Excessive by-product formation: A key contributor to low isobutanol yields of engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains.

It is theoretically possible to engineer Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains in which isobutanol is the predominant catabolic product and high-yielding isobutanol-producing strains are already reported by industry. Conversely, isobutanol yields of engineered S. cerevisiae strains reported in the scientific literature typically remain far below 10% of the theoretical maximum. This study explores possible reasons for these suboptimal yields by a mass-balancing approach. A cytosolically located, cofactor-balanced isobutanol pathway, consisting of a mosaic of bacterial enzymes whose in vivo functionality was confirmed by complementation of null mutations in branched-chain amino acid metabolism, was expressed in S. cerevisiae. Product formation by the engineered strain was analysed in shake flasks and bioreactors. In aerobic cultures, the pathway intermediate isobutyraldehyde was oxidized to isobutyrate rather than reduced to isobutanol. Moreover, significant concentrations of the pathway intermediates 2,3-dihydroxyisovalerate and α-ketoisovalerate, as well as diacetyl and acetoin, accumulated extracellularly. While the engineered strain could not grow anaerobically, micro-aerobic cultivation resulted in isobutanol formation at a yield of 0.018±0.003 mol/mol glucose. Simultaneously, 2,3-butanediol was produced at a yield of 0.649±0.067 mol/mol glucose. These results identify massive accumulation of pathway intermediates, as well as overflow metabolites derived from acetolactate, as an important, previously underestimated contributor to the suboptimal yields of 'academic' isobutanol strains. The observed patterns of by-product formation is consistent with the notion that in vivo activity of the iron-sulphur-cluster-requiring enzyme dihydroxyacid dehydratase is a key bottleneck in the present and previously described 'academic' isobutanol-producing yeast strains.

Comparative assessment of native and heterologous 2-oxo acid decarboxylases for application in isobutanol production by Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

BACKGROUND: Decarboxylation of α-ketoisovalerate to isobutyraldehyde is a key reaction in metabolic engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for isobutanol production with published studies relying on overexpression of either the native ARO10 gene or of the Lactococcus lactis kivD decarboxylase gene resulting in low enzymatic activities. Here, we compare relevant properties for isobutanol production of Aro10, KivD and an additional, less studied, L. lactis decarboxylase KdcA. RESULTS: To eliminate interference by native decarboxylases, each 2-oxo acid decarboxylase was overexpressed in a 'decarboxylase-negative' (pdc1Δ pdc5Δ pdc6Δ aro10Δ) S. cerevisiae background. Kinetic analyses in cell extracts revealed a superior V max/K m ratio of KdcA for α-ketoisovalerate and a wide range of linear and branched-chain 2-oxo acids. However, KdcA also showed the highest activity with pyruvate which, in engineered strains, can contribute to formation of ethanol as a by-product. Removal of native decarboxylase genes eliminated growth on valine as sole nitrogen source and subsequent complementation of this growth impairment by expression of each decarboxylase indicated that based on the increased growth rate, the in vivo activity of KdcA with α-ketoisovalerate was higher than that of KivD and Aro10. Moreover, during oxygen-limited incubation in the presence of glucose, strains expressing kdcA or kivD showed a ca. twofold higher in vivo rate of conversion of α-ketoisovalerate into isobutanol than an ARO10-expressing strain. Finally, cell extracts from cultures grown on different nitrogen sources revealed increased activity of constitutively expressed KdcA after growth on both valine and phenylalanine, while KivD and Aro10 activity was only increased after growth on phenylalanine suggesting a difference in the regulation of these enzymes. CONCLUSIONS: This study illustrates important differences in substrate specificity, enzyme kinetics and functional expression between different decarboxylases in the context of isobutanol production and identifies KdcA as a promising alternative decarboxylase not only for isobutanol production but also for other branched-chain and linear alcohols.

Chromosomal Copy Number Variation in Saccharomyces pastorianus Is Evidence for Extensive Genome Dynamics in Industrial Lager Brewing Strains.

Lager brewing strains of Saccharomyces pastorianus are natural interspecific hybrids originating from the spontaneous hybridization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomyces eubayanus. Over the past 500 years, S. pastorianus has been domesticated to become one of the most important industrial microorganisms. Production of lager-type beers requires a set of essential phenotypes, including the ability to ferment maltose and maltotriose at low temperature, the production of flavors and aromas, and the ability to flocculate. Understanding of the molecular basis of complex brewing-related phenotypic traits is a prerequisite for rational strain improvement. While genome sequences have been reported, the variability and dynamics of S. pastorianus genomes have not been investigated in detail. Here, using deep sequencing and chromosome copy number analysis, we showed that S. pastorianus strain CBS1483 exhibited extensive aneuploidy. This was confirmed by quantitative PCR and by flow cytometry. As a direct consequence of this aneuploidy, a massive number of sequence variants was identified, leading to at least 1,800 additional protein variants in S. pastorianus CBS1483. Analysis of eight additional S. pastorianus strains revealed that the previously defined group I strains showed comparable karyotypes, while group II strains showed large interstrain karyotypic variability. Comparison of three strains with nearly identical genome sequences revealed substantial chromosome copy number variation, which may contribute to strain-specific phenotypic traits. The observed variability of lager yeast genomes demonstrates that systematic linking of genotype to phenotype requires a three-dimensional genome analysis encompassing physical chromosomal structures, the copy number of individual chromosomes or chromosomal regions, and the allelic variation of copies of individual genes.

Functional expression of a heterologous nickel-dependent, ATP-independent urease in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

In microbial processes for production of proteins, biomass and nitrogen-containing commodity chemicals, ATP requirements for nitrogen assimilation affect product yields on the energy producing substrate. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a current host for heterologous protein production and potential platform for production of nitrogen-containing chemicals, uptake and assimilation of ammonium requires 1 ATP per incorporated NH3. Urea assimilation by this yeast is more energy efficient but still requires 0.5 ATP per NH3 produced. To decrease ATP costs for nitrogen assimilation, the S. cerevisiae gene encoding ATP-dependent urease (DUR1,2) was replaced by a Schizosaccharomyces pombe gene encoding ATP-independent urease (ure2), along with its accessory genes ureD, ureF and ureG. Since S. pombe ure2 is a Ni(2+)-dependent enzyme and Saccharomyces cerevisiae does not express native Ni(2+)-dependent enzymes, the S. pombe high-affinity nickel-transporter gene (nic1) was also expressed. Expression of the S. pombe genes into dur1,2Δ S. cerevisiae yielded an in vitro ATP-independent urease activity of 0.44±0.01 µmol min(-1) mg protein(-1) and restored growth on urea as sole nitrogen source. Functional expression of the Nic1 transporter was essential for growth on urea at low Ni(2+) concentrations. The maximum specific growth rates of the engineered strain on urea and ammonium were lower than those of a DUR1,2 reference strain. In glucose-limited chemostat cultures with urea as nitrogen source, the engineered strain exhibited an increased release of ammonia and reduced nitrogen content of the biomass. Our results indicate a new strategy for improving yeast-based production of nitrogen-containing chemicals and demonstrate that Ni(2+)-dependent enzymes can be functionally expressed in S. cerevisiae.

An alternative, arginase-independent pathway for arginine metabolism in Kluyveromyces lactis involves guanidinobutyrase as a key enzyme.

Most available knowledge on fungal arginine metabolism is derived from studies on Saccharomyces cerevisiae, in which arginine catabolism is initiated by releasing urea via the arginase reaction. Orthologues of the S. cerevisiae genes encoding the first three enzymes in the arginase pathway were cloned from Kluyveromyces lactis and shown to functionally complement the corresponding deletion in S. cerevisiae. Surprisingly, deletion of the single K. lactis arginase gene KlCAR1 did not completely abolish growth on arginine as nitrogen source. Growth rate of the deletion mutant strongly increased during serial transfer in shake-flask cultures. A combination of RNAseq-based transcriptome analysis and (13)C-(15)N-based flux analysis was used to elucidate the arginase-independent pathway. Isotopic (13)C(15)N-enrichment in γ-aminobutyrate revealed succinate as the entry point in the TCA cycle of the alternative pathway. Transcript analysis combined with enzyme activity measurements indicated increased expression in the Klcar1Δ mutant of a guanidinobutyrase (EC.3.5.3.7), a key enzyme in a new pathway for arginine degradation. Expression of the K. lactis KLLA0F27995g (renamed KlGBU1) encoding guanidinobutyrase enabled S. cerevisiae to use guanidinobutyrate as sole nitrogen source and its deletion in K. lactis almost completely abolish growth on this nitrogen source. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that this enzyme activity is widespread in fungi.

Functional characterization of the oxaloacetase encoding gene and elimination of oxalate formation in the ß-lactam producer Penicillium chrysogenum.

Penicillium chrysogenum is widely used as an industrial antibiotic producer, in particular in the synthesis of ß-lactam antibiotics such as penicillins and cephalosporins. In industrial processes, oxalic acid formation leads to reduced product yields. Moreover, precipitation of calcium oxalate complicates product recovery. We observed oxalate production in glucose-limited chemostat cultures of P. chrysogenum grown with or without addition of adipic acid, side-chain of the cephalosporin precursor adipoyl-6-aminopenicillinic acid (ad-6-APA). Oxalate accounted for up to 5% of the consumed carbon source. In filamentous fungi, oxaloacetate hydrolase (OAH; EC3.7.1.1) is generally responsible for oxalate production. The P. chrysogenum genome harbours four orthologs of the A. niger oahA gene. Chemostat-based transcriptome analyses revealed a significant correlation between extracellular oxalate titers and expression level of the genes Pc18g05100 and Pc22g24830. To assess their possible involvement in oxalate production, both genes were cloned in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, yeast that does not produce oxalate. Only the expression of Pc22g24830 led to production of oxalic acid in S. cerevisiae. Subsequent deletion of Pc22g28430 in P. chrysogenum led to complete elimination of oxalate production, whilst improving yields of the cephalosporin precursor ad-6-APA.

Energetic limits to metabolic flexibility: responses of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to glucose-galactose transitions.

Glucose is the favoured carbon source for Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and the Leloir pathway for galactose utilization is only induced in the presence of galactose during glucose-derepressed conditions. The goal of this study was to investigate the dynamics of glucose-galactose transitions. To this end, well-controlled, glucose-limited chemostat cultures were switched to galactose-excess conditions. Surprisingly, galactose was not consumed upon a switch to galactose excess under anaerobic conditions. However, the transcripts of the Leloir pathway were highly increased upon galactose excess under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Protein and enzyme-activity assays showed that impaired galactose consumption under anaerobiosis coincided with the absence of the Leloir-pathway proteins. Further results showed that absence of protein synthesis was not caused by glucose-mediated translation inhibition. Analysis of adenosine nucleotide pools revealed a fast decrease of the energy charge after the switch from glucose to galactose under anaerobic conditions. Similar results were obtained when glucose-galactose transitions were analysed under aerobic conditions with a respiratory-deficient strain. It is concluded that under fermentative conditions, the energy charge was too low to allow synthesis of the Leloir proteins. Hence, this study conclusively shows that the intracellular energy status is an important factor in the metabolic flexibility of S. cerevisiae upon changes in its environment.

Construction of an hdfA Penicillium chrysogenum strain impaired in non-homologous end-joining and analysis of its potential for functional analysis studies.

The homologous recombination mechanism for DNA-repair is not predominant in most filamentous fungi, resulting in extremely low targeting efficiencies for molecular engineering. To increase the gene targeting efficiency, it is becoming common practice to inactivate the non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) pathway that causes random integration, by deleting the fungal homologs of the human KU70 and KU80 genes that encode proteins functioning in the NHEJ pathway. This has been described for several filamentous fungi, but limited knowledge on the physiological consequences is available. In this study we characterized targeting efficiency and physiology of penicillinG producing Penicillium chrysogenum strains, in which the KU70 or KU80 homologues hdfA and hdfB had been deleted. Targeting efficiency was increased from ca. 1% in the reference strain to 47% and 56% in the hdfA and hdfB mutant strains, respectively, using an ends-out construct. Physiological and transcriptome analysis of glucose-limited chemostat cultures of the hdfA deletion strain and the reference strain showed minimal differences. Although, in a direct competition experiment to assess strain fitness, the reference strain had a clear advantage over the deletion strain, the results demonstrate the potential of DeltahdfAP. chrysogenum strains for the functional analysis of the recently completed P. chrysogenum genome sequence and in further metabolic engineering of antibiotics production.

Alleviation of feedback inhibition in Saccharomyces cerevisiae aromatic amino acid biosynthesis: quantification of metabolic impact.

A quantitative analysis of the impact of feedback inhibition on aromatic amino acid biosynthesis was performed in chemostat cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Introduction of a tyrosine-insensitive allele of ARO4 (encoding 3-deoxy-d-arabino-heptulosonate-7-phosphate synthase) caused a three-fold increase of intracellular phenylalanine and tyrosine concentrations. These amino acids were not detected extracellularly. However, an over 100-fold increase of the extracellular levels of phenylacetate, phenylethanol and their para-hydroxyl analogues was observed. The total increase of the flux through the aromatic pathway was estimated to be over four-fold. Individual overexpression of either the wild-type or feedback insensitive allele of ARO7 (encoding chorismate mutase had no significant impact. However when they were combined with the Tyr-insensitive ARO4 allele in combination with the Tyr-insensitive ARO4 allele, extracellular concentrations of aromatic compounds were increased by over 200-fold relative to the reference strain, corresponding to a 4.5-fold increase of the flux through the aromatic amino acid biosynthesis pathway. Elimination of allosteric control on these two key reactions in aromatic amino acid metabolism significantly affected intracellular concentrations of several non-aromatic amino acids. This broader impact of amino acid biosynthesis presents a challenge in rational optimization of the production of specific amino acids and derived flavour compounds.

When transcriptome meets metabolome: fast cellular responses of yeast to sudden relief of glucose limitation.

Within the first 5 min after a sudden relief from glucose limitation, Saccharomyces cerevisiae exhibited fast changes of intracellular metabolite levels and a major transcriptional reprogramming. Integration of transcriptome and metabolome data revealed tight relationships between the changes at these two levels. Transcriptome as well as metabolite changes reflected a major investment in two processes: adaptation from fully respiratory to respiro-fermentative metabolism and preparation for growth acceleration. At the metabolite level, a severe drop of the AXP pools directly after glucose addition was not accompanied by any of the other three NXP. To counterbalance this loss, purine biosynthesis and salvage pathways were transcriptionally upregulated in a concerted manner, reflecting a sudden increase of the purine demand. The short-term dynamics of the transcriptome revealed a remarkably fast decrease in the average half-life of downregulated genes. This acceleration of mRNA decay can be interpreted both as an additional nucleotide salvage pathway and an additional level of glucose-induced regulation of gene expression.

Fed-batch cultivation of the docosahexaenoic-acid-producing marine alga Crypthecodinium cohnii on ethanol.

The heterotrophic marine microalga Crypthecodinium cohnii produces docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a polyunsaturated fatty acid with food and pharmaceutical applications. So far, DHA production has been studied with glucose and acetic acid as carbon sources. This study investigates the potential of ethanol as an alternative carbon source for DHA production by C. cohnii. In shake-flask cultures, the alga was able to grow on ethanol. The specific growth rate was optimal with 5 g l(-1) ethanol and growth did not occur at 0 g l(-1) and above 15 g l(-1). By contrast, in fed-batch cultivations with a controlled feed of pure ethanol, cumulative ethanol addition could be much higher than 15 g l(-1), thus enabling a high final cell density and DHA production. In a representative fed-batch cultivation of C. cohnii with pure ethanol as feed, 83 g dry biomass l(-1), 35 g total lipid l(-1) and 11.7 g DHA l(-1) were produced in 220 h. The overall volumetric productivity of DHA was 53 mg l(-1 )h(-1), which is the highest value reported so far for this alga.

Influence of the ethanol and glucose supply rate on the rate and enantioselectivity of 3-oxo ester reduction by baker's yeast.

Baker's-yeast-mediated reductions of ketones hold great potential for the industrial production of enantiopure alcohols. In this article we describe the stoichiometry and kinetics of asymmetric ketone reduction by cell suspensions of bakers' yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). A system for quantitative analysis of 3-oxo ester reduction was developed and allowed construction of full mass and redox balances as well as determination of the influence of different process parameters on aerobic ketone reduction. The nature of the electron donor (ethanol or glucose) and its specific consumption rate by the biomass (0-1 mol.kg dw(-1).h(-1)) affected the overall stoichiometry and rate of the process and the final enantiomeric excess of the product. Excess glucose as the electron donor, i.e. a very high consumption rate of glucose, resulted in a high rate of alcoholic fermentation, oxygen consumption, and biomass formation and therefore causing low efficiency of glucose utilization. Controlled supply of the electron donor at the highest rates applied prevented alcoholic fermentation but still resulted in biomass formation and a high oxygen requirement, while low rates resulted in a more efficient use of the electron donor. Low supply rates of ethanol resulted in biomass decrease while low supply rates of glucose provided the most efficient strategy for electron donor provision and yielded a high enantiomeric excess of ethyl (S)-3-hydroxybutanoate. In contrast to batchwise conversions with excess glucose as the electron donor, this strategy prevented by-product formation and biomass increase, and resulted in a low oxygen requirement.

Oxygen requirements of the food spoilage yeast Zygosaccharomyces bailii in synthetic and complex media.

Most yeast species can ferment sugars to ethanol, but only a few can grow in the complete absence of oxygen. Oxygen availability might, therefore, be a key parameter in spoilage of food caused by fermentative yeasts. In this study, the oxygen requirement and regulation of alcoholic fermentation were studied in batch cultures of the spoilage yeast Zygosaccharomyces bailii at a constant pH, pH 3.0. In aerobic, glucose-grown cultures, Z. bailii exhibited aerobic alcoholic fermentation similar to that of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and other Crabtree-positive yeasts. In anaerobic fermentor cultures grown on a synthetic medium supplemented with glucose, Tween 80, and ergosterol, S. cerevisiae exhibited rapid exponential growth. Growth of Z. bailii under these conditions was extremely slow and linear. These linear growth kinetics indicate that cell proliferation of Z. bailii in the anaerobic fermentors was limited by a constant, low rate of oxygen leakage into the system. Similar results were obtained with the facultatively fermentative yeast Candida utilis. When the same experimental setup was used for anaerobic cultivation, in complex YPD medium, Z. bailii exhibited exponential growth and vigorous fermentation, indicating that a nutritional requirement for anaerobic growth was met by complex-medium components. Our results demonstrate that restriction of oxygen entry into foods and beverages, which are rich in nutrients, is not a promising strategy for preventing growth and gas formation by Z. bailii. In contrast to the growth of Z. bailii, anaerobic growth of S. cerevisiae on complex YPD medium was much slower than growth in synthetic medium, which probably reflected the superior tolerance of the former yeast to organic acids at low pH.

Stoichiometry and compartmentation of NADH metabolism in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, reduction of NAD(+) to NADH occurs in dissimilatory as well as in assimilatory reactions. This review discusses mechanisms for reoxidation of NADH in this yeast, with special emphasis on the metabolic compartmentation that occurs as a consequence of the impermeability of the mitochondrial inner membrane for NADH and NAD(+). At least five mechanisms of NADH reoxidation exist in S. cerevisiae. These are: (1) alcoholic fermentation; (2) glycerol production; (3) respiration of cytosolic NADH via external mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenases; (4) respiration of cytosolic NADH via the glycerol-3-phosphate shuttle; and (5) oxidation of intramitochondrial NADH via a mitochondrial 'internal' NADH dehydrogenase. Furthermore, in vivo evidence indicates that NADH redox equivalents can be shuttled across the mitochondrial inner membrane by an ethanol-acetaldehyde shuttle. Several other redox-shuttle mechanisms might occur in S. cerevisiae, including a malate-oxaloacetate shuttle, a malate-aspartate shuttle and a malate-pyruvate shuttle. Although key enzymes and transporters for these shuttles are present, there is as yet no consistent evidence for their in vivo activity. Activity of several other shuttles, including the malate-citrate and fatty acid shuttles, can be ruled out based on the absence of key enzymes or transporters. Quantitative physiological analysis of defined mutants has been important in identifying several parallel pathways for reoxidation of cytosolic and intramitochondrial NADH. The major challenge that lies ahead is to elucidate the physiological function of parallel pathways for NADH oxidation in wild-type cells, both under steady-state and transient-state conditions. This requires the development of techniques for accurate measurement of intracellular metabolite concentrations in separate metabolic compartments.

Modulating the distribution of fluxes among respiration and fermentation by overexpression of HAP4 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The tendency of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to favor alcoholic fermentation over respiration is a complication in aerobic, biomass-directed applications of this yeast. Overproduction of Hap4p, a positive transcriptional regulator of genes involved in respiratory metabolism, has been reported to positively affect the balance between respiration and fermentation in aerobic glucose-grown batch cultures. In this study, the effects of HAP4 overexpression have been quantified in the prototrophic S. cerevisiae strain CEN.PK 113-7D under a variety of growth conditions. In aerobic glucose-limited chemostat cultures, overexpression of HAP4 increased the specific growth rate at which aerobic fermentation set in by about 10% relative to the isogenic wild-type. Upon relief of glucose-limited conditions, the HAP4-overexpressing strain produced slightly less ethanol than the wild-type strain. The effect of Hap4p overproduction was most drastic in aerobic, glucose-grown chemostat cultures in which ammonium was limiting. In such cultures, the biomass yield on glucose was double that of the wild-type.

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae ICL2 gene encodes a mitochondrial 2-methylisocitrate lyase involved in propionyl-coenzyme A metabolism.

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae ICL1 gene encodes isocitrate lyase, an essential enzyme for growth on ethanol and acetate. Previous studies have demonstrated that the highly homologous ICL2 gene (YPR006c) is transcribed during the growth of wild-type cells on ethanol. However, even when multiple copies are introduced, ICL2 cannot complement the growth defect of icl1 null mutants. It has therefore been suggested that ICL2 encodes a nonsense mRNA or nonfunctional protein. In the methylcitrate cycle of propionyl-coenzyme A metabolism, 2-methylisocitrate is converted to succinate and pyruvate, a reaction similar to that catalyzed by isocitrate lyase. To investigate whether ICL2 encodes a specific 2-methylisocitrate lyase, isocitrate lyase and 2-methylisocitrate lyase activities were assayed in cell extracts of wild-type S. cerevisiae and of isogenic icl1, icl2, and icl1 icl2 null mutants. Isocitrate lyase activity was absent in icl1 and icl1 icl2 null mutants, whereas in contrast, 2-methylisocitrate lyase activity was detected in the wild type and single icl mutants but not in the icl1 icl2 mutant. This demonstrated that ICL2 encodes a specific 2-methylisocitrate lyase and that the ICL1-encoded isocitrate lyase exhibits a low but significant activity with 2-methylisocitrate. Subcellular fractionation studies and experiments with an ICL2-green fluorescent protein fusion demonstrated that the ICL2-encoded 2-methylisocitrate lyase is located in the mitochondrial matrix. Similar to that of ICL1, transcription of ICL2 is subject to glucose catabolite repression. In glucose-limited cultures, growth with threonine as a nitrogen source resulted in a ca. threefold induction of ICL2 mRNA levels and of 2-methylisocitrate lyase activity in cell extracts relative to cultures grown with ammonia as the nitrogen source. This is consistent with an involvement of the 2-methylcitrate cycle in threonine catabolism.

The mitochondrial alcohol dehydrogenase Adh3p is involved in a redox shuttle in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

NDI1 is the unique gene encoding the internal mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The enzyme catalyzes the transfer of electrons from intramitochondrial NADH to ubiquinone. Surprisingly, NDI1 is not essential for respiratory growth. Here we demonstrate that this is due to in vivo activity of an ethanol-acetaldehyde redox shuttle, which transfers the redox equivalents from the mitochondria to the cytosol. Cytosolic NADH can be oxidized by the external NADH dehydrogenases. Deletion of ADH3, encoding mitochondrial alcohol dehydrogenase, did not affect respiratory growth in aerobic, glucose-limited chemostat cultures. Also, an ndi1Delta mutant was capable of respiratory growth under these conditions. However, when both ADH3 and NDI1 were deleted, metabolism became respirofermentative, indicating that the ethanol-acetaldehyde shuttle is essential for respiratory growth of the ndi1 delta mutant. In anaerobic batch cultures, the maximum specific growth rate of the adh3 delta mutant (0.22 h(-1)) was substantially reduced compared to that of the wild-type strain (0.33 h(-1)). This is consistent with the hypothesis that the ethanol-acetaldehyde shuttle is also involved in maintenance of the mitochondrial redox balance under anaerobic conditions. Finally, it is shown that another mitochondrial alcohol dehydrogenase is active in the adh3 delta ndi1 delta mutant, contributing to residual redox-shuttle activity in this strain.

Hydrolytic activity in baker's yeast limits the yield of asymmetric 3-oxo ester reduction.

Microbial reductions of ketones hold great potential for the production of enantiopure alcohols, as long as highly selective redox enzymes are not interfered with by competing activities. During reduction of ethyl 3-oxobutanoate by baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) to ethyl (S)-3-hydroxybutanoate, a high enantiomeric excess (> 99%) can be obtained. However, reported yields do not exceed 50-70%. In this article, three main causes are shown to be responsible for these low to moderate yields. These are evaporation of the substrate and product esters, absorption or adsorption of the two esters by the yeast cells and hydrolysis of the two esters by yeast enzymes. The hydrolysis products are further metabolized by the yeast. By reducing the evaporation and absorption losses, the reduction yield can easily be improved to about 85%. Improvement of the efficiency of the reduction and hence the reduction/hydrolysis ratio should lead to a further increase in yield.

Fermentative capacity in high-cell-density fed-batch cultures of baker's yeast.

High-cell-density fed-batch processes for bakers' yeast production will involve a low-average-specific growth rate due to the limited oxygen-transfer capacity of industrial bioreactors. The relationship between specific growth rate and fermentative capacity was investigated in aerobic, sucrose-limited fed-batch cultures of an industrial bakers' yeast strain. Using a defined mineral medium, biomass concentrations of 130 g dry weight/L were reproducibly attained. After an initial exponential-feed phase (mu = 0.18 h(-1)), oxygen-transfer limitation necessitated a gradual decrease of the specific growth rate to ca. 0.01 h(-1). Throughout fed-batch cultivation, sugar metabolism was fully respiratory, with a biomass yield of 0.5 g biomass/g sucrose(-1). Fermentative capacity (assayed off-line as ethanol production rate under anaerobic conditions with excess glucose) showed a strong positive correlation with specific growth rate. The fermentative capacity observed at the end of the process (mu = 0.01 h(-1)) was only half that observed during the exponential-feed phase (mu = 0.18 h(-1)). During fed-batch cultivation, activities of glycolytic enzymes, pyruvate decarboxylase and alcohol dehydrogenase in cell extracts did not exhibit marked changes. This suggests that changes of fermentative capacity during fed-batch cultivation were not primarily caused by regulation of the synthesis of glycolytic enzymes.

Regulation of pyruvate metabolism in chemostat cultures of Kluyveromyces lactis CBS 2359.

Regulation of currently identified genes involved in pyruvate metabolism of Kluyveromyces lactis strain CBS 2359 was studied in glucose-limited, ethanol-limited and acetate-limited chemostat cultures and during a glucose pulse added to a glucose-limited steady-state culture. Enzyme activity levels of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, pyruvate decarboxylase, alcohol dehydrogenase, acetyl-CoA synthetase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase were determined in all steady-state cultures. In addition, the mRNA levels of KlADH1-4, KlACS1, KlACS2, KlPDA1, KlPDC1 and RAG1 were monitored under steady-state conditions and during glucose pulses. In K. lactis, as in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, enzymes involved in glucose utilization (glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, pyruvate dehydrogenase, pyruvate decarboxylase) showed the highest expression levels on glucose, whereas enzymes required for ethanol or acetate consumption (alcohol dehydrogenase, acetyl-CoA synthetase) showed the highest enzyme activities on ethanol. In cases where mRNA levels were determined, these corresponded well with the corresponding enzyme activities, suggesting that regulation is mostly achieved at the transcriptional level. Surprisingly, the activity of the K. lactis pyruvate dehydrogenase complex appeared to be regulated at the level of KlPDA1 transcription. The conclusions from the steady-state cultures were corroborated by glucose pulse experiments. Overall, expression of the enzymes of pyruvate metabolism in the Crabtree-negative yeast K. lactis appeared to be regulated in the same way as in Crabtree-positive S. cerevisiae, with one notable exception: the PDA1 gene encoding the E1alpha subunit of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex is expressed constitutively in S. cerevisiae.