The Trichoderma atroviride seb1 (stress response element binding) gene encodes an AGGGG-binding protein which is involved in the response to high osmolarity stress

The chitinase genes of Trichoderma spp. (ech42, chit33, nag1) contain one or more copies of a pentanucleotide element (5'-AGGGG-3') in their 5'-noncoding regions. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, this motif is recognized and bound by the stress response regulator proteins Msn2p/Msn4p. To test whether this motif in the chitinase promoters is bound by a Trichoderma Msn2/4p homolog, we have cloned a gene (seb1) from T. atroviride which encodes a C2H2 zinc-finger protein that is 62 (64)% identical to S. cerevisiae Msn2p (Msn4p) in the zinc-finger region, and almost identical to the G-box binding protein from Haematonectria haematococca and to polypeptides encoded by uncharacterized ORFs from Neurospora crassa and Aspergillus nidulans. Its zinc-finger domain specifically recognizes the AGGGG sequence of the ech42 and nag1 promoter in band-shift assays. However, a cDNA clone of seb1, when overexpressed in S. cerevisiae, was unable to complement a Delta msn2/4 mutant of S. cerevisiae. Levels of seb1 mRNA increased under conditions of osmotic stress (sorbitol, NaCl) but not under other stress conditions (cadmium sulfate, pH, membrane perturbance). A T. atroviride Delta seb1 strain, produced by transformation with a seb1 copy disrupted by insertion of the A. nidulans amdS gene, showed strongly reduced growth on solid medium, but grew normally in liquid medium. In liquid medium, growth of the disruption strain was significantly more inhibited by the presence of 1 M sorbitol and 1 M NaCl than was that of the wild-type strain. Despite the presence of AGGGG elements in the promoter of the chitinase gene nag1, no differences in its expression were found between the parent and the disruption strain. EMSA analyses with cell-free extracts obtained from the seb1 disruption strain showed the presence of proteins that could bind to the AGGGG-element in nag1 and ech42. We therefore conclude that seb1 encodes a protein that is involved in the osmotic stress response, but not in chitinase gene expression, in T. atroviride.     

GPD1, which encodes glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, is essential for growth under osmotic stress in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and its expression is regulated by the high-osmolarity glycerol response pathway.

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae responds to osmotic stress, i.e., an increase in osmolarity of the growth medium, by enhanced production and intracellular accumulation of glycerol as a compatible solute. We have cloned a gene encoding the key enzyme of glycerol synthesis, the NADH-dependent cytosolic glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, and we named it GPD1. gpd1 delta mutants produced very little glycerol, and they were sensitive to osmotic stress. Thus, glycerol production is indeed essential for the growth of yeast cells during reduced water availability. hog1 delta mutants lacking a protein kinase involved in osmostress-induced signal transduction (the high-osmolarity glycerol response [HOG] pathway) failed to increase glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase activity and mRNA levels when osmotic stress was imposed. Thus, expression of GPD1 is regulated through the HOG pathway. However, there may be Hog1-independent mechanisms mediating osmostress-induced glycerol accumulation, since a hog1 delta strain could still enhance its glycerol content, although less than the wild type. hog1 delta mutants are more sensitive to osmotic stress than isogenic gpd1 delta strains, and gpd1 delta hog1 delta double mutants are even more sensitive than either single mutant. Thus, the HOG pathway most probably has additional targets in the mechanism of adaptation to hypertonic medium.     

Minimization of glycerol synthesis in industrial ethanol yeast without influencing its fermentation performance

To synthesize glycerol, a major by-product during anaerobic production of ethanol, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae would consume up to 4% of the sugar feedstock in typical industrial ethanol processes. The present study was dedicated to decreasing the glycerol production mostly in industrial ethanol producing yeast without affecting its desirable fermentation properties including high osmotic and ethanol tolerance, natural robustness in industrial processes. In the present study, the GPD1 gene, encoding NAD+-dependent glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in an industrial ethanol producing strain of S. cerevisiae, was deleted. Simultaneously, a non-phosphorylating NADP+-dependent glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPN) from Bacillus cereus was expressed in the mutant deletion of GPD1. Although the resultant strain AG1A (gpd1△ P(PGK)-gapN) exhibited a 48.7±0.3% (relative to the amount of substrate consumed) lower glycerol yield and a 7.6±0.1% (relative to the amount of substrate consumed) higher ethanol yield compared to the wild-type strain, it was sensitive to osmotic stress and failed to ferment on 25% glucose. However, when trehalose synthesis genes TPS1 and TPS2 were over-expressed in the above recombinant strain AG1A, its high osmotic stress tolerance was not only restored but also improved. In addition, this new recombinant yeast strain displayed further reduced glycerol yield, indistinguishable maximum specific growth rate (μ(max)) and fermentation ability compared to the wild type in anaerobic batch fermentations. This study provides a promising strategy to improve ethanol yields by minimization of glycerol production.     

The gld1 + gene encoding glycerol dehydrogenase is required for glycerol metabolism in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is able to utilize glycerol as the sole carbon source via two pathways (glycerol 3-phosphate pathway and dihydroxyacetone [DHA] pathway). In contrast, the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe does not grow on media containing glycerol as the sole carbon source. However, in the presence of other carbon sources such as galactose and ethanol, S. pombe could assimilate glycerol and glycerol was preferentially utilized over ethanol and galactose. No equivalent of S. cerevisiae Gcy1/glycerol dehydrogenase has been identified in S. pombe. However, we identified a gene in S. pombe, SPAC13F5.03c (gld1 ⁺), that is homologous to bacterial glycerol dehydrogenase. Deletion of gld1 caused a reduction in glycerol dehydrogenase activity and prevented glycerol assimilation. The gld1Δ cells grew on 50 mM DHA as the sole carbon source, indicating that the glycerol dehydrogenase encoded by gld1 ⁺ is essential for glycerol assimilation in S. pombe. Strains of S. pombe deleted for dak1 ⁺ and dak2 ⁺ encoding DHA kinases could not grow on glycerol and showed sensitivity to a higher concentration of DHA. The dak1Δ strain showed a more severe reduction of growth on glycerol and DHA than the dak2Δ strain because the expression of dak1 ⁺ mRNA was higher than that of dak2 ⁺. In wild-type S. pombe, expression of the gld1 ⁺, dak1 ⁺, and dak2 ⁺ genes was repressed at a high concentration of glucose and was derepressed during glucose starvation. We found that gld1 ⁺ was regulated by glucose repression and that it was derepressed in scr1Δ and tup12Δ strains.     

Characteristics of a glycerol utilization mutant of Neurospora crassa.

A mutant of Neurospora crassa able to grow on liquid minimal glycerol medium without evidence of conidiation and with high cell yields has been isolated and shown to be allelic to ff-1. The glycerol-specific induction of glycerokinase and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase was similar in both wild-type and mutant cells, although higher specific activities as well as higher glycerokinase cross-reacting material levels were found in fully induced mutant cells. After growth in minimal glycerol medium there is a significant reduction in wild-type cells of the activities of both pyruvate dehydrogenase and dihydrolipoyl transacetylase. This evidence indicates a relationship between the conditional acetate requirement by wild-type cells grown on glycerol medium and the levels of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex.     

Neuronal uptake and metabolism of glycerol and the neuronal expression of mitochondrial glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase

Glycerol is effective in the treatment of brain oedema but it is unclear if this is due solely to osmotic effects of glycerol or whether the brain may metabolize glycerol. We found that intracerebral injection of [14C]glycerol in rat gave a higher specific activity of glutamate than of glutamine, indicating neuronal metabolism of glycerol. Interestingly, the specific activity of GABA became higher than that of glutamate. NMR spectroscopy of brains of mice given 150 micromol [U-13C]glycerol (0.5 m i.v.) confirmed this predominant labelling of GABA, indicating avid glycerol metabolism in GABAergic neurones. Uptake of [14C]glycerol into cultured cerebellar granule cells was inhibited by Hg2+, suggesting uptake through aquaporins, whereas Hg2+ stimulated glycerol uptake into cultured astrocytes. The neuronal metabolism of glycerol, which was confirmed in experiments with purified synaptosomes and cultured cerebellar granule cells, suggested neuronal expression of glycerol kinase and some isoform of glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. Histochemically, we demonstrated mitochondrial glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in neurones, whereas cytosolic glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase was three to four times more active in white matter than in grey matter, reflecting its selective expression in oligodendroglia. The localization of mitochondrial and cytosolic glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenases in different cell types implies that the glycerol-3-phosphate shuttle is of little importance in the brain.     

产甘油假丝酵母胞浆3-磷酸甘油脱氢酶编码基因的克隆

当酵母细胞处于高渗压环境时,甘油被诱导合成以提高其胞内渗透压,这一过程受ＨＯＧ途径的调控。ＧＰＤ１基因为ＨＯＧ途径的重要靶基因,高效表达使胞内３磷酸甘油脱氢酶酶活水平提高可极大地提高甘油的产量。本研究将产甘油假丝酵母（Ｃａｎｄｉｄａｇｌｙｃｅｒｏｌｏｇｅｎｅｓｉｓ）染色体ＤＮＡ经Ｓａｕ３ＡＩ部分酶解后的５～１０ｋｂＤＮＡ片段与经ＢａｍＨＩ线性化及ＣＩＰ处理过的酵母大肠杆菌穿梭质粒ＹＥｐ５１连接,以大肠杆菌ＤＨ５α为受体,构建产甘油假丝酵母的染色体基因文库。通过遗传互补法,在含５０ｇ／Ｌ氯化钠的培养基上筛选出１５个转化子,对转化子０６０１进行了进一步鉴定,转化子０６０１所含质粒ＹＥｐ０６０１带有ＹＥｐ５１的标记并可以消除Ｓａｃｃｂａｒｏｍｙｃｅｓｃｅｒｅｖｉｓｉａｅ６４２菌株由于其ＧＰＤ１,ＧＰＤ２两基因的缺失突变而表现出的渗透压敏感性,表明已克隆到产甘油假丝酵母的编码胞浆３磷酸甘油脱氢酶的基因     

Identification of OS-2 MAP kinase-dependent genes induced in response to osmotic stress, antifungal agent fludioxonil, and heat shock in Neurospora crassa

Two-component signal transduction comprising of OS-1 (histidine kinase), OS-4 (MAPKK kinase), OS-5 (MAPK kinase), and OS-2 (MAP kinase) plays an important role in osmotic regulation in Neurospora crassa. To identify the genes regulated downstream of OS-2 MAP kinase, quantitative real-time RT-PCR analysis was conducted in selected genes based on Hog1 MAP kinase regulated genes in yeast. In response to osmotic stress and fludioxonil, expression of six genes that for glycerol synthesis (gcy-1, gcy-3, and dak-1), gluconeogenesis (fbp-1 and pck-1), and catalase (ctt-1) was activated in the wild-type strain, but not in the os-2 mutant. A heat shock treatment also induced their expression in the same way. Consisting with the gene expression, the enzyme activity of glycerol dehydrogenase, but not glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, was increased in response to osmotic stress and fludioxonil in the wild-type strain. OS-2 was phosphorylated by the OS-1 cascade in response to relatively low osmotic stress and fludioxonil. However, OS-2 phosphorylation by heat shock and a higher osmotic stress was found in the os-1 mutant normally but not in the os-4 and os-5 mutants. These results suggested that non-OS-1 signaling activates OS-2 in an OS-4-dependent manner in such conditions.     

Comparative analysis on the key enzymes of the glycerol cycle metabolic pathway in Dunaliella salina under osmotic stresses

The glycerol metabolic pathway is a special cycle way; glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (G3pdh), glycerol-3-phosphate phosphatase (G3pp), dihydroxyacetone reductase (Dhar), and dihydroxyacetone kinase (Dhak) are the key enzymes around the pathway. Glycerol is an important osmolyte for Dunaliella salina to resist osmotic stress. In this study, comparative activities of the four enzymes in D. salina and their activity changes under various salt stresses were investigated, from which glycerol metabolic flow direction in the glycerol metabolic pathway was estimated. Results showed that the salinity changes had different effects on the enzymes activities. NaCl could stimulate the activities of all the four enzymes in various degrees when D. salina was grown under continuous salt stress. When treated by hyperosmotic or hypoosmotic shock, only the activity of G3pdh in D. salina was significantly stimulated. It was speculated that, under osmotic stresses, the emergency response of the cycle pathway in D. salina was driven by G3pdh via its response to the osmotic stress. Subsequently, with the changes of salinity, other three enzymes started to respond to osmotic stress. Dhar played a role of balancing the cycle metabolic pathway by its forward and backward reactions. Through synergy, the four enzymes worked together for the effective flow of the cycle metabolic pathways to maintain the glycerol requirements of cells in order to adapt to osmotic stress environments.     

Regulation of glycerol metabolism in Zygosaccharomyces rouxii in response to osmotic stress

Summary Enzyme analyses indicated that the metabolism of glycerol by Zygosaccharomyces rouxii occurred via either glycerol-3-phosphate (G3P) or dihydroxyacetone (DHA). The route via DHA is significant in osmoregulation. The specific activities of glycerol dehydrogenase (GDHG) and DHA kinase, which metabolize glycerol via DHA, increased nine- and fourfold respectively during osmotic stress [0.960 water activity (a_w) adjusted with NaCl] when compared to non-stressed conditions (0.998 a_w). Both pathways are under metabolic regulation. Glycerol kinase, mitochondrial G3P dehydrogenase and DHA kinase are induced by glycerol while the latter is also repressed by glucose. Cells treated with cycloheximide prior to osmotic upshock showed significantly lower DHA kinase and GDHG levels and lower intracellular glycerol concentrations when compared to untreated control cells. Thus protein synthesis is essential for osmotic adaptation. Offprint requests to: B. A. Prior     

Gene expression profiles and intracellular contents of stress protectants in Saccharomyces cerevisiae under ethanol and sorbitol stresses

In response to osmotic stress, proline is accumulated in many bacterial and plant cells. During various stresses, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae induces glycerol or trehalose synthesis, but the fluctuations in gene expression and intracellular levels of proline in yeast are not yet well understood. We previously found that proline protects yeast cells from damage by freezing, oxidative, or ethanol stress. In this study, we examined the relationships between the gene expression profiles and intracellular contents of glycerol, trehalose, and proline under stress conditions. When yeast cells were exposed to 1 M sorbitol stress, the expression of GPD1 encoding glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase is induced, leading to glycerol accumulation. In contrast, in the presence of 9% ethanol, the rapid induction of TPS2 encoding trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase resulted in trehalose accumulation. We found that intracellular proline levels did not increase immediately after addition of sorbitol or ethanol. However, the expressions of genes involved in proline synthesis and degradation did not change during exposure to these stresses. It appears that the elevated proline levels are due primarily to an increase in proline uptake from a nutrient medium caused by the induction of PUT4. These results suggest that S. cerevisiae cells do not accumulate proline in response to sorbitol or ethanol stress different from other organisms.     

Physiological and genetic characterisation of osmosensitive mutants of Saccharomyes cerevisiae

The screening of 20,000 Saccharomyces cerevisiae random mutants to identify genes involved in the osmotic stress response yielded 14 mutants whose growth was poor in the presence of elevated concentrations of NaCl and glucose. Most of the mutant strains were more sensitive to NaCl than to glucose at the equivalent water activity (a_w) and were classified as salt-sensitive rather than osmosensitive. These mutants fell into 11 genetic complementation groups and were designated osr1–osr11 (osmotic stress response). All mutations were recessive and showed a clear 2⁺ : 2^– segregation of the salt-stress phenotype upon tetrad analysis when crossed to a wild-type strain. The complementation groups osr1, osr5 and osr11 were allelic to the genes PBS2, GPD1 and KAR3, respectively. Whereas intracellular and extracellular levels of glycerol increased in the wild-type strains when exposed to NaCl, all mutants demonstrated some increase in extracellular glycerol production upon salt stress, but a number of the mutants showed little or no increase in intracellular glycerol concentrations. The mutants had levels of glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, an enzyme induced by osmotic stress, either lower than or similar to those of the parent wild-type strain in the absence of osmotic stress. In the presence of NaCl, the increase in glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase activity in the mutants did not match that of the parent wild-type strain. None of the mutants had defective ATPases or were sensitive to heat stress. It is evident from this study and from others that a wide spectrum of genes is involved in the osmotic stress response in S. cerevisiae. Received: 5 January 1998 / Accepted: 24 March 1998     

Uptake and dissimilation of glycerol by wild type and glycerol nonutilizing strains of Neurospora crassa

Summary Seven mutant strains defective for utilization of glycerol, glyceraldehyde or dihydroxyacetone were isolated. One strain was deficient for NAD-linked glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, two for glycerol kinase, and four had no detected enzymatic deficiency, although one of the latter strains was deficient in glycerol uptake. Glycerol uptake was increased by incubation in glycerol, glycerol-3-phosphate, erythritol, and propanediol, and was protein-mediated below 0.14 mM glycerol, but at higher concentrations free diffusion predominated. Glycerol uptake was decreased by cycloheximide and was more sensitive to sodium azide than to iodoacetate.     

Purification and characterization of glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (NAD+) in the salt-tolerant yeast Debaryomyces hansenii

The NAD-dependent glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.8) of the salt-tolerant yeast Debaryomyces hansenii was purified by poly(ethylene glycol) precipitation and a combination of chromatographic procedures. The enzyme existed in two forms with different ionic characters and specific activity. On SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, both forms yielded one predominant band with an apparent molecular weight of 42,000. The specific activity of the enzyme was dependent on the concentration of the enzyme and on the ionic strength of the dissolving medium. All ions tested stimulated the enzyme activity in the ionic strength range 0-100 mM, with glutamate yielding the highest activity. Above these concentrations, the dehydrogenase showed high tolerance for glutamate in concentrations up to 0.9 M, whereas malate, sulfate and chloride were inhibitory. Enzyme activity showed little sensitivity to the type of cation present and was only slightly affected by 5 M glycerol. The true Km values for the substrates were 6.6 microM for NADH, 130 microM for dihydroxyacetone phosphate, 0.3 mM for NAD and 1.2 mM for glycerol-3-phosphate, and the enzyme showed specificity for these four substrates only. It is proposed that the enzyme functions in cellular osmoregulation by providing glycerol 3-phosphate for the biosynthesis of glycerol, the main compatible solute in D. hansenii, and that the enzyme is well adapted to function in yeast cells exposed to osmotic stress.     

Glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.8) from Dunaliella tertiolecta. I. Purification and kinetic properties

A rapid purification procedure for glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase from Dunaliella tertiolecta (strain 19-6 of the algal collection of the Univ. of Göttingen), the initial enzyme in the glycerol cycle, has been developed on the basis of affinity chromatography on Blue Sepharose and subsequent desalting by Sephadex G-50. The achieved purification was 126-fold. The pH optimum of dihydroxyacetone phosphate reduction is 7, that of glycerol-3-phosphate oxidation is about 9. The in vitro enzymatic activity obtained from cell extracts is higher than the required activity for the observed glycerol production rates under osmotic stress in vivo.     

Glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.8) from Dunaliella tertiolecta. II. Influence of phosphate esters and different salts on the enzymatic activity with respect to osmoregulation

The effects of AMP, ATP, inorganic phosphate and fructose-1, 6-bisphosphate on glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (NADH) from Dunaliella tertiolecta were investigated. In addition the salt effects and the influence of different anions were studied. The results support the assumption that concentration changes of intermediates and salts by cell shrinkage during osmotic stress can account for the control of glycerol synthesis.