Impact of overexpressing NADH kinase on glucose and xylose metabolism in recombinant xylose-utilizing <Emphasis Type="Italic">Saccharomyces cerevisiae</Emphasis>

During growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae on glucose, the redox cofactors NADH and NADPH are predominantly involved in catabolism and biosynthesis, respectively. A deviation from the optimal level of these cofactors often results in major changes in the substrate uptake and biomass formation. However, the metabolism of xylose by recombinant S. cerevisiae carrying xylose reductase and xylitol dehydrogenase from the fungal pathway requires both NADH and NADPH and creates cofactor imbalance during growth on xylose. As one possible solution to overcoming this imbalance, the effect of overexpressing the native NADH kinase (encoded by the POS5 gene) in xylose-consuming recombinant S. cerevisiae directed either into the cytosol or to the mitochondria was evaluated. The physiology of the NADH kinase containing strains was also evaluated during growth on glucose. Overexpressing NADH kinase in the cytosol redirected carbon flow from CO₂ to ethanol during aerobic growth on glucose and to ethanol and acetate during anaerobic growth on glucose. However, cytosolic NADH kinase has an opposite effect during anaerobic metabolism of xylose consumption by channeling carbon flow from ethanol to xylitol. In contrast, overexpressing NADH kinase in the mitochondria did not affect the physiology to a large extent. Overall, although NADH kinase did not increase the rate of xylose consumption, we believe that it can provide an important source of NADPH in yeast, which can be useful for metabolic engineering strategies where the redox fluxes are manipulated.     

Effect of alternative NAD<Superscript>+</Superscript>-regenerating pathways on the formation of primary and secondary aroma compounds in a <Emphasis Type="Italic">Saccharomyces cerevisiae</Emphasis> glycerol-defective mutant

Saccharomyces cerevisiae maintains a redox balance under fermentative growth conditions by re-oxidizing NADH formed during glycolysis through ethanol formation. Excess NADH stimulates the synthesis of mainly glycerol, but also of other compounds. Here, we investigated the production of primary and secondary metabolites in S. cerevisiae strains where the glycerol production pathway was inactivated through deletion of the two glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenases genes (GPD1/GPD2) and replaced with alternative NAD⁺-generating pathways. While these modifications decreased fermentative ability compared to the wild-type strain, all improved growth and/or fermentative ability of the gpd1Δgpd2Δ strain in self-generated anaerobic high sugar medium. The partial NAD⁺ regeneration ability of the mutants resulted in significant amounts of alternative products, but at lower yields than glycerol. Compared to the wild-type strain, pyruvate production increased in most genetically manipulated strains, whereas acetate and succinate production decreased in all strains. Malate production was similar in all strains. Isobutanol production increased substantially in all genetically manipulated strains compared to the wild-type strain, whereas only mutant strains expressing the sorbitol producing SOR1 and srlD genes showed increases in isoamyl alcohol and 2-phenyl alcohol. A marked reduction in ethyl acetate concentration was observed in the genetically manipulated strains, while isobutyric acid increased. The synthesis of some primary and secondary metabolites appears more readily influenced by the NAD⁺/NADH availability. The data provide an initial assessment of the impact of redox balance on the production of primary and secondary metabolites which play an essential role in the flavour and aroma character of beverages.     

NADH- vs NADPH-coupled reduction of 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF) and its implications on product distribution in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Saccharomyces cerevisiae alcohol dehydrogenases responsible for NADH-, and NADPH-specific reduction of the furaldehydes 5-hydroxymethyl-furfural (HMF) and furfural have previously been identified. In the present study, strains overexpressing the corresponding genes (mut-ADH1 and ADH6), together with a control strain, were compared in defined medium for anaerobic fermentation of glucose in the presence and absence of HMF. All strains showed a similar fermentation pattern in the absence of HMF. In the presence of HMF, the strain overexpressing ADH6 showed the highest HMF reduction rate and the highest specific ethanol productivity, followed by the strain overexpressing mut-ADH1. This correlated with in vitro HMF reduction capacity observed in the ADH6 overexpressing strain. Acetate and glycerol yields per biomass increased considerably in the ADH6 strain. In the other two strains, only the overall acetate yield per biomass was affected. When compared in batch fermentation of spruce hydrolysate, strains overexpressing ADH6 and mut-ADH1 had five times higher HMF uptake rate than the control strain and improved specific ethanol productivity. Overall, our results demonstrate that (1) the cofactor usage in the HMF reduction affects the product distribution, and (2) increased HMF reduction activity results in increased specific ethanol productivity in defined mineral medium and in spruce hydrolysate.     

Evolutionary engineering of a glycerol‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase‐negative,acetate‐reducing Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain enables anaerobic growth at high glucose concentrations

Glycerol production by Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is required for redox-cofactor balancing in anaerobic cultures, causes yield reduction in industrial bioethanol production. Recently, glycerol formation in anaerobic S. cerevisiae cultures was eliminated by expressing Escherichia coli (acetylating) acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (encoded by mhpF) and simultaneously deleting the GPD1 and GPD2 genes encoding glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, thus coupling NADH reoxidation to reduction of acetate to ethanol. Gpd^– strains are, however, sensitive to high sugar concentrations, which complicates industrial implementation of this metabolic engineering concept. In this study, laboratory evolution was used to improve osmotolerance of a Gpd^– mhpF-expressing S. cerevisiae strain. Serial batch cultivation at increasing osmotic pressure enabled isolation of an evolved strain that grew anaerobically at 1 M glucose, at a specific growth rate of 0.12 h⁻¹. The evolved strain produced glycerol at low concentrations (0.64 ± 0.33 g l⁻¹). However, these glycerol concentrations were below 10% of those observed with a Gpd⁺ reference strain. Consequently, the ethanol yield on sugar increased from 79% of the theoretical maximum in the reference strain to 92% for the evolved strains. Genetic analysis indicated that osmotolerance under aerobic conditions required a single dominant chromosomal mutation, and one further mutation in the plasmid-borne mhpF gene for anaerobic growth.     

Increasing Anaerobic Acetate Consumption and Ethanol Yields in Saccharomyces cerevisiae with NADPH-Specific Alcohol Dehydrogenase

Saccharomyces cerevisiae has recently been engineered to use acetate, a primary inhibitor in lignocellulosic hydrolysates, as a cosubstrate during anaerobic ethanolic fermentation. However, the original metabolic pathway devised to convert acetate to ethanol uses NADH-specific acetylating acetaldehyde dehydrogenase and alcohol dehydrogenase and quickly becomes constrained by limited NADH availability, even when glycerol formation is abolished. We present alcohol dehydrogenase as a novel target for anaerobic redox engineering of S. cerevisiae. Introduction of an NADPH-specific alcohol dehydrogenase (NADPH-ADH) not only reduces the NADH demand of the acetate-to-ethanol pathway but also allows the cell to effectively exchange NADPH for NADH during sugar fermentation. Unlike NADH, NADPH can be freely generated under anoxic conditions, via the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway. We show that an industrial bioethanol strain engineered with the original pathway (expressing acetylating acetaldehyde dehydrogenase from Bifidobacterium adolescentis and with deletions of glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase genes GPD1 and GPD2) consumed 1.9 g liter⁻¹ acetate during fermentation of 114 g liter⁻¹ glucose. Combined with a decrease in glycerol production from 4.0 to 0.1 g liter⁻¹, this increased the ethanol yield by 4% over that for the wild type. We provide evidence that acetate consumption in this strain is indeed limited by NADH availability. By introducing an NADPH-ADH from Entamoeba histolytica and with overexpression of ACS2 and ZWF1, we increased acetate consumption to 5.3 g liter⁻¹ and raised the ethanol yield to 7% above the wild-type level.     

Elimination of glycerol and replacement with alternative products in ethanol fermentation by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Saccharomyces cerevisiae</Emphasis>

Glycerol is a major by-product of ethanol fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae and typically 2–3% of the sugar fermented is converted to glycerol. Replacing the NAD⁺-regenerating glycerol pathway in S. cerevisiae with alternative NADH reoxidation pathways may be useful to produce metabolites of biotechnological relevance. Under fermentative conditions yeast reoxidizes excess NADH through glycerol production which involves NADH-dependent glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenases (Gpd1p and Gpd2p). Deletion of these two genes limits fermentative activity under anaerobic conditions due to accumulation of NADH. We investigated the possibility of converting this excess NADH to NAD⁺ by transforming a double mutant (gpd1∆gpd2∆) with alternative oxidoreductase genes that might restore the redox balance and produce either sorbitol or propane-1,2-diol. All of the modifications improved fermentative ability and/or growth of the double mutant strain in a self-generated anaerobic high sugar medium. However, these strain properties were not restored to the level of the parental wild-type strain. The results indicate an apparent partial NAD⁺ regeneration ability and formation of significant amounts of the commodity chemicals like sorbitol or propane-1,2-diol. The ethanol yields were maintained between 46 and 48% of the sugar mixture. Other factors apart from the maintenance of the redox balance appeared to influence the growth and production of the alternative products by the genetically manipulated strains.     

Over-expressing <Emphasis Type="Italic">GLT1</Emphasis> in a <Emphasis Type="Italic">gpd2</Emphasis>Δ mutant of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Saccharomyces cerevisiae</Emphasis> to improve ethanol production

We constructed two recombinant strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in which the GPD2 gene was deleted using a one-step gene replacement method to minimize formation of glycerol and improve ethanol production. In addition, we also over-expressed the GLT1 gene by a two-step gene replacement method to overcome the redox-imbalancing problem in the genetically modified strains. The result of anaerobic batch fermentations showed that the rate of growth and glucose consumption of the KAM-5 (MATα ura3 gpd2Δ::RPT) strain were slower than the original strain, and the KAM-13 (MATα ura3 gpd2Δ::RPT P _PGK -GLT1) strain, however, was indistinguishable compared to the original strain using the same criteria, as analyzed. On the other hand, when compared to the original strain, there were 32 and 38% reduction in glycerol formation for KAM-5 and KAM-13, respectively. Ethanol production increased by 8.6% for KAM-5 and 13.4% for KAM-13. Dramatic reduction in acetate and pyruvic acid was also observed in both mutants compared to the original strains. Although gene GPD2 is responsible for the glycerol synthesis, the mutant KAM-13, in which glycerol formation was substantially reduced, was able to cope and maintain osmoregulation and redox balance and have increased ethanol production under anaerobic fermentations. The result verified the proposed concept of increasing ethanol production in S. cerevisiae by genetic engineering of glycerol synthesis and over-expressing the GLT1 gene along with reconstituted nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide metabolism.     

Reduction of Ethanol Yield and Improvement of Glycerol Formation by Adaptive Evolution of the Wine Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae under Hyperosmotic Conditions

There is a strong demand from the wine industry for methodologies to reduce the alcohol content of wine without compromising wine''s sensory characteristics. We assessed the potential of adaptive laboratory evolution strategies under hyperosmotic stress for generation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae wine yeast strains with enhanced glycerol and reduced ethanol yields. Experimental evolution on KCl resulted, after 200 generations, in strains that had higher glycerol and lower ethanol production than the ancestral strain. This major metabolic shift was accompanied by reduced fermentative capacities, suggesting a trade-off between high glycerol production and fermentation rate. Several evolved strains retaining good fermentation performance were selected. These strains produced more succinate and 2,3-butanediol than the ancestral strain and did not accumulate undesirable organoleptic compounds, such as acetate, acetaldehyde, or acetoin. They survived better under osmotic stress and glucose starvation conditions than the ancestral strain, suggesting that the forces that drove the redirection of carbon fluxes involved a combination of osmotic and salt stresses and carbon limitation. To further decrease the ethanol yield, a breeding strategy was used, generating intrastrain hybrids that produced more glycerol than the evolved strain. Pilot-scale fermentation on Syrah using evolved and hybrid strains produced wine with 0.6% (vol/vol) and 1.3% (vol/vol) less ethanol, more glycerol and 2,3-butanediol, and less acetate than the ancestral strain. This work demonstrates that the combination of adaptive evolution and breeding is a valuable alternative to rational design for remodeling the yeast metabolic network.     

The effects of pantothenate deficiency and acetate addition on anaerobic batch fermentation of glucose by Saccharomyces cerevisiae

 Physiological effects of deficiency of pantothenate, a necessary precursor in the synthesis of coenzyme A, were studied using the yeast strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae CBS 8066. Cells were grown on defined media in anaerobic batch cultures with glucose (50 g/l) as the carbon and energy source. Batch cultures containing more than 60 μg/l pantothenate showed no significant differences with respect to growth rates and product yields. However, with an initial pantothenate concentration of 30 μg/l, the average glucose consumption rate was 50% lower than in rich medium and, at even lower concentrations of pantothenate, the culture did not consume all the glucose in the medium. Furthermore, pantothenate deficiency caused the acetate and pyruvate yields to increase and the biomass yield to decrease, compared to the yields in pantothenate-rich medium. The increased acetate formation could be counteracted by initial addition of acetate to the medium, and thereby the glycerol yield could be decreased. An initial addition of acetate of 1.6 g/l to pantothenate-deficient medium (30 μg/l) caused a 35% decrease in glycerol yield and a 6% increase in ethanol yield. Furthermore, the time required for complete conversion of the glucose decreased by 40%. Acetate addition affected the acetate and glycerol yields in a similar way in pantothenate-rich medium (1000 μg/l) also. Received: 27 December 1995/Received revision: 3 May 1996/Accepted: 9 May 1996     

Improved production of ethanol by deleting FPS1 and over-expressing GLT1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

To improve ethanol production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, two yeast strains were constructed. In the mutant KAM-3, the FPS1 gene, which encodes a channel protein responsible for glycerol export, was deleted. The mutant KAM-11 had the GLT1 gene (encoding glutamate synthase) placed under the PGK1 promoter while having the FPS1 deletion. Growth rate and biomass concentration remained virtually unchanged with the mutant KAM-11, compared to that of the parent. Over-expression of GLT1 by the PGK1 promoter along with FPS1 deletion resulted in a 14% higher ethanol production and a 30% lower glycerol formation compared to the parental strain under anaerobic fermentation conditions. Furthermore, acetate and pyruvic acid formation was also reduced in order for cells to maintain redox balance.     

Crabtree-negative characteristics of recombinant xylose-utilizing Saccharomyces cerevisiae

For recombinant xylose-utilizing Saccharomyces cerevisiae, ethanol yield and productivity is substantially lower on xylose than on glucose. In contrast to glucose, xylose is a novel substrate for S. cerevisiae and it is not known how this substrate is recognized on a molecular level. Failure to activate appropriate genes during xylose-utilization has the potential to result in sub-optimal metabolism and decreased substrate uptake. Certain differences in fermentative performance between the two substrates have thus been ascribed to variations in regulatory response. In this study differences in substrate utilization of glucose and xylose was analyzed in the recombinant S. cerevisiae strain TMB3400. Continuous cultures were performed with glucose and xylose under carbon- and nitrogen-limited conditions. Whereas biomass yield and substrate uptake rate were similar during carbon-limited conditions, the metabolic profile was highly substrate dependent under nitrogen-limited conditions. While glycerol production occurred in both cases, ethanol production was only observed for glucose cultures. Addition of acetate and 2-deoxyglucose pulses to a xylose-limited culture was able to stimulate transient overflow metabolism and ethanol production. Application of glucose pulses enhanced xylose uptake rate under restricted co-substrate concentrations. Results are discussed in relation to regulation of sugar metabolism in Crabtree-positive and -negative yeast.     

Overexpressing <Emphasis Type="Italic">GLT1</Emphasis> in <Emphasis Type="Italic">gpd1</Emphasis>Δ mutant to improve the production of ethanol of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Saccharomyces cerevisiae</Emphasis>

To improve ethanol production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, two yeast strains were constructed. In the mutant, KAM-4, the GPD1 gene, which encodes a glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenase of S. cerevisiae to synthesize glycerol, was deleted. The mutant KAM-12 had the GLT1 gene (encodes glutamate synthase) placed under the PGK1 promoter while harboring the GPD1 deletion. Notably, overexpression of GLT1 by the PGK1 promoter along with GPD1 deletion resulted in a 10.8% higher ethanol production and a 25.0% lower glycerol formation compared to the wild type in anaerobic fermentations. The growth rate of KAM-4 was slightly lower than that of the wild type under the exponential phase whereas KAM-12 and the wild type were indistinguishable in the biomass concentration at the end of growth period. Meanwhile, dramatic reduction of formation of acetate and pyruvic acid was observed in all the mutants compared to the wild type.     

NaCl stress inhibits maltose fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae

While fermentation of 20 g glucose l^–1 by Saccharomyces cerevisiae was not impaired by high NaCl concentrations, fermentation of 20 g maltose l^–1 was significantly decreased by 0.7 M NaCl, and completely inhibited with 1.4 M NaCl. No glycerol was produced in response to the salt stress when yeast cells were fermenting maltose. Active maltose transport, and not intracellular hydrolysis, was the metabolic step severely impaired by the NaCl stress.     

Multiple growth inhibition of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Klebsiella pneumoniae</Emphasis> in 1,3-propanediol fermentation

The inhibition of substrate and product on the growth of Klebsiella pneumoniae in anaerobic and aerobic batch fermentation for the production of 1,3-propanediol was studied. The cells under anaerobic conditions had a higher maximum specific growth rate of 0.19 h^–1 and lower tolerance to 110 g glycerol l^–1, compared to the maximum specific growth rate of 0.17 h^–1 and tolerance to 133 g glycerol l^–1 under aerobic conditions. Acetate was the main inhibitory metabolite during the fermentation under anaerobic conditions, with lactate and ethanol the next most inhibitory. The critical concentrations of acetate, lactate and ethanol were assessed to be 15, 19, 26 g l^–1, respectively. However, cells grown under aerobic conditions were more resistant to acetate and lactate but less resistant to ethanol. The critical concentrations of acetate, lactate and ethanol were assessed to be 24, 26, and 17 g l^–1, respectivelyRevisions requested 8 september; Revisions received 2 November 2004     

Double mutation of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">PDC1</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">ADH1</Emphasis> genes improves lactate production in the yeast <Emphasis Type="Italic">Saccharomyces cerevisiae</Emphasis> expressing the bovine lactate dehydrogenase gene

Expression of a heterologous l-lactate dehydrogenase (l-ldh) gene enables production of optically pure l-lactate by yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. However, the lactate yields with engineered yeasts are lower than those in the case of lactic acid bacteria because there is a strong tendency for ethanol to be competitively produced from pyruvate. To decrease the ethanol production and increase the lactate yield, inactivation of the genes that are involved in ethanol production from pyruvate is necessary. We conducted double disruption of the pyruvate decarboxylase 1 (PDC1) and alcohol dehydrogenase 1 (ADH1) genes in a S. cerevisiae strain by replacing them with the bovine l-ldh gene. The lactate yield was increased in the pdc1/adh1 double mutant compared with that in the single pdc1 mutant. The specific growth rate of the double mutant was decreased on glucose but not affected on ethanol or acetate compared with in the control strain. The aeration rate had a strong influence on the production rate and yield of lactate in this strain. The highest lactate yield of 0.75 g lactate produced per gram of glucose consumed was achieved at a lower aeration rate.     

Production of arabitol from glycerol: strain screening and study of factors affecting production yield

Glycerol is a major by-product from biodiesel production, and developing new uses for glycerol is imperative to overall economics and sustainability of the biodiesel industry. With the aim of producing xylitol and/or arabitol as the value-added products from glycerol, 214 yeast strains, many osmotolerant, were first screened in this study. No strains were found to produce large amounts of xylitol as the dominant metabolite. Some produced polyol mixtures that might present difficulties to downstream separation and purification. Several Debaryomyces hansenii strains produced arabitol as the predominant metabolite with high yields, and D. hansenii strain SBP-1 (NRRL Y-7483) was chosen for further study on the effects of several growth conditions. The optimal temperature was found to be 30°C. Very low dissolved oxygen concentrations or anaerobic conditions inhibited polyol yields. Arabitol yield improved with increasing initial glycerol concentrations, reaching approximately 50% (w/w) with 150 g/L initial glycerol. However, the osmotic stress created by high salt concentrations (≥50 g/L) negatively affected arabitol production. Addition of glucose and xylose improved arabitol production while addition of sorbitol reduced production. Results from this work show that arabitol is a promising value-added product from glycerol using D. hansenii SBP-1 as the producing strain.     

Respiratory capacities of mitochondria of Saccharomyces cerevisiae CBS 8066 and Candida utilis CBS 621 grown under glucose limitation

A comparative study was made of the in vitro respiratory capacity of mitochondria isolated from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida utilis grown in glucose-limited chemostat cultures. An electron-microscopic analysis of whole cells revealed that the volume density of mitochondria was the same in both yeasts. Mitochondria from both organisms exhibited respiratory control with NADH, pyruvate + malate, 2-oxoglutarate + acetate or malate, and ethanol. The rate of oxidation of these compounds by isolated mitochondria was the same in both yeasts. The rate of oxidation of NADPH by mitochondria from S. cerevisiae was 10 times lower than by those from C. utilis. However, this low rate probably has no influence on the overall in vivo respiratory capacity of S. cerevisiae. The results are discussed in relation to the differences in metabolic behaviour between S. cerevisiae and C. utilis upon transition of cultures from glucose limitation to glucose excess. It is concluded that the occurrence of alcoholic fermentation in S. cerevisiae under these conditions does not result from a bottleneck in the respiratory capacity of the mitochondria.     

Comparative analysis of trehalose production by Debaryomyces hansenii and Saccharomyces cerevisiae under saline stress

The comparative analysis of growth, intracellular content of Na⁺ and K⁺, and the production of trehalose in the halophilic Debaryomyces hansenii and Saccharomyces cerevisiae were determined under saline stress. The yeast species were studied based on their ability to grow in the absence or presence of 0.6 or 1.0 M NaCl and KCl. D. hansenii strains grew better and accumulated more Na⁺ than S. cerevisiae under saline stress (0.6 and 1.0 M of NaCl), compared to S. cerevisiae strains under similar conditions. By two methods, we found that D. hansenii showed a higher production of trehalose, compared to S. cerevisiae; S. cerevisiae active dry yeast contained more trehalose than a regular commercial strain (S. cerevisiae La Azteca) under all conditions, except when the cells were grown in the presence of 1.0 M NaCl. In our experiments, it was found that D. hansenii accumulates more glycerol than trehalose under saline stress (2.0 and 3.0 M salts). However, under moderate NaCl stress, the cells accumulated more trehalose than glycerol. We suggest that the elevated production of trehalose in D. hansenii plays a role as reserve carbohydrate, as reported for other microorganisms.     

产甘油假丝酵母与酿酒酵母胞浆3-磷酸甘油脱氢酶基因的功能比较

胞浆3-磷酸甘油脱氢酶(GPD)是酿酒酵母细胞甘油合成过程中的关键限速酶．尽管高产甘油菌株产甘油假丝酵母基因组中编码该酶的基因CgGPD已经被克隆出来,但是具体的功能,特别是与酿酒酵母GPD1和GPD2基因的功能比较值得进一步研究．以酿酒酵母渗透压敏感型的gpd1/gpd2和gpd1突变株为宿主,分别导入CgGPD、GPD1和GPD2基因,比较分析了CgGPD、GPD1和GPD2基因在高渗透压胁迫条件下和厌氧环境中的表达调控,及其对细胞甘油合成能力的影响．研究发现,GPD1基因受到渗透压诱导表达,GPD2基因在细胞厌氧条件下起着氧化还原平衡调节作用,而CgGPD基因不仅能够在渗透压胁迫条件下通过过量快速合成甘油调节渗透压平衡,而且能够在厌氧培养环境中互补GPD2基因的缺失,使gpd1/gpd2缺失突变株能够正常生长,同时提高了突变株的甘油合成能力．结果表明,CgGPD基因在gpd1/gpd2缺失突变株中既具有GPD1基因的功能,又能发挥GPD2基因的功能．