Copper Tolerance and Biosorption of Saccharomyces cerevisiae during Alcoholic Fermentation

At high levels, copper in grape mash can inhibit yeast activity and cause stuck fermentations. Wine yeast has limited tolerance of copper and can reduce copper levels in wine during fermentation. This study aimed to understand copper tolerance of wine yeast and establish the mechanism by which yeast decreases copper in the must during fermentation. Three strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (lab selected strain BH8 and industrial strains AWRI R2 and Freddo) and a simple model fermentation system containing 0 to 1.50 mM Cu²⁺ were used. ICP-AES determined Cu ion concentration in the must decreasing differently by strains and initial copper levels during fermentation. Fermentation performance was heavily inhibited under copper stress, paralleled a decrease in viable cell numbers. Strain BH8 showed higher copper-tolerance than strain AWRI R2 and higher adsorption than Freddo. Yeast cell surface depression and intracellular structure deformation after copper treatment were observed by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy; electronic differential system detected higher surface Cu and no intracellular Cu on 1.50 mM copper treated yeast cells. It is most probably that surface adsorption dominated the biosorption process of Cu²⁺ for strain BH8, with saturation being accomplished in 24 h. This study demonstrated that Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain BH8 has good tolerance and adsorption of Cu, and reduces Cu²⁺ concentrations during fermentation in simple model system mainly through surface adsorption. The results indicate that the strain selected from China’s stress-tolerant wine grape is copper tolerant and can reduce copper in must when fermenting in a copper rich simple model system, and provided information for studies on mechanisms of heavy metal stress.     

酒精发酵过程中酿酒酵母耐受环境胁迫的研究进展

提高酿酒酵母细胞耐受环境胁迫（高渗透压、高浓度酒精和高温）的能力对酒精工业生产具有重要的意义。对提高酿酒酵母耐受性的研究方法和策略的发展历程进行了综述。基因组学、转录组学和蛋白质组学等现代组学技术在这一领域的研究获得了广泛的应用。这些技术将提供期待的信息,去理性改造并获得更加耐受胁迫的工业酵母菌株。     

Fluidization of Membrane Lipids Enhances the Tolerance of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to Freezing and Salt Stress

Unsaturated fatty acids play an essential role in the biophysical characteristics of cell membranes and determine the proper function of membrane-attached proteins. Thus, the ability of cells to alter the degree of unsaturation in their membranes is an important factor in cellular acclimatization to environmental conditions. Many eukaryotic organisms can synthesize dienoic fatty acids, but Saccharomyces cerevisiae can introduce only a single double bond at the Δ⁹ position. We expressed two sunflower (Helianthus annuus) oleate Δ¹² desaturases encoded by FAD2-1 and FAD2-3 in yeast cells of the wild-type W303-1A strain (trp1) and analyzed their effects on growth and stress tolerance. Production of the heterologous desaturases increased the content of dienoic fatty acids, especially 18:2Δ^9,12, the unsaturation index, and the fluidity of the yeast membrane. The total fatty acid content remained constant, and the level of monounsaturated fatty acids decreased. Growth at 15°C was reduced in the FAD2 strains, probably due to tryptophan auxotrophy, since the trp1 (TRP1) transformants that produced the sunflower desaturases grew as well as the control strain did. Our results suggest that changes in the fluidity of the lipid bilayer affect tryptophan uptake and/or the correct targeting of tryptophan transporters. The expression of the sunflower desaturases, in either Trp⁺ or Trp⁻ strains, increased NaCl tolerance. Production of dienoic fatty acids increased the tolerance to freezing of wild-type cells preincubated at 30°C or 15°C. Thus, membrane fluidity is an essential determinant of stress resistance in S. cerevisiae, and engineering of membrane lipids has the potential to be a useful tool of increasing the tolerance to freezing in industrial strains.     

Screening of Non- Saccharomyces cerevisiae Strains for Tolerance to Formic Acid in Bioethanol Fermentation

Formic acid is one of the major inhibitory compounds present in hydrolysates derived from lignocellulosic materials, the presence of which can significantly hamper the efficiency of converting available sugars into bioethanol. This study investigated the potential for screening formic acid tolerance in non-Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strains, which could be used for the development of advanced generation bioethanol processes. Spot plate and phenotypic microarray methods were used to screen the formic acid tolerance of 7 non-Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeasts. S. kudriavzeii IFO1802 and S. arboricolus 2.3319 displayed a higher formic acid tolerance when compared to other strains in the study. Strain S. arboricolus 2.3319 was selected for further investigation due to its genetic variability among the Saccharomyces species as related to Saccharomyces cerevisiae and availability of two sibling strains: S. arboricolus 2.3317 and 2.3318 in the lab. The tolerance of S. arboricolus strains (2.3317, 2.3318 and 2.3319) to formic acid was further investigated by lab-scale fermentation analysis, and compared with S. cerevisiae NCYC2592. S. arboricolus 2.3319 demonstrated improved formic acid tolerance and a similar bioethanol synthesis capacity to S. cerevisiae NCYC2592, while S. arboricolus 2.3317 and 2.3318 exhibited an overall inferior performance. Metabolite analysis indicated that S. arboricolus strain 2.3319 accumulated comparatively high concentrations of glycerol and glycogen, which may have contributed to its ability to tolerate high levels of formic acid.     

代谢工程与全基因组重组构建酿酒酵母抗逆高产乙醇菌株

将酿酒酵母海藻糖代谢工程与全基因组重组技术相结合,改良工业酿酒酵母菌株的抗逆性和乙醇发酵性能。对来源于二倍体出发菌株Zd4的两株优良单倍体Z1和Z2菌株进行杂交获得基因组重组菌株Z12,并对Z1和Z2先进行(1)过表达海藻糖-6-磷酸合成酶基因 (TPS1) ,(2)敲除海藻糖水解酶基因 (ATH1), (3)同时过表达 TPS1和敲除ATH1, 经此三种基因工程操作后再进行杂交获得代谢工程菌株的全基因组重组菌株Z12ptps1、Z12 Δath1和Z12pTΔA。与亲株Zd4相比,Z12及结合代谢工程获得的菌株在高糖、高乙醇浓度与高温条件下生长与乙醇发酵性能都有不同程度的改进。对比研究结果表明:在高糖发酵条件下,同时过表达 TPS1和敲除ATH1 的双基因操作工程菌株胞内海藻糖积累、乙醇主发酵速率和乙醇产量相对于亲株的提高幅度要大于只过表达 TPS1,或敲除ATH1 的工程菌。结合了全基因组重组后获得的二倍体工程菌株Z12pTΔA,与原始出发菌株Zd4及重组子Z12相比,主发酵速率分别提高11.4%和6.3%,乙醇产量提高7.0%和4.1%,与其胞内海藻糖含量高于其它菌株、在胁迫条件下具有更强耐逆境能力相一致。结果证明,海藻糖代谢工程与杂交介导的全基因组重组相结合,是提高酿酒酵母抗逆生长与乙醇发酵性能的有效策略与技术途径。     

Ethanol-Induced Leakage in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: Kinetics and Relationship to Yeast Ethanol Tolerance and Alcohol Fermentation Productivity

Ethanol stimulated the leakage of amino acids and 260-nm-light-absorbing compounds from cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The efflux followed first-order kinetics over an initial period. In the presence of lethal concentrations of ethanol, the efflux rates at 30 and 36°C were an exponential function of ethanol concentration: k_e^X = k_e^Xme^{E (X-X_m)}, where k_e^X and k_e^Xm are the efflux rate constants, respectively, in the presence of a concentration X of ethanol or the minimal concentration of ethanol, X_m, above which the equation was applicable, coincident with the minimal lethal concentration of ethanol. E is the enhancement constant. At 36°C, as compared with the corresponding values at 30°C, the efflux rates were higher and the minimal concentration of ethanol (X_m) was lower. The exponential constants for the enhancement of the rate of leakage (E) had similar values at 30 or 36°C and were of the same order of magnitude as the corresponding exponential constants for ethanol-induced death. Under isothermic conditions (30°C) and up to 22% (vol/vol) ethanol, the resistance to ethanol-induced leakage of 260-nm-light-absorbing compounds was found to be closely related with the ethanol tolerance of three strains of yeasts, Kluyveromyces marxianus, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Saccharomyces bayanus. The resistance to ethanol-induced leakage indicates the possible adoption of the present method for the rapid screening of ethanol-tolerant strains. The addition to a fermentation medium of the intracellular material obtained by ethanol permeabilization of yeast cells led to improvements in alcohol fermentation by S. cerevisiae and S. bayanus. The action of the intracellular material, by improving yeast ethanol tolerance, and the advantages of partially recycling the fermented medium after distillation were discussed.     

Proline Biosynthesis Is Required for Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Tolerance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The amino acid proline is uniquely involved in cellular processes that underlie stress response in a variety of organisms. Proline is known to minimize protein aggregation, but a detailed study of how proline impacts cell survival during accumulation of misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) has not been performed. To address this we examined in Saccharomyces cerevisiae the effect of knocking out the PRO1, PRO2, and PRO3 genes responsible for proline biosynthesis. The null mutants pro1, pro2, and pro3 were shown to have increased sensitivity to ER stress relative to wild-type cells, which could be restored by proline or the corresponding genetic complementation. Of these mutants, pro3 was the most sensitive to tunicamycin and was rescued by anaerobic growth conditions or reduced thiol reagents. The pro3 mutant cells have higher intracellular reactive oxygen species, total glutathione, and a NADP⁺/NADPH ratio than wild-type cells under limiting proline conditions. Depletion of proline biosynthesis also inhibits the unfolded protein response (UPR) indicating proline protection involves the UPR. To more broadly test the role of proline in ER stress, increased proline biosynthesis was shown to partially rescue the ER stress sensitivity of a hog1 null mutant in which the high osmolality pathway is disrupted.     

Mitotic Recombination and Genetic Changes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae during Wine Fermentation

Natural strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae are prototrophic homothallic yeasts that sporulate poorly, are often heterozygous, and may be aneuploid. This genomic constitution may confer selective advantages in some environments. Different mechanisms of recombination, such as meiosis or mitotic rearrangement of chromosomes, have been proposed for wine strains. We studied the stability of the URA3 locus of a URA3/ura3 wine yeast in consecutive grape must fermentations. ura3/ura3 homozygotes were detected at a rate of 1 × 10⁻⁵ to 3 × 10⁻⁵ per generation, and mitotic rearrangements for chromosomes VIII and XII appeared after 30 mitotic divisions. We used the karyotype as a meiotic marker and determined that sporulation was not involved in this process. Thus, we propose a hypothesis for the genome changes in wine yeasts during vinification. This putative mechanism involves mitotic recombination between homologous sequences and does not necessarily imply meiosis.     

Fermentation Temperature Modulates Phosphatidylethanolamine and Phosphatidylinositol Levels in the Cell Membrane of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

During alcoholic fermentation, Saccharomyces cerevisiae is exposed to a host of environmental and physiological stresses. Extremes of fermentation temperature have previously been demonstrated to induce fermentation arrest under growth conditions that would otherwise result in complete sugar utilization at “normal” temperatures and nutrient levels. Fermentations were carried out at 15°C, 25°C, and 35°C in a defined high-sugar medium using three Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains with diverse fermentation characteristics. The lipid composition of these strains was analyzed at two fermentation stages, when ethanol levels were low early in stationary phase and in late stationary phase at high ethanol concentrations. Several lipids exhibited dramatic differences in membrane concentration in a temperature-dependent manner. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used as a tool to elucidate correlations between specific lipid species and fermentation temperature for each yeast strain. Fermentations carried out at 35°C exhibited very high concentrations of several phosphatidylinositol species, whereas at 15°C these yeast strains exhibited higher levels of phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylcholine species with medium-chain fatty acids. Furthermore, membrane concentrations of ergosterol were highest in the yeast strain that experienced stuck fermentations at all three temperatures. Fluorescence anisotropy measurements of yeast cell membrane fluidity during fermentation were carried out using the lipophilic fluorophore diphenylhexatriene. These measurements demonstrate that the changes in the lipid composition of these yeast strains across the range of fermentation temperatures used in this study did not significantly affect cell membrane fluidity. However, the results from this study indicate that fermenting S. cerevisiae modulates its membrane lipid composition in a temperature-dependent manner.     

Auxotrophic Mutations Reduce Tolerance of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to Very High Levels of Ethanol Stress

Very high ethanol tolerance is a distinctive trait of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae with notable ecological and industrial importance. Although many genes have been shown to be required for moderate ethanol tolerance (i.e., 6 to 12%) in laboratory strains, little is known of the much higher ethanol tolerance (i.e., 16 to 20%) in natural and industrial strains. We have analyzed the genetic basis of very high ethanol tolerance in a Brazilian bioethanol production strain by genetic mapping with laboratory strains containing artificially inserted oligonucleotide markers. The first locus contained the ura3Δ0 mutation of the laboratory strain as the causative mutation. Analysis of other auxotrophies also revealed significant linkage for LYS2, LEU2, HIS3, and MET15. Tolerance to only very high ethanol concentrations was reduced by auxotrophies, while the effect was reversed at lower concentrations. Evaluation of other stress conditions showed that the link with auxotrophy is dependent on the type of stress and the type of auxotrophy. When the concentration of the auxotrophic nutrient is close to that limiting growth, more stress factors can inhibit growth of an auxotrophic strain. We show that very high ethanol concentrations inhibit the uptake of leucine more than that of uracil, but the 500-fold-lower uracil uptake activity may explain the strong linkage between uracil auxotrophy and ethanol sensitivity compared to leucine auxotrophy. Since very high concentrations of ethanol inhibit the uptake of auxotrophic nutrients, the active uptake of scarce nutrients may be a major limiting factor for growth under conditions of ethanol stress.     

Induction of Stress Genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae during Starvation

In order to analyze the response of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to starvation on a gene expression level, microarray experiments were performed using a yeast whole genome array. It is well known that under stress conditions like heat, high salt concentrations, pressure or the presence of toxins, special stress response genes are induced in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This includes the genes encoding the typical heat shock proteins as well as numerous genes concerning cell membrane composition, central carbon metabolism or cell cycle. In this contribution, the Saccharomyces cerevisiae starvation‐stress response is analyzed. Starvation is a living condition often experienced by yeast in natural surroundings. As Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an eukaryote, many results from the gene expression analysis are valid for mammalians as well. The understanding of response of the yeast to the absence of a nutrient is also important for the development of feeding strategies in cultivations. Therefore, knowledge about the gene expression during starvation is important for both research and industrial applications. The regulation of 233 genes, which are involved in the stress response according to the literature, was examined via microarray experiments. In addition, a screening was carried out identifying 115 genes, which are hitherto not known to be comprised in the stress response, but which were significantly up‐regulated during starvation.     

Stress Tolerance Variations in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Strains from Diverse Ecological Sources and Geographical Locations

The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a platform organism for bioethanol production from various feedstocks and robust strains are desirable for efficient fermentation because yeast cells inevitably encounter stressors during the process. Recently, diverse S. cerevisiae lineages were identified, which provided novel resources for understanding stress tolerance variations and related shaping factors in the yeast. This study characterized the tolerance of diverse S. cerevisiae strains to the stressors of high ethanol concentrations, temperature shocks, and osmotic stress. The results showed that the isolates from human-associated environments overall presented a higher level of stress tolerance compared with those from forests spared anthropogenic influences. Statistical analyses indicated that the variations of stress tolerance were significantly correlated with both ecological sources and geographical locations of the strains. This study provides guidelines for selection of robust S. cerevisiae strains for bioethanol production from nature.     

Enhanced Accumulation of BiP in Transgenic Plants Confers Tolerance to Water Stress

The binding protein (BiP) is an important component of endoplasmic reticulum stress response of cells. Despite extensive studies in cultured cells, a protective function of BiP against stress has not yet been demonstrated in whole multicellular organisms. Here, we have obtained transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv Havana) plants constitutively expressing elevated levels of BiP or its antisense cDNA to analyze the protective role of this endoplasmic reticulum lumenal stress protein at the whole plant level. Elevated levels of BiP in transgenic sense lines conferred tolerance to the glycosylation inhibitor tunicamycin during germination and tolerance to water deficit during plant growth. Under progressive drought, the leaf BiP levels correlated with the maintenance of the shoot turgidity and water content. The protective effect of BiP overexpression against water stress was disrupted by expression of an antisense BiP cDNA construct. Although overexpression of BiP prevented cellular dehydration, the stomatal conductance and transpiration rate in droughted sense leaves were higher than in control and antisense leaves. The rate of photosynthesis under water deficit might have caused a degree of greater osmotic adjustment in sense leaves because it remained unaffected during water deprivation, which was in marked contrast with the severe drought-induced decrease in the CO(2) assimilation in control and antisense leaves. In antisense plants, the water stress stimulation of the antioxidative defenses was higher than in control plants, whereas in droughted sense leaves an induction of superoxide dismutase activity was not observed. These results suggest that overexpression of BiP in plants may prevent endogenous oxidative stress.     

Global Protein Conjugation by Ubiquitin-Like-Modifiers during Ischemic Stress Is Regulated by MicroRNAs and Confers Robust Tolerance to Ischemia

Hibernation torpor provides an excellent model of natural tolerance to ischemia. We have previously shown that massive global SUMOylation occurs during hibernation torpor in ground squirrels. We have also shown that overexpression of Ubc9, SUMO-1, or SUMO-2/3 provides protection against ischemic damage in cell lines and cortical neurons exposed to oxygen/glucose deprivation, and in mice exposed to middle cerebral artery occlusion. We have now extended our study to other Ubiquitin-Like- Modifiers (ULMs), which have multiple cellular functions during stress, in order to assess the possibility that they also have roles in tolerance to ischemia. We found that not only SUMO conjugation, but also global protein conjugation by other ULMs including NEDD8, ISG15, UFM1 and FUB1 were significantly increased in the brains of hibernating ground squirrels during torpor. By means of miRNA microarrays of ground squirrel brain samples (from active and torpor phase) we found that the miR-200 family (miR-200a,b,c/miR-141/miR-429) and the miR-182 family (miR-182/miR-183/miR-96) were among the most consistently depressed miRNAs in the brain during the torpor phase as compared to active animals. In addition, we showed that these miRNAs are involved in the expression of various ULM proteins and their global conjugation to proteins. We observed that inhibition of the miR-200 family and/or miR-182 family miRNA activities in SHSY5Y cells increases global protein conjugation by the above ULMs and makes these cells more tolerant to OGD-induced cell death. This is the first report to describe that the natural tolerance to brain ischemia in hibernators is linked to regulation by microRNAs of a broad range of ubiquitin-like modifiers.     

香蕉乙二醛酶基因增强酿酒酵母对非生物胁迫抵抗能力的研究

从香蕉cDNA文库中克隆到了一个香蕉(Musa acuminata AAA subgroup)乙二醛酶(glyoxalase,GLO)基因(MaGLO14)。构建了带有MaGLO14的酵母表达载体PYES2-MaGLO14,转化酿酒酵母(Saccharomyces cerevisiae)尿嘧啶营养缺陷型菌株INVSC1,挑取转化子进行PCR和酶切鉴定,证实获得了转基因菌株。通过比较转基因菌株和非转基因菌株在NaCl、高温、低温、干旱、UV胁迫下的生长状况,证明转基因菌株在以上非生物胁迫条件下的存活菌落数均高于非转基因菌株。利用酿酒酵母初步证明MaGLO14具有增强酵母菌对非生物胁迫抵抗力的功能。     

Over-expression of Osmotin Induces Proline Accumulation and Confers Tolerance to Osmotic Stress in Transgenic Tobacco

Osmotin has been implicated in conferring tolerance to drought and salt stress in plants. We have over-expressed the osmotin gene under the control of constitutive CaMV 35S promoter in transgenic tobacco, and studied involvement of the protein in imparting tolerance to salinity and drought stress. The transgenic plants exhibited retarded leaf senescence and improved germination on a medium containing 200mM NaCl. Further, the transgenics maintained higher leaf relative water content (RWC), leaf photosynthesis and free proline content than the wild type plants during water stress and after recovery from stress. When subjected to salt stress (200mM NaCl), the transgenic plants accumulated significantly more proline than the wild type plants. These results suggest the involvement of the osmotin-induced increase in proline in imparting tolerance to salinity and drought stress in transgenic plants over-expressing the osmotin gene.     

Mitochondrial Respiratory Electron Carriers Are Involved in Oxidative Stress during Heat Stress in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In the present study we sought to determine the source of heat-induced oxidative stress. We investigated the involvement of mitochondrial respiratory electron transport in post-diauxic-phase cells under conditions of lethal heat shock. Petite cells were thermosensitive, had increased nuclear mutation frequencies, and experienced elevated levels of oxidation of an intracellular probe following exposure to a temperature of 50 degrees C. Cells with a deletion in COQ7 leading to a deficiency in coenzyme Q had a much more severe thermosensitivity phenotype for these oxidative endpoints following heat stress compared to that of petite cells. In contrast, deletion of the external NADH dehydrogenases NDE1 and NDE2, which feed electrons from NADH into the electron transport chain, abrogated the levels of heat-induced intracellular fluorescence and nuclear mutation frequency. Mitochondria isolated from COQ7-deficient cells secreted more than 30 times as much H(2)O(2) at 42 as at 30 degrees C, while mitochondria isolated from cells simultaneously deficient in NDE1 and NDE2 secreted no H(2)O(2). We conclude that heat stress causes nuclear mutations via oxidative stress originating from the respiratory electron transport chains of mitochondria.     

Enhancement of Stress Tolerance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by Overexpression of Ubiquitin Ligase Rsp5 and Ubiquitin-Conjugating Enzymes

Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells overexpressing essential ubiquitin ligase Rsp5 or ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes (Ubc1-Ubc13) showed tolerance to various stresses. Co-overexpression of Rsp5 and Ubc1, Ubc2, Ubc3, Ubc5, Ubc6, Ubc9, Ubc10, Ubc11, Ubc12, or Ubc13 further enhanced stress tolerance. These results suggest that overexpression of ubiquitin-related enzymes might be a useful method for breeding novel stress-resistant strains.