per day was about 30 nmoles/mg cell protein per hr. The rate of degradation of the enzyme was practically the same in medium containing glucose as in medium containing galactose, and largely depended on the pH of the culture medium. At pH 6.3, the half-life was about one third of that at pH 7.2, where it was about 1.8 days. The degradation at acidic pH values was much reduced by ammonium salt and was strongly inhibited by the protease inhibitor, leupeptin.     

Production of ethanol and biomass from various carbohydrates byKluyveromyces fragilis

Summary Growth ofKluyveromyces fragilis NRC 2475 and the production of ethanol by the yeast were studied in the media containing one of the following sugars: glucose, lactose, galactose, or a glucose-galactose (50% 50%) mixture as a carbon source.The largest biomass yield and the lowest yield of ethanol were obtained in the medium containing glucose. The medium containing galactose gave the lowest yield of biomass and the largest yield of ethanol. When lactose was used for the growth and production of ethanol the obtained results for both biomass and ethanol were between those obtained with glucose and galactose.The ethanol productivities, expressed in terms of ethanol produced either per unit of cells, or per unit of cells and time, were the highest in the system with galactose and the lowest in that with glucose.     

Coordinate control of syntheses of ribosomal ribonucleic acid and ribosomal proteins during nutritional shift-up in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

We investigated the regulation of ribosome synthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae growing at different rates and in response to a growth stimulus. The ribosome content and the rates of synthesis of ribosomal ribonucleic acid and of ribosomal proteins were compared in cultures growing in minimal medium with either glucose or ethanol as a carbon source. The results demonstrated that ribosome content is proportional to growth rate. Moreover, these steady-state concentrations are regulated at the level of synthesis of ribosomal precursor ribonucleic acid and of ribosomal proteins. When cultures growing on ethanol were enriched with glucose, the rate of ribosomal ribonucleic acid synthesis, measured by pulsing cells with [methyl-3H]methionine, increased by 40% within 5 min, doubled within 15 min, and reached a steady state characteristic of the new growth medium by 30 min. Labeling with [3H]leucine reveal a coordinate increase in the rate of synthesis of 30 or more ribosomal proteins as compared with that of total cellular proteins. Their synthesis was stimulated approximately 2.5-fold within 15 min and nearly 4-fold within 60 min. The data suggest that S. cerevisiae responds to a growth stimulus by preferential stimulation of the synthesis of ribosomal ribonucleic acid and ribosomal proteins.     

Effect of <Emphasis Type="Italic">m</Emphasis>-carbonyl cyanide 3-chlorophenylhydrazone on inorganic polyphosphates synthesis in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Saccharomyces cerevisiae</Emphasis> under different growth conditions

The effects of different concentrations of the protonophore uncoupler m-carbonyl cyanide 3-hchlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP) on the synthesis of inorganic polyphosphates (polyP) during the first 0.5 h of hypercompensation in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae VKM Y-1173 growing on media with 2% glucose under low (hypoxia) or high aeration or with 1% (vol/vol) ethanol under high aeration were studied. It was shown that the yeast growth on ethanol was completely inhibited by 5 μM CCCP, while growth on glucose was inhibited by 25 μM CCCP, independently of aeration of the medium. The maximum rate of H2 absorption was shown at 2, 5, and 25 μM CCCP for the cells grown on ethanol, on glucose under high aeration, and on glucose under hypoxia, respectively. Against the decrease of total ATP level and total polyP, CCCP had a nonuniform effect on the synthesis of individual polyP fractions. CCCP maximally inhibited synthesis of the most actively formed fractions: polyPI during growth on glucose under hypoxia, polyPIII during growth on glucose under aeration, and polyPIII and polyPV during growth on ethanol. CCCP had no substantial effect on the synthesis of polyPII and polyPIV fractions, the formation of which seems to be less related to the electrochemical potential gradient of H⁺ ions.     

The production of extracellular polysaccharides by a hydrocarbon assimilating yeast.

Investigations were made on the extracellular polysaccharides production by a hydrocarbon assimilating yeast. The yeast Candida lipolytica was grown on two different media containing n-hexadecane as the sole carbon source. Polymeric materials precipitated from the culture medium with ethanol were determined gravimetrically at various growth periods. The hydrolysis of the precipitated material and their chromatographic analysis revealed the presence of mannose, glucose and galactose in the yeast extract-containing medium. The proportions of these sugars differed at various growth periods. The hydrolysates of the polymers of the yeast extract-free medium contained more xylose than those of the yeast extract containing medium.     

Production of pokeweed antiviral proteins nontoxic to cells by Mutagenesis of PAP-cDNA

Pokeweed antiviral protein (PAP), one of ribosome inactivating proteins (RIPs), has very strong toxicity both to prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. To produce mutant PAPs nontoxic to cells, the PAP-cDNA was inserted into a yeast-E.coli shuttle vector under the control of galactose promoter, mutagenized using hydroxylamine, and transformed into yeast cells. Transformed yeast cells were selected on the uracil-deficient plate containing glucose or raffinose, and the yeast cells producing mutant PAPs nontoxic to cells were then selected on the galactose plate. Eighteen mutants were obtained by immunoblot analyses of 1,000 transformants: among them, three, ten and five mutants produced unprocessed, mature and truncated PAPs, respectively. Fourteen PAP mutants among them did not inhibit the yeast cell growth, and showed no or less inhibition of protein synthesisin vitro. Six among fourteen mutants were able to protect TMV infection in coinoculation experiment. The mutant PAPs showing an antiviral activity either without or reduced RIP activity contain neither the active site mutation nor C-terminal deletion mutation. These results suggest that both the RIP activity and the antiviral activity will require other amino acid residue(s) besides the active site and that the antiviral acitivity of PAP can be dissociated from its toxicity.     

Differential profiles of soluble proteins during the initiation of morphogenesis in Candida albicans

Candida albicans is a dimorphic fungus that can grow either as yeast or as mycelia. The mycelial form may be required for tissue penetration and therefore may have a role in pathogenesis. The protein profiles of the cell-free S100 fraction from budding yeast cells and germ tube-forming cells (an early stage of the transition between yeast and mycelia) were evaluated using two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-D PAGE). Yeast growth or germ tube formation was induced in carbon-starved cells at 37° C by either glucose, galactose or N-acetylglucosamine at pH 4.5 or pH 6.7. More than 400 constitutively synthesised polypeptides were identified on 2-D PAGE by silver staining. A few polypeptides which seem to reflect the release from carbon starvation were detected, but no polypeptides unique to either morphology were observed. Fractionation of S100 preparations by polyethylenimine or heparin-agarose affinity chromatography, which have been used to detect DNA-binding proteins, revealed several proteins that were synthesised on the resumption of cell growth or in response to pH difference. Heparin-agarose also bound novel polypeptides in the size range 130–200 kDa that were preferentially synthesised in germ tube-forming cells. These results suggest that any protein factors that might exert a regulatory role early in germ tube formation are of low abundance, and that a minor group of soluble proteins involved in C. albicans morphogenesis may be differentially synthesised. Received: 11 March 1996 / Accepted: 10 July 1996