Genomic and Transcriptomic Basis of Hanseniaspora vineae's Impact on Flavor Diversity and Wine Quality.

Hanseniaspora is the main genus of the apiculate yeast group that represents approximately 70% of the grape-associated microflora. Hanseniaspora vineae is emerging as a promising species for quality wine production compared to other non-Saccharomyces species. Wines produced by H. vineae with Saccharomyces cerevisiae consistently exhibit more intense fruity flavors and complexity than wines produced by S. cerevisiae alone. In this work, genome sequencing, assembling, and phylogenetic analysis of two strains of H. vineae showed that it is a member of the Saccharomyces complex and it diverged before the whole-genome duplication (WGD) event from this clade. Specific flavor gene duplications and absences were identified in the H. vineae genome compared to 14 fully sequenced industrial S. cerevisiae genomes. The increased formation of 2-phenylethyl acetate and phenylpropanoids such as 2-phenylethyl and benzyl alcohols might be explained by gene duplications of H. vineae aromatic amino acid aminotransferases (ARO8 and ARO9) and phenylpyruvate decarboxylases (ARO10). Transcriptome and aroma profiles under fermentation conditions confirmed these genes were highly expressed at the beginning of stationary phase coupled to the production of their related compounds. The extremely high level of acetate esters produced by H. vineae compared to that by S. cerevisiae is consistent with the identification of six novel proteins with alcohol acetyltransferase (AATase) domains. The absence of the branched-chain amino acid transaminases (BAT2) and acyl coenzyme A (acyl-CoA)/ethanol O-acyltransferases (EEB1) genes correlates with H. vineae's reduced production of branched-chain higher alcohols, fatty acids, and ethyl esters, respectively. Our study provides sustenance for understanding and potentially utilizing genes that determine fermentation aromas.IMPORTANCE The huge diversity of non-Saccharomyces yeasts in grapes is dominated by the apiculate genus Hanseniaspora Two native strains of Hanseniaspora vineae applied to winemaking because of their high oenological potential in aroma and fermentation performance were selected to obtain high-quality genomes. Here, we present a phylogenetic analysis and the complete transcriptome and aroma metabolome of H. vineae during three fermentation steps. This species produced significantly richer flavor compound diversity than Saccharomyces, including benzenoids, phenylpropanoids, and acetate-derived compounds. The identification of six proteins, different from S. cerevisiae ATF, with diverse acetyltransferase domains in H. vineae offers a relevant source of native genetic variants for this enzymatic activity. The discovery of benzenoid synthesis capacity in H. vineae provides a new eukaryotic model to dilucidate an alternative pathway to that catalyzed by plants' phenylalanine lyases.

Role of long-chain acyl-CoAs in the regulation of mycolic acid biosynthesis in mycobacteria.

One of the dominant features of the biology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and other mycobacteria, is the mycobacterial cell envelope with its exceptional complex composition. Mycolic acids are major and very specific components of the cell envelope and play a key role in its architecture and impermeability. Biosynthesis of mycolic acid (MA) precursors requires two types of fatty acid synthases, FAS I and FAS II, which should work in concert in order to keep lipid homeostasis tightly regulated. Both FAS systems are regulated at their transcriptional level by specific regulatory proteins. FasR regulates components of the FAS I system, whereas MabR and FadR regulate components of the FAS II system. In this article, by constructing a tight mabR conditional mutant in Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2155, we demonstrated that sub-physiological levels of MabR lead to a downregulation of the fasII genes, inferring that this protein is a transcriptional activator of the FAS II system. In vivo labelling experiments and lipidomic studies carried out in the wild-type and the mabR conditional mutant demonstrated that under conditions of reduced levels of MabR, there is a clear inhibition of biosynthesis of MAs, with a concomitant change in their relative composition, and of other MA-containing molecules. These studies also demonstrated a change in the phospholipid composition of the membrane of the mutant strain, with a significant increase of phosphatidylinositol. Gel shift assays carried out with MabR and PfasII as a probe in the presence of different chain-length acyl-CoAs strongly suggest that molecules longer than C18 can be sensed by MabR to modulate its affinity for the operator sequences that it recognizes, and in that way switch on or off the MabR-dependent promoter. Finally, we demonstrated the direct role of MabR in the upregulation of the fasII operon genes after isoniazid treatment.

Elimination of Pseudomonas aeruginosa through Efferocytosis upon Binding to Apoptotic Cells.

For opportunistic pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the mucosal barrier represents a formidable challenge. Infections develop only in patients with altered epithelial barriers. Here, we showed that P. aeruginosa interacts with a polarized epithelium, adhering almost exclusively at sites of multi-cellular junctions. In these sites, numerous bacteria attach to an extruded apoptotic cell or apoptotic body. This dead cell tropism is independent of the type of cell death, as P. aeruginosa also binds to necrotic cells. We further showed that P. aeruginosa is internalized through efferocytosis, a process in which surrounding epithelial cells engulf and dispose of extruded apoptotic cells. Intracellularly, along with apoptotic cell debris, P. aeruginosa inhabits an efferocytic phagosome that acquires lysosomal features, and is finally killed. We propose that elimination of P. aeruginosa through efferocytosis is part of a host defense mechanism. Our findings could be relevant for the study of cystic fibrosis, which is characterized by an exacerbated number of apoptotic cells and ineffective efferocytosis.

De Novo Synthesis of Benzenoid Compounds by the Yeast Hanseniaspora vineae Increases the Flavor Diversity of Wines.

Benzyl alcohol and other benzenoid-derived metabolites of particular importance in plants confer floral and fruity flavors to wines. Among the volatile aroma components in Vitis vinifera grape varieties, benzyl alcohol is present in its free and glycosylated forms. These compounds are considered to originate from grapes only and not from fermentative processes. We have found increased levels of benzyl alcohol in red Tannat wine compared to that in grape juice, suggesting de novo formation of this metabolite during vinification. In this work, we show that benzyl alcohol, benzaldehyde, p-hydroxybenzaldehyde, and p-hydroxybenzyl alcohol are synthesized de novo in the absence of grape-derived precursors by Hanseniaspora vineae. Levels of benzyl alcohol produced by 11 different H. vineae strains were 20-200 times higher than those measured in fermentations with Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains. These results show that H. vineae contributes to flavor diversity by increasing grape variety aroma concentration in a chemically defined medium. Feeding experiments with phenylalanine, tryptophan, tyrosine, p-aminobenzoic acid, and ammonium in an artificial medium were tested to evaluate the effect of these compounds either as precursors or as potential pathway regulators for the formation of benzenoid-derived aromas. Genomic analysis shows that the phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and tyrosine ammonia lyase (TAL) pathways, used by plants to generate benzyl alcohols from aromatic amino acids, are absent in the H. vineae genome. Consequently, alternative pathways derived from chorismate with mandelate as an intermediate are discussed.

A New Class of Thioredoxin-Related Protein Able to Bind Iron-Sulfur Clusters.

AIMS: Members of the thioredoxin (Trx) protein family participate mainly in redox pathways and have not been associated with Fe/S binding, in contrast to some closely related glutaredoxins (Grxs). Cestode parasites possess an unusual diversity of Trxs and Trx-related proteins with unexplored functions. In this study, we addressed the biochemical characterization of a new class of Trx-related protein (IsTRP) and a classical monothiol Grx (EgGrx5) from the human pathogen Echinococcus granulosus. RESULTS: The dimeric form of IsTRP coordinates Fe2S2 in a glutathione-independent manner; instead, Fe/S binding relies on the CXXC motif conserved among Trxs. This novel binding mechanism allows holo-IsTRP to be highly resistant to oxidation. IsTRP lacks canonical reductase activities. Mitochondrially targeted IsTRP aids growth of a Grx5 null yeast strain. Similar complementation assays performed with EgGrx5 revealed functional conservation for class II Grxs, despite the presence of nonconserved structural elements. IsTRP is a cestode lineage-specific protein highly expressed in the gravid adult worm, which releases the infective stage critical for dissemination. INNOVATION: IsTRP is the first member from the Trx family to be reported to bind Fe/S. We disclose a novel mechanism of Fe/S coordination within the Trx folding unit, which renders the cluster highly resistant to oxidation-mediated disassembly. CONCLUSION: We demonstrate that IsTRP defines a new protein family within the Trx superfamily, confirm the conservation of function for class II Grx from nonphylogenetically related species, and highlight the versatility of the Trx folding unit to acquire Fe/S binding as a recurrent emergent function. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 00, 000-000.

Quantitation of yeast cell-cell fusion using multicolor flow cytometry.

Mating of haploid Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells of opposite sex provides a powerful model system to study the cell-cell fusion. However, a rapid and standardized method is much needed for quantitative assessment of fusion efficiency. The gold standard method relies on counting mating pairs in fluorescence microscopy images. This current method is limited by expectancy bias and it is time consuming, restricting the number of both cell-cell fusion events and strains that can be analyzed at once. Automatic approaches present a solution to these limitations. Here, we describe a novel flow cytometric approach that is able to quickly both identify mating pairs within a mixture of gametes and quantify cell fusion efficiency. This method is based on staining the cell wall of yeast populations with different Concanavalin A-fluorophore conjugates. The mating subpopulation is identified as the two-colored events set and fused and unfused mating pairs are subsequently discriminated by green fluorescent protein bimolecular complementation. A series of experiments was conducted to validate a simple and reliable protocol. Mating efficiency in each sample was determined by flow cytometry and compared with the one obtained with the current gold standard technique. The results show that mating pair counts using both methods produce indistinguishable outcomes and that the flow cytometry-based method provides quantitative relevant information in a short time, making possible to quickly analyze many different cell populations. In conclusion, our data show multicolor flow cytometry-based fusion quantitation to be a fast, robust, and reliable method to quantify the cell-cell fusion in yeast.

Eisosomes are dynamic plasma membrane domains showing pil1-lsp1 heteroligomer binding equilibrium.

Eisosomes are plasma membrane domains concentrating lipids, transporters, and signaling molecules. In the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, these domains are structured by scaffolds composed mainly by two cytoplasmic proteins Pil1 and Lsp1. Eisosomes are immobile domains, have relatively uniform size, and encompass thousands of units of the core proteins Pil1 and Lsp1. In this work we used fluorescence fluctuation analytical methods to determine the dynamics of eisosome core proteins at different subcellular locations. Using a combination of scanning techniques with autocorrelation analysis, we show that Pil1 and Lsp1 cytoplasmic pools freely diffuse whereas an eisosome-associated fraction of these proteins exhibits slow dynamics that fit with a binding-unbinding equilibrium. Number and brightness analysis shows that the eisosome-associated fraction is oligomeric, while cytoplasmic pools have lower aggregation states. Fluorescence lifetime imaging results indicate that Pil1 and Lsp1 directly interact in the cytoplasm and within the eisosomes. These results support a model where Pil1-Lsp1 heterodimers are the minimal eisosomes building blocks. Moreover, individual-eisosome fluorescence fluctuation analysis shows that eisosomes in the same cell are not equal domains: while roughly half of them are mostly static, the other half is actively exchanging core protein subunits.

Genome Sequence of the Native Apiculate Wine Yeast Hanseniaspora vineae T02/19AF.

The use of novel yeast strains for winemaking improves quality and provides variety including subtle characteristic differences in fine wines. Here we report the first genome of a yeast strain native to Uruguay, Hanseniaspora vineae T02/19AF, which has been shown to positively contribute to aroma and wine quality.