Mutagenicity of styrene and styrene oxide

Incubation of S. typhimurium strain TA 1535 with styrene increased the number of his⁺ revertants/plate in presence of a fortified S9 rat-liver fraction. Styrene was also highly cytotoxic for Salmonella cells. Styrene oxide, the presumed first metabolite, had a mutagenic effect towards strains TA 1535 and TA 100 both with and without metabolic activation. Styrene is probably mutagenic because it is metabolized to styrene oxide.     

Mutagenicity of methyl methanesulfonate and cyclophosphamide in resting and growing Saccharomyces cerevisiae D7 cells.

In order to evaluate the optimal experimental conditions and to identify the best growth phase for yeast genotoxicity studies, comparative experiments were performed with stationary and growing cells. Methyl methanesulfonate (MMS) and cyclophosphamide (CP) were used as chemical mutagens and strain D7 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae as detector of induced mitotic gene conversion (trp+ convertants) and point reverse mutation (ilv+ revertants) in log or stationary phase cells after either 4 or 16 h of treatment. The highest MMS-induced toxicity and genotoxicity were observed after 16 h of exposure in a suspension test with log phase cells, which is consistent with the greater permeability and sensitivity of growing yeast cells. The maximal induction of genetic effects and toxicity by CP was conversely obtained after 16 h of treatment in stationary phase cells. This may be ascribed to the greater ability of detoxication of growing cells as compared to resting cells. Our results suggest that in evaluating the mutagenicity of chemicals in yeast systems it is important to consider factors such as growth phase and exposure time.     

Aggregation kinetics of saccharomyces cerevisiae on solid surfaces

In the colonization experiments of yeast cells on stainless steel surfaces the analyzed minimum of the colonization rate was found in a roughness interval between a highly polished sample and a very rough surface. This phenomenon is a problem of the shear forces and of adhesion. On the basis of reaction kinetics it was possible to analyze the change between an unstable and a stable cell-cluster. The analysis of the energy needed for forming a stable cluster tends toward values known from the stochastic simulation of cluster formation in an undisturbed region. But the potential function is not clear which describes the interactions between the cells and the forming cluster in the reaction field. This is a problem of special materials-testing which is not established. For producing plants it is of high interest to note that it are not the most highly polished surfaces that are the best.     

Permeabilization of covalently immobilized saccharomyces cerevisiae

The effect of solvents, ionic detergent, and drying on the passive membrane permeability of free and immobilized yeast cells was studied. The immobilization by covalent linkage was shown to affect the membrane composition as well as the individual susceptibility of cells to a permeabilization procedure.     

琥珀酸对酵母细胞转录组的影响

寻找抗衰老活性小分子并研究其作用机制是衰老药物学研究的重点和热点。本文报道了一种新的抗衰老活性小分子琥珀酸,发现琥珀酸可以显著延缓芽殖酵母细胞的衰老并增强细胞的压力抗性。随后,利用DNA Microarray技术及生物信息学手段较系统分析了琥珀酸处理对基因表达谱、基因本体聚类及相关信号通路的影响。结果显示,琥珀酸处理对细胞转录组产生了显著影响,共导致3 485个基因的差异表达(P 0.05),其中1 335个基因显著上调,2 150个基因显著下调。进一步对基因本体聚类及信号通路分析显示,线粒体及核糖体生物合成相关的分子功能、细胞组分、生物学过程和信号通路可能是琥珀酸作用的主要靶点,其他可能的作用靶点还包括蛋白酶体、细胞内吞、过氧化物酶体代谢及细胞自噬等。本研究为进一步阐明琥珀酸介导的寿命及压力调控机制提供了理论参考和研究线索。     

Proteolysis upon dehydration of yeasts saccharomyces cerevisiae

The effect of dehydration on proteolysis and activity of proteases A, B and C in the cells of baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was investigated. It can be concluded, that under investigated conditions of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae drying a decrease of proteases activity takes place. In cells a limited proteolysis takes place which is indicated by an increase in amino nitrogen content and a decrease of tryptophane synthase activity. Adding the protease inhibitor to yeast suspension prevents decrease of tryptophane synthase activity upon dehydration.     

Genetic interactions between GLC7, PPZ1 and PPZ2 in saccharomyces cerevisiae

GLC7 encodes an essential serine/threonine protein type I phosphatase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Three other phosphatases (Ppz1p, Ppz2p, and Sal6p) share >59% identity in their catalytic region with Glc7p. ppz1 ppz2 null mutants have no apparent growth defect on rich media. However, null alleles of PPZ1 and PPZ2, in combination with mutant alleles of GLC7, confer a range of growth defects varying from slow growth to lethality. These results indicate that Glc7p, Ppz1p, and Ppz2p may have overlapping functions. To determine if this overlap extends to interaction with targeting subunits, Glc7p-binding proteins were tested for interaction in the two-hybrid system with the functional catalytic domain of Ppz1p. Ppz1p interacts strongly with a number of Glc7p regulatory subunits, including Glc8p, a protein that shares homology with mammalian PP1 inhibitor I2. Genetic data suggest that Glc8p positively affects both Glc7p and Ppz1p functions. Together our data suggest that Ppz1p and Ppz2p may have overlapping functions with Glc7p and that all three phosphatases may act through common regulatory proteins.     

Transport and intracellular accumulation of acetaldehyde in saccharomyces cerevisiae

The rate of acetaldehyde efflux from yeast cells and its intracellular concentration were studied in the light of recent suggestions that acetaldehyde inhibition may be an important factor in yeast ethanol fermentations. When the medium surrounding cells containing ethanol and acetaldehyde was suddenly diluted, the rate of efflux of acetaldehyde was slow relative to the rate of ethanol efflux, suggesting that acetaldehyde, unlike ethanol, may accumulate intracellularly. Intracellular acetaldehyde concentrations were measured during high cell density fermentations, using direct injection gas chromatography to avoid the need to concentrate or disrupt the cells. Intracellular acetaldehyde concentrations substantially exceeded the extracellular concentrations throughout fermentation and were generally much higher than the acetaldehyde concentrations normally recorded in the culture broth in ethanol fermentations. The technique used was sensitive to the time taken to cool and freeze the samples. Measured intracellular acetaldehyde concentrations fell rapidly as the time taken to freeze the suspensions was extended beyond 2 s. The results add weight to recent claims that acetaldehyde toxicity is responsible for some of the effects previously ascribed to ethanol in alcohol fermentations, especially Zymomonas fermentations. Further work is required to confirm the importance of acetaldehyde toxicity under other culture conditions. (c) 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Autolysis of disintegrated cells of the yeast saccharomyces cerevisiae

Optimum conditions for autolysis of disintegrated cells of S. cerevisiae are at 50–53°C and pH 5.5; the process is terminated after 6 h. In the presence of sodium chloride (3–5%) the autolysis is complete after 5 h. The yield of autolysis of disintegrated yeast cells is about 70% of autolytic product per yeast dry weight. The product obtained after centrifugation, filtration and drying has very good sensoric and physical properties.     

Studies of genetic effects in the D7 strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae under different conditions of pH

The genetic effects of variation in pH in culture media and in suspension tests were examined in a diploid strain (D7) of the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Deviation from the normal pH of 6.24 in the liquid culture medium, has a significant effect on cellular growth and on mitotic gene conversion at the trp5 locus. Frequencies of reversion at the ilv I-92 locus and of mitotic crossing-over at the ade2 locus are not significantly influenced. Suspension tests, performed using phosphate buffer (pH 5.8), strongly confirm the original results. Our data suggest that the increase in mitotic gene conversion under various conditions of pH is due to a specific effect of pH itself on the cells of S. cerevisiae. In fact, increases were obtained using the same pH in both cellular growth and non-growth conditions. The maximum effect detected with both procedures was obtained at pH 5.8; in the growth test, at this pH, gene conversion frequency appeared to be most pronounced, being about 10 times higher than that of the control. These results suggest that pH exerts its specific action both on growing and non-growing yeast cells, and the difference in induction of genetic effect between these two conditions is probably due to a time factor.     

Promotion of sporulation by caffeine pretreatment in saccharomyces cerevisiae

Cells cultured in the presence of caffeine had high sporulation ability. The sporulation-promotive effect of caffeine was studied, special attention being paid upon changes in nucleic acid metabolism. When transferred to a sporulation medium, the breakdown of RNA, the synthesis of protein, RNA and DNA, commitment to sporulation and the appearance of mature asci took place in caffeine-treated cells significantly earlier than in control cells. Commitment to sporulation occurred before the completion of premeiotic DNA synthesis in both caffeine-treated and control cells.     

The effect of covalent immobilization on ethanol-induced,leakage in saccharomyces cerevisiae

Ethanol-induced leakage of UV-absorbing compounds from free and immobilized Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells was studied. The resistance of immobilized cells to this ethanol effect is accompanied with increased levels of phospholipids and sterols. These results suggest a positive role of whole cell immobilization in improving yeast ethanol tolerance.