High-level expression of Aspergillus niger β-galactosidase in Ashbya gossypii

Ashbya gossypii has been recently considered as a host for the expression of recombinant proteins. The production levels achieved thus far were similar to those obtained with Saccharomyces cerevisiae for the same proteins. Here, the β-galactosidase from Aspergillus niger was successfully expressed and secreted by A. gossypii from 2-micron plasmids carrying the native signal sequence at higher levels than those secreted by S. cerevisiae laboratorial strains. Four different constitutive promoters were used to regulate the expression of β-galactosidase: A. gossypii AgTEF and AgGPD promoters, and S. cerevisiae ScADH1 and ScPGK1 promoters. The native AgTEF promoter drove the highest expression levels of recombinant β-galactosidase in A. gossypii, leading to 2- and 8-fold higher extracellular activity than the AgGPD promoter and the heterologous promoters, respectively. In similar production conditions, the levels of active β-galactosidase secreted by A. gossypii were up to 37 times higher than those secreted by recombinant S. cerevisiae and approximately 2.5 times higher than those previously reported for the β-galactosidase-high producing S. cerevisiae NCYC869-A3/pVK1.1. The substitution of glucose by glycerol in the production medium led to a 1.5-fold increase in the secretion of active β-galactosidase by A. gossypii. Recombinant β-galactosidase secreted by A. gossypii was extensively glycosylated, as are the native A. niger β-galactosidase and recombinant β-galactosidase produced by yeast. These results highlight the potential of A. gossypii as a recombinant protein producer and open new perspectives to further optimize recombinant protein secretion in this fungus.Project AshByofactory (grant PTDC/EBB-EBI/101985/2008 - FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-009701), MIT-Portugal Program (PhD grant SFRH/BD/39112/2007 to Tatiana Q. Aguiar) and grant SFRH/BDP/63831/2009 to Carla Oliveir

New links between SOD1 and metabolic dysfunction from a yeast model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

A number of genes have been linked to familial forms of the fatal motor neuron disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Over 150 mutations within the gene encoding superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) have been implicated in ALS, but why such mutations lead to ALS-associated cellular dysfunction is unclear. In this study, we identify how ALS-linked SOD1 mutations lead to changes in the cellular health of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae We find that it is not the accumulation of aggregates but the loss of Sod1 protein stability that drives cellular dysfunction. The toxic effect of Sod1 instability does not correlate with a loss of mitochondrial function or increased production of reactive oxygen species, but instead prevents acidification of the vacuole, perturbs metabolic regulation and promotes senescence. Central to the toxic gain-of-function seen with the SOD1 mutants examined was an inability to regulate amino acid biosynthesis. We also report that leucine supplementation results in an improvement in motor function in a Caenorhabditis elegans model of ALS. Our data suggest that metabolic dysfunction plays an important role in Sod1-mediated toxicity in both the yeast and worm models of ALS

EasyClone: method for iterative chromosomal integration of multiple genes in <em>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</em>

Development of strains for efficient production of chemicals and pharmaceuticals requires multiple rounds of genetic engineering. In this study, we describe construction and characterization of EasyClone vector set for baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which enables simultaneous expression of multiple genes with an option of recycling selection markers. The vectors combine the advantage of efficient uracil excision reaction-based cloning and Cre-LoxP-mediated marker recycling system. The episomal and integrative vector sets were tested by inserting genes encoding cyan, yellow, and red fluorescent proteins into separate vectors and analyzing for co-expression of proteins by flow cytometry. Cells expressing genes encoding for the three fluorescent proteins from three integrations exhibited a much higher level of simultaneous expression than cells producing fluorescent proteins encoded on episomal plasmids, where correspondingly 95% and 6% of the cells were within a fluorescence interval of Log(10) mean +/- 15% for all three colors. We demonstrate that selective markers can be simultaneously removed using Cre-mediated recombination and all the integrated heterologous genes remain in the chromosome and show unchanged expression levels. Hence, this system is suitable for metabolic engineering in yeast where multiple rounds of gene introduction and marker recycling can be carried out

Tandem repeat coupled with endonuclease cleavage (TREC): a seamless modification tool for genome engineering in yeast

The complete synthetic Mycoplasma genitalium genome (∼583 kb) has been assembled and cloned as a circular plasmid in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Attempts to engineer the cloned genome by standard genetic methods involving the URA3/5-fluoroorotic acid (5-FOA) counter-selection have shown a high background of 5-FOA resistant clones derived from spontaneous deletions of the bacterial genome maintained in yeast. Here, we report a method that can seamlessly modify the bacterial genome in yeast with high efficiency. This method requires two sequential homologous recombination events. First, the target region is replaced with a mutagenesis cassette that consists of a knock-out CORE (an18-bp I-SceI recognition site, the SCEI gene under the control of the GAL1 promoter, and the URA3 marker) and a DNA fragment homologous to the sequence upstream of the target site. The replacement generates tandem repeat sequences flanking the CORE. Second, galactose induces the expression of I-SceI, which generates a double-strand break (DSB) at the recognition site. This DSB promotes intra-molecular homologous recombination between the repeat sequences, and leads to an excision of the CORE. As a result, a seamless modification is generated. This method can be adapted for a variety of genomic modifications and may provide an important tool to modify and design natural or synthetic genomes propagated in yeast

ESCRT ubiquitin-binding domains function cooperatively during MVB cargo sorting

Ubiquitin (Ub) sorting receptors facilitate the targeting of ubiquitinated membrane proteins into multivesicular bodies (MVBs). Ub-binding domains (UBDs) have been described in several endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRT). Using available structural information, we have investigated the role of the multiple UBDs within ESCRTs during MVB cargo selection. We found a novel UBD within ESCRT-I and show that it contributes to MVB sorting in concert with the known UBDs within the ESCRT complexes. These experiments reveal an unexpected level of coordination among the ESCRT UBDs, suggesting that they collectively recognize a diverse set of cargo rather than act sequentially at discrete steps

Silent but Not Static: Accelerated Base-Pair Substitution in Silenced Chromatin of Budding Yeasts

Subtelomeric DNA in budding yeasts, like metazoan heterochromatin, is gene poor, repetitive, transiently silenced, and highly dynamic. The rapid evolution of subtelomeric regions is commonly thought to arise from transposon activity and increased recombination between repetitive elements. However, we found evidence of an additional factor in this diversification. We observed a surprising level of nucleotide divergence in transcriptionally silenced regions in inter-species comparisons of Saccharomyces yeasts. Likewise, intra-species analysis of polymorphisms also revealed increased SNP frequencies in both intergenic and synonymous coding positions of silenced DNA. This analysis suggested that silenced DNA in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and closely related species had increased single base-pair substitution that was likely due to the effects of the silencing machinery on DNA replication or repair

New and Redesigned pRS Plasmid Shuttle Vectors for Genetic Manipulation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

We have constructed a set of 42 plasmid shuttle vectors based on the widely used pRS series for use in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the bacterium Escherichia coli. This set of pRSII plasmids includes new shuttle vectors that can be used with histidine and adenine auxotrophic laboratory yeast strains carrying mutations in the genes HIS2 and ADE1, respectively. Our pRSII plasmids also include updated versions of commonly used pRS plasmids from which common restriction sites that occur within their yeast-selectable biosynthetic marker genes have been removed to increase the availability of unique restriction sites within their polylinker regions. Hence, our pRSII plasmids are a complete set of integrating, centromere and 2μ episomal plasmids with the biosynthetic marker genes ADE2, HIS3, TRP1, LEU2, URA3, HIS2, and ADE1 and a standardized selection of at least 16 unique restriction sites in their polylinkers. Additionally, we have expanded the range of drug selection options that can be used for PCR-mediated homologous replacement using pRS plasmid templates by replacing the G418-resistance kanMX4 cassette of pRS400 with MX4 cassettes encoding resistance to phleomycin, hygromycin B, nourseothricin, and bialaphos. Finally, in the process of generating the new plasmids, we have determined several errors in existing publicly available sequences for several commonly used yeast plasmids. Using our updated sequences, we constructed pRS plasmid backbones with a unique restriction site for inserting new markers to facilitate future expansion of the pRS series

A single ubiquitin is sufficient for cargo protein entry into MVBs in the absence of ESCRT ubiquitination

While ESCRT-0 is ubiquitinated by the Rsp5 E3 ligase, loss of Rsp5 does not disrupt monoubiquitin-dependent sorting into multivesicular bodies

A Novel Strategy to Construct Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae Strains for Very High Gravity Fermentation

Very high gravity (VHG) fermentation is aimed to considerably increase both the fermentation rate and the ethanol concentration, thereby reducing capital costs and the risk of bacterial contamination. This process results in critical issues, such as adverse stress factors (ie., osmotic pressure and ethanol inhibition) and high concentrations of metabolic byproducts which are difficult to overcome by a single breeding method. In the present paper, a novel strategy that combines metabolic engineering and genome shuffling to circumvent these limitations and improve the bioethanol production performance of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains under VHG conditions was developed. First, in strain Z5, which performed better than other widely used industrial strains, the gene GPD2 encoding glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenase was deleted, resulting in a mutant (Z5ΔGPD2) with a lower glycerol yield and poor ethanol productivity. Second, strain Z5ΔGPD2 was subjected to three rounds of genome shuffling to improve its VHG fermentation performance, and the best performing strain SZ3-1 was obtained. Results showed that strain SZ3-1 not only produced less glycerol, but also increased the ethanol yield by up to 8% compared with the parent strain Z5. Further analysis suggested that the improved ethanol yield in strain SZ3-1 was mainly contributed by the enhanced ethanol tolerance of the strain. The differences in ethanol tolerance between strains Z5 and SZ3-1 were closely associated with the cell membrane fatty acid compositions and intracellular trehalose concentrations. Finally, genome rearrangements in the optimized strain were confirmed by karyotype analysis. Hence, a combination of genome shuffling and metabolic engineering is an efficient approach for the rapid improvement of yeast strains for desirable industrial phenotypes

cAMP/PKA signaling balances respiratory activity with mitochondria dependent apoptosis via transcriptional regulation

Background Appropriate control of mitochondrial function, morphology and biogenesis are crucial determinants of the general health of eukaryotic cells. It is therefore imperative that we understand the mechanisms that co-ordinate mitochondrial function with environmental signaling systems. The regulation of yeast mitochondrial function in response to nutritional change can be modulated by PKA activity. Unregulated PKA activity can lead to the production of mitochondria that are prone to the production of ROS, and an apoptotic form of cell death. Results We present evidence that mitochondria are sensitive to the level of cAMP/PKA signaling and can respond by modulating levels of respiratory activity or committing to self execution. The inappropriate activation of one of the yeast PKA catalytic subunits, Tpk3p, is sufficient to commit cells to an apoptotic death through transcriptional changes that promote the production of dysfunctional, ROS producing mitochondria. Our data implies that cAMP/PKA regulation of mitochondrial function that promotes apoptosis engages the function of multiple transcription factors, including HAP4, SOK2 and SCO1. Conclusions We propose that in yeast, as is the case in mammalian cells, mitochondrial function and biogenesis are controlled in response to environmental change by the concerted regulation of multiple transcription factors. The visualization of cAMP/TPK3 induced cell death within yeast colonies supports a model that PKA regulation plays a physiological role in coordinating respiratory function and cell death with nutritional status in budding yeast