Transcriptional repression of ADH2-regulated beta-xylanase production by ethanol in recombinant strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The regulation of endo-beta-(1,4)-xylanase production by two different strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, each transformed with the XYN2 gene from Trichoderma reesei under control of the promoter of the alcohol dehydrogenase II (ADH2) gene of S. cerevisiae, was investigated. In batch culture, the rate of xylanase production was severely reduced by the pulse addition of 390 mmol ethanol l(-1). Pulses of 190-630 mmol ethanol l(-1) into aerobic glucose-limited steady-state continuous cultures reduced the xylanase activity about five-fold and showed that ethanol repressed the ADH2 promoter, as was evident from Northern blot analyses. Derepression of the ADH2-regulated xylanase gene occurred at ethanol concentrations below approximately 50 mmol l(-1).     

High-cell-density cultivation of yeasts on disaccharides in oxygen-limited batch cultures

Many facultatively fermentative yeast species exhibit a "Kluyver effect": even under oxygen-limited growth conditions, certain disaccharides that support aerobic, respiratory growth are not fermented, even though the component monosaccharides are good fermentation substrates. This article investigates the applicability of this phenomenon for high-cell-density cultivation of yeasts. In glucose-grown batch cultures of Candida utilis CBS 621, the onset of oxygen limitation led to alcoholic fermentation and, consequently, a decrease of the biomass yield on sugar. In maltose-grown cultures, alcoholic fermentation did not occur and oxygen-limited growth resulted in high biomass concentrations (90 g dry weight L(-1) from 200 g L(-1) maltose monohydrate in a simple batch fermentation). It was subsequently investigated whether this principle could also be applied to Kluyveromyces species exhibiting a Kluyver effect for lactose. In oxygen-limited, glucose-grown chemostat cultures of K. wickerhamii CBS 2745, high ethanol concentrations and low biomass yields were observed. Conversely, ethanol was absent and biomass yields on sugar were high in oxygen-limited chemostat cultures grown on lactose. Batch cultures of K. wickerhamii grown on lactose exhibited the same growth characteristics as the maltose-grown C. utilis cultures: absence of ethanol formation and high biomass yields. Within the species K. marxianus, the occurrence of a Kluyver effect for lactose is known to be strain dependent. Thus, K. marxianus CBS 7894 could be grown to high biomass densities in lactose-grown batch cultures, whereas strain CBS 5795 produced ethanol after the onset of oxygen limitation and, consequently, yielded low amounts of biomass. Because the use of yeast strains exhibiting a Kluyver effect obviates the need for controlled substrate-feeding strategies to avoid oxygen limitation, such strains should be excellently suited for the production of biomass and growth-related products from low-cost disaccharide-containing feedstocks. (c) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Monoclonal antibody productivity and the metabolic pattern of perfusion cultures under varying oxygen tensions

The metabolic pattern and cell culture kinetics of high-cell-density perfusion cultures were compared under two different oxygen transfer conditions: oxygen limiting and not limiting. When oxygen was a limiting factor during perfusion culture, both specific glucose uptake and lactate production rates increased, compared to non-oxygen-limited condition, by about 60% and 30%, respectively. The specific glutamine uptake rate under oxygen-limited conditions was almost 4.0 times higher than that under non-oxygen-limited conditions. The activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) released into the medium by the dead cells can be used as an indicator for the metabolic and physiological conditions related to oxygen limitation. There was a 3.2 times higher specific rate of LDH activity released by dead cells in oxygen-limited cultures than those in non-oxygen-limited cultures. The specific production rate of monoclonal antibody was not significantly affected by the oxygen transfer conditions during the rapid cell growth period, but it rapidly increased toward the end of perfusion cultures. The higher perfusion rate may have limited further cell growth during high-cell-density perfusion culture, because cell damage was caused by the hydrodynamic shear within a hollow fiber microfiltration cartridge installed to withdraw the spent medium and the waste metabolites. (c) 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Synthesis of poly[(R)-3-hydroxybutyric acid) in the cytoplasm of Pichia pastoris under oxygen limitation

We have constructed a tandem gene expression cassette containing three Ralstonia eutropha poly[(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate] (PHB) synthesis genes under the control of the Pichia pastoris glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate promoter and the green fluorescent protein (Gfp) under the control of the P. pastoris alcohol oxidase promoter. The inducible Gfp reporter protein has been used to rapidly isolate transformed strains with two copies of the entire expression cassette. The isolated strain exhibits Gfp induction kinetics that is twice as fast as that of the strains isolated without cell sorting. In addition, the sorted strains exhibited higher PHB contents in preliminary screening experiments. PHB synthesis was characterized in more detail in the sorted strain and was found to be dependent on culture conditions. It was observed that the specific PHB synthesis rate was dependent on the carbon source utilized and that the conditions of oxygen stress lead to increased fractional PHB content. When this strain is cultivated on glucose under oxygen-limited conditions, the cultures accumulated ethanol during the initial growth phase and then consumed the ethanol for the accumulation of PHB and biomass. While PHB was not synthesized during initial growth on glucose, significant levels of PHB were synthesized when ethanol was subsequently consumed. PHB was also synthesized under aerobic conditions when ethanol was the only carbon source. During growth on ethanol, the specific growth rate of the culture was reduced under oxygen-limited conditions but the specific PHB synthesis rate was relatively unaffected. Thus, the high accumulation of PHB which exceeded 30% of the cell dry weight appears to be the consequence of the decreased biomass growth rate under severe oxygen limitation.     

The endo-beta-1,4-xylanase xyn11A is required for virulence in Botrytis cinerea

Phytopathogenic fungi can degrade xylan, an abundant hemicellulose in plant cell walls, by the coordinate action of a group of extracellular enzymes. Among these, endo-beta-1,4-xylanases carry out the initial breakdown by cleaving internal bonds in the polymer backbone. We have isolated and characterized a gene, xyn11A, coding for an endo-beta-1,4-xylanase belonging to family 11 of glycosyl hydrolases. xyn11A was shown to be induced by xylan and repressed by glucose and to be expressed in planta. The disruption of xyn11A caused only a moderate decrease, about 30%, in the level of extracellular endo-beta-1-4-xylanase activity and in the growth rate, with beechwood xylan as the only carbon source. However, deletion of the gene had a more pronounced effect on virulence, delaying the appearance of secondary lesions and reducing the average lesion size by more than 70%. Reintroducing the wild-type gene into the mutant strains reversed this phenotype back to wild type.     

The role of oxygen limitation in the formation of poly-β-hydroxybutyrate during batch and continuous culture of Azotobacter beijerinckii

Azotobacter beijerinckii was grown in ammonia-free glucose-mineral salts media in batch culture and in chemostat cultures limited by the supply of glucose, oxygen or molecular nitrogen. In batch culture poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate was formed towards the end of exponential growth and accumulated to about 74% of the cell dry weight. In chemostat cultures little poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate accumulated in organisms that were nitrogen-limited, but when oxygen limited a much increased yield of cells per mol of glucose was observed, and the organisms contained up to 50% of their dry weight of poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate. In carbon-limited cultures (D, the dilution rate,=0.035-0.240h(-1)), the growth yield ranged from 13.1 to 19.8g/mol of glucose and the poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate content did not exceed 3.0% of the dry weight. In oxygen-limited cultures (D=0.049-0.252h(-1)) the growth yield ranged from 48.4 to 70.1g/mol of glucose and the poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate content was between 19.6 and 44.6% of dry weight. In nitrogen-limited cultures (D=0.053-0.255h(-1)) the growth yield ranged from 7.45 to 19.9g/mol of glucose and the poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate content was less than 1.5% of dry weight. The sudden imposition of oxygen limitation on a nitrogen-limited chemostat culture produced a rapid increase in poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate content and cell yield. Determinations on chemostat cultures revealed that during oxygen-limited steady states (D=0.1h(-1)) the oxygen uptake decreased to 100mul h(-1) per mg dry wt. compared with 675 for a glucose-limited culture (D=0.1h(-1)). Nitrogen-limited cultures had CO(2) production values in situ ranging from 660 to 1055mul h(-1) per mg dry wt. at growth rates of 0.053-0.234h(-1) and carbon-limited cultures exhibited a variation of CO(2) production between 185 and 1328mul h(-1) per mg dry wt. at growth rates between 0.035 and 0.240h(-1). These findings are discussed in relation to poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate formation, growth efficiency and growth yield during growth on glucose. We suggest that poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate is produced in response to oxygen limitation and represents not only a store of carbon and energy but also an electron sink into which excess of reducing power can be channelled.     

The N-terminal cellulose-binding domain of EGXA increases thermal stability of xylanase and changes its specific activities on different substrates

A full-length EGXA enzyme from a mollusk, Ampullaria crossean, was cloned into pFastBac vector and then heterogeneously expressed in insect Tn5 cells. Its natural N-terminal signal peptide worked well in the insect Tn5 cells. The recombinant EGXA was a 63 kDa protein and had active endo-beta-1,4-glucanase (EC 3.2.1.4) and endo-beta-1,4-xylanase (EC 3.2.1.8). The specific activity of endo-beta-1,4-xylanase was higher than in the EGX, which was purified from the stomach tissues of Ampullaria crossen. The N-terminal cellulose-binding domain of EGXA made it bind to cellulose and xylan more efficiently. This cellulose-binding domain also increased the thermal stability of this recombinant enzyme and decreased the recombinant EGXA's specific activities on p-nitrophenyl-beta-D-cellobioside and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose.     

An energetic model for oxygen-limited metabolism

Microbial production of 2,3-butanediol by Klebsiella oxytoca occurs under conditions of an oxygen limitation. The extent to which substrate is oxidized to 2,3-butanediol and its coproducts, (acetic acid, acetoin, and ethanol) and the relative flow rates of substrate to energetic and biosynthetic pathways are controlled by the degree of oxygen limitation. Two energetic relationships which describe the response to an oxygen limitation have been derived. The first relationship describes the coupling between growth and energy production observed under oxygen-limited conditions. This allows calculation of energetic parameters and modeling of the cell mass and substrate profiles in terms of the degree of oxygen limitation only. The second relationship describes the average degree of oxidation and the rate of the end-product flow. The model has been tested with both batch and continuous culture. During these kinetic studies, two phases of growth have been observed: energy-coupled growth, which was described above; and, energy-uncoupled growth, which arises when the degree of oxygen limitation reaches a critical value. Optimal culture performance with respect to 2,3-butanediol productivity occurs during energy-coupled growth. (c) 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Growth of mixed cultures of Actinomyces viscosus and Streptococcus mutans under dual limitation of glucose and oxygen

Abstract Streptococcus mutans and Actinomyces viscosus are among the dominant species in human dental plaque. In their natural environment, carbohydrate- and oxygen-limited conditions are likely to occur frequently. Therfore, mixed cultures of the 2 species were studied under dual limitation of glucose and oxygen. Over a wide range of oxygen-supply rates, coexistence of A. viscosus and S. mutans was observed, within this range A. viscosus increased almost linearly with oxygen supply. A mathematical model based on Monod-type type kinetics and accounting for uncompetitive inhibition of growth by oxygen was developed to simulate these mixed cultures. The model predicted coexistence over a fairly large range of aeration rates. This finding, in combination with the results of the chemostat experiments, led to the conclusion that coexistence of the two species     

Growth, death, and oxygen uptake kinetics of Pichia stipitis on xylose

Pichia stipitis NRRL Y-7124 has potential application in the fermentation of xylose-rich waste streams, produced by wood hydrolysis. Kinetic models of cell growth, death, and oxygen uptake were investigated in batch and oxygen-limited continuous cultures fed a rich synthetic medium. Variables included rates of dilution (D) and oxygen transfer (K(1)a) and concentrations of xylose (X), ethanol (E), and dissolved oxygen (C(ox)). Sustained cell growth required the presence of oxygen. Given excess xylose, specific growth rate (micro) was a Monod function of C(ox). Specific oxygen uptake rate was proportional to mu by a yield coefficient relating biomass production to oxygen consumption; but oxygen uptake for maintenance was negligible. Thus steady-state C(OX) depended only on D, while steady-state biomass concentration was controlled by both D and K(1)a. Given excess oxygen, cells grew subject to Monod limitation by xylose, which became inhibitory above 40 g/L. Ethanol inhibition was consistent with Luong's model, and 64. 3 g/L was the maximum ethanol concentration allowing growth. Actively growing cells died at a rate that was 20% of micro. The dying portion increased with E and X.     

Oxygen-dependent xylitol metabolism in Pichia stipitis

Pichia stipitis CBS 6054 was cultivated in chemostat cultures under aerobic and oxygen-limited conditions with xylitol alone, a mixture of xylitol and glucose and a mixture of xylitol and xylose. Xylitol metabolism was strictly respiratory and no ethanol was formed. Simultaneous feeding of xylitol and glucose and xylitol and xylose to oxygen-limited xylitol-pregrown cells resulted in ethanol formation. In vitro both pyruvate decarboxylase activity and alcohol dehydrogenase activity were present in cells metabolising xylitol under oxygen-limited conditions; however, this did not result in ethanol formation. Glucose, xylose and xylitol utilisation, respectively, were compared under anaerobic conditions with regard to growth rate, carbon source and oxygenation level during pre-cultivation. Irrespective of pre-growth conditions, xylitol was not metabolised under anaerobic conditions, whereas ethanol was formed from both xylose and glucose. Anaerobic xylose utilisation required induction of a xylose-utilising metabolic pathway during pre-cultivation. Received: 23 February 1999 / Received last revision: 20 July 1999 / Accepted: 1 August 1999     

The wide-domain carbon catabolite repressor CreA indirectly controls expression of the Aspergillus nidulans xlnB gene, encoding the acidic endo-beta-(1,4)-xylanase X(24)

The Aspergillus nidulans xlnB gene, which encodes the acidic endo-beta-(1,4)-xylanase X(24), is expressed when xylose is present as the sole carbon source and repressed in the presence of glucose. That the mutation creA(d)30 results in considerably elevated levels of xlnB mRNA indicates a role for the wide-domain repressor CreA in the repression of xlnB promoter (xlnBp) activity. Functional analyses of xlnBp::goxC reporter constructs show that none of the four CreA consensus target sites identified in xlnBp are functional in vivo. The CreA repressor is thus likely to exert carbon catabolite repression via an indirect mechanism rather than to influence xlnB expression by acting directly on xlnB.     

根癌农杆菌介导的VHb异源表达及其对里氏木霉的影响

里氏木霉是生产纤维素酶的重要菌株,在其浸没式发酵过程中,氧传递是重要影响因素。为了减轻溶氧的限制,本研究借助根癌农杆菌将透明颤菌血红蛋白基因vgb引入里氏木霉。qPCR结果表明,pki及gpd启动子均可以有效启动vgb在里氏木霉中的表达。进一步实验结果表明,在摇瓶培养中,供氧充足情况下野生菌和转化株的生长无明显差异,但是在静止培养条件下,氧气供应受限,转化菌株的干重是野生菌的17.8~25.5倍。     

Aerobic induction of respiro-fermentative growth by decreasing oxygen tensions in the respiratory yeast Pichia stipitis

The fermentative and respiratory metabolism of Pichia stipitis wild-type strain CBS 5774 and the derived auxotrophic transformation recipient PJH53 trp5-10 his3-1 were examined in differentially oxygenated glucose cultures in the hermetically sealed Sensomat system. There was a good agreement of the kinetics of gas metabolism, growth, ethanol formation and glucose utilisation, proving the suitability of the Sensomat system for rapid and inexpensive investigation of strains and mutants for their respiratory and fermentative metabolism. Our study revealed respiro-fermentative growth by the wild-type strain, although the cultures were not oxygen-limited. The induction of respiro-fermentative behaviour was obviously due to the decrease in oxygen tension but not falling below a threshold of oxygen tension. The responses differed depending on the velocity of the decrease in oxygen tension. At high oxygenation (slow decrease in oxygen tension), ethanol production was induced but glucose uptake was not influenced. At low oxygenation, glucose uptake and ethanol formation increased during the first hours of cultivation. The transformation recipient PJH53 most probably carries a mutation that influences the response to a slow decrease in oxygen tension, since almost no ethanol formation was found under these conditions.     

Effect of oxygen supply on passaging, stabilising and screening of recombinant Hansenula polymorpha production strains in test tube cultures

Twenty-four Hansenula polymorpha transformants were passaged and stabilised in glucose medium and screened in glycerol medium for recombinant phytase in shaken test tubes. The cultivations were performed under either limited or non-limited oxygen supply. Maximum oxygen transfer capacities of test tubes were assessed by sulfite oxidation. Oxygen-limited glucose cultures resulted in a partially anaerobic metabolism and formation of 4.1 g ethanol l(-1), which was subsequently aerobically metabolised. Non-limited oxygen supply led to overflow metabolism and to accumulation of 2.1 g acetic acid l(-1), reducing the biomass yield. The use of glycerol in the screening main cultures prevented by-product formation irrespective of oxygen supply. Preculturing in glucose medium under non-limited oxygen supply resulted in a 20-h lag phase of the screening main culture. This lag phase was not observed when preculturing was performed under oxygen limitation. Phytase activity was on average 25% higher in cultures passaged, stabilised and screened under limited oxygen supply than in cultures under non-limited oxygen supply.     

A unified stoichiometric model for oxidative and oxidoreductive growth of yeasts

Yeasts degrade glucose through different metabolic pathways, where the choice of the pathway is dependent on the nature of the limitation in the various substrates. When oxygen is limiting in addition to glucose, yeasts often grow according to a mixture of oxidative and reductive metabolism. Oxygen may be limiting either by supply or by inherent biological restrictions such as the respiratory bottleneck in Saccharomyces cerevisiae or by both. A unified model incorporating both supply and biological limitations is proposed for the quantitative prediction of growth rates, consumption and production rates, as well as key metabolite concentrations during mixed oxidoreductive metabolism occuring as a result of such oxygen limitations. This simple unstructured model can be applied to different yeast strains while at the same time requiring a minimum number of measured parameters. "Estimators" are utilized in order to predict the presence of supply-side or biological limitations. The values of these estimators also characterize the relative importance of oxidative to total metabolism. Results from the aerobic and oxygen-limited chemostat cultures were used to corroborate the model predictions. During these experiments, the heat released by the yeast cultures was also monitored on-line. The model correctly predicted the overall stoichiometry, steady-state concentrations, and rates including heat dissipation rates measured in the various situations of oxygen limitations. Direct continuous measurements such as heat can be used in conjunction with the unified model for on-line proces control. (c) 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Engineering molecular recognition of endoxylanase enzymes and their inhibitors through phage display

Specific binding of interacting proteins generally depends on a limited set of amino acid residues located at the contact interface. We have applied a phage-display-based screening method to simultaneously evaluate the role of multiple residues of endo-beta-1,4-xylanase enzymes in conferring binding specificity towards two different endoxylanase inhibitors. Seven residues of the two beta-strand 'thumb' region of Trichoderma longibrachiatum endo-beta-1,4-xylanase XynII were targeted for randomization. The generated combinatorial library representing 62,208 site-directed variants was displayed on the surface of filamentous phage and selected against xylanase inhibitor protein (XIP) and Triticum aestivum xylanase inhibitor (TAXI). DNA sequence analysis of phagemid panning isolates provided information on the occurrence of particular amino acids at distinct positions. In particular, residues at positions 124 (Asn) and 131 (Thr) were found to be critical for specific inhibitor binding. These residue predictions derived from the combinatorial exploration of the thumb region and accompanying sequence analyses were experimentally confirmed by testing the inhibitor sensitivity of a limited set of recombinantly expressed XynII mutants. In addition, we successfully altered the inhibition susceptibility of the bacterial Bacillus subtilis endoxylanase XynA from XIP-insensitive to XIP-sensitive.     

Transition phase in the production of recombinant proteins in yeast under the ADH2 promoter: an important step for reproducible manufacturing of a malaria transmission blocking vaccine candidate

TBV25H, a malaria transmission blocking vaccine candidate, has been cloned in Saccharomyces cerevisiae under the control of the glucose repressed ADH2 promoter. Available fermentation procedures for production of this protein have been unsatisfactory, mainly because of irreproducibility. This work presents an efficient and reproducible method for the production of this vaccine candidate by implementing a three-stage fermentation process. During the first (glucose fed-batch) phase, the promoter is repressed and the culture is allowed to grow exponentially. In the second stage, the glucose supply is provided at a slower constant rate. In the third (ethanol consumption) stage, accumulated ethanol is first allowed to be consumed and an external ethanol supplement is then added as required. The promoter is fully derepressed in this phase, and TBV25H is synthesized. The period of glucose limitation was concluded to be essential for reproducibility. It is presumed that during this period, the culture moves gradually from glucose to ethanol utilization, derepressing the promoter, activating recombinant protein biosynthesis and consequently resuming metabolism without the typical diauxic phase of batch cultures. Received 21 October 1997/ Accepted in revised form 15 January 1998