Elke Nevoigt

Genetic mapping of quantitative phenotypic traits in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Saccharomyces cerevisiae has become a favorite production organism in industrial biotechnology presenting new challenges to yeast engineers in terms of introducing advantageous traits such as stress tolerances. Exploring subspecies diversity of S. cerevisiae has identified strains that bear industrially relevant phenotypic traits. Provided that the genetic basis of such phenotypic traits can be identified inverse engineering allows the targeted modification of production strains. Most phenotypic traits of interest in S. cerevisiae strains are quantitative, meaning that they are controlled by multiple genetic loci referred to as quantitative trait loci (QTL). A straightforward approach to identify the genetic basis of quantitative traits is QTL mapping which aims at the allocation of the genetic determinants to regions in the genome. The application of high-density oligonucleotide arrays and whole-genome re-sequencing to detect genetic variations between strains has facilitated the detection of large numbers of molecular markers thus allowing high-resolution QTL mapping over the entire genome. This review focuses on the basic principle and state of the art of QTL mapping in S. cerevisiae. Furthermore we discuss several approaches developed during the last decade that allow down-scaling of the regions identified by QTL mapping to the gene level. We also emphasize the particular challenges of QTL mapping in nonlaboratory strains of S. cerevisiae.

Gpd1 and Gpd2 fine-tuning for sustainable reduction of glycerol formation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

ABSTRACT Gpd1 and Gpd2 are the two isoforms of glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPDH), which is the rate-controlling enzyme of glycerol formation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The two isoenzymes play crucial roles in osmoregulation and redox balancing. Past approaches to increase ethanol yield at the cost of reduced glycerol yield have most often been based on deletion of either one or two isogenes (GPD1 and GPD2). While single deletions of GPD1 or GPD2 reduced glycerol formation only slightly, the gpd1Δ gpd2Δ double deletion strain produced zero glycerol but showed an osmosensitive phenotype and abolished anaerobic growth. Our current approach has sought to generate “intermediate” phenotypes by reducing both isoenzyme activities without abolishing them. To this end, the GPD1 promoter was replaced in a gpd2Δ background by two lower-strength TEF1 promoter mutants. In the same manner, the activity of the GPD2 promoter was reduced in a gpd1Δ background. The resulting strains were crossed to obtain different combinations of residual GPD1 and GPD2 expression levels. Among our engineered strains we identified four candidates showing improved ethanol yields compared to the wild type. In contrast to a gpd1Δ gpd2Δ double-deletion strain, these strains were able to completely ferment the sugars under quasi-anaerobic conditions in both minimal medium and during simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) of liquefied wheat mash (wheat liquefact). This result implies that our strains can tolerate the ethanol concentration at the end of the wheat liquefact SSF (up to 90 g liter−1). Moreover, a few of these strains showed no significant reduction in osmotic stress tolerance compared to the wild type.

The metabolic costs of improving ethanol yield by reducing glycerol formation capacity under anaerobic conditions in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

BackgroundFinely regulating the carbon flux through the glycerol pathway by regulating the expression of the rate controlling enzyme, glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPDH), has been a promising approach to redirect carbon from glycerol to ethanol and thereby increasing the ethanol yield in ethanol production. Here, strains engineered in the promoter of GPD1 and deleted in GPD2 were used to investigate the possibility of reducing glycerol production of Saccharomyces cerevisiae without jeopardising its ability to cope with process stress during ethanol production. For this purpose, the mutant strains TEFmut7 and TEFmut2 with different GPD1 residual expression were studied in Very High Ethanol Performance (VHEP) fed-batch process under anaerobic conditions.ResultsBoth strains showed a drastic reduction of the glycerol yield by 44 and 61% while the ethanol yield improved by 2 and 7% respectively. TEFmut2 strain showing the highest ethanol yield was accompanied by a 28% reduction of the biomass yield. The modulation of the glycerol formation led to profound redox and energetic changes resulting in a reduction of the ATP yield (YATP) and a modulation of the production of organic acids (acetate, pyruvate and succinate). Those metabolic rearrangements resulted in a loss of ethanol and stress tolerance of the mutants, contrarily to what was previously observed under aerobiosis.ConclusionsThis work demonstrates the potential of fine-tuned pathway engineering, particularly when a compromise has to be found between high product yield on one hand and acceptable growth, productivity and stress resistance on the other hand. Previous study showed that, contrarily to anaerobiosis, the resulting gain in ethanol yield was accompanied with no loss of ethanol tolerance under aerobiosis. Moreover those mutants were still able to produce up to 90 gl-1 ethanol in an anaerobic SSF process. Fine tuning metabolic strategy may then open encouraging possibilities for further developing robust strains with improved ethanol yield.

Re-evaluation of glycerol utilization in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: characterization of an isolate that grows on glycerol without supporting supplements

BackgroundGlycerol has attracted attention as a carbon source for microbial production processes due to the large amounts of crude glycerol waste resulting from biodiesel production. The current knowledge about the genetics and physiology of glycerol uptake and catabolism in the versatile industrial biotechnology production host Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been mainly based on auxotrophic laboratory strains, and carried out in the presence of growth-supporting supplements such as amino acids and nucleic bases. The latter may have resulted in ambiguous conclusions concerning glycerol growth in this species. The purpose of this study was to re-evaluate growth of S. cerevisiae in synthetic glycerol medium without the addition of supplements.ResultsInitial experiments showed that prototrophic versions of the laboratory strains CEN.PK, W303, and S288c did not exhibit any growth in synthetic glycerol medium without supporting supplements. However, a screening of 52 S. cerevisiae isolates for growth in the same medium revealed a high intraspecies diversity. Within this group significant variation with respect to the lag phase and maximum specific growth rate was observed. A haploid segregant of one good glycerol grower (CBS 6412-13A) was selected for detailed analysis. Single deletions of the genes encoding for the glycerol/H+ symporter (STL1), the glycerol kinase (GUT1), and the mitochondrial FAD+-dependent glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GUT2) abolished glycerol growth in this strain, implying that it uses the same glycerol utilization pathway as previously identified in auxotrophic laboratory strains. Segregant analysis of a cross between CBS 6412-13A and CEN.PK113-1A revealed that the glycerol growth phenotype is a quantitative trait. Genetic linkage and reciprocal hemizygosity analysis demonstrated that GUT1CBS 6412-13A is one of the multiple genetic loci contributing to the glycerol growth phenotype.ConclusionThe S. cerevisiae intraspecies diversity with regard to glycerol growth is a valuable starting point to identify the genetic and molecular basis of this phenotype. This knowledge can be applied for further rational strain improvement with the goal of using glycerol as a carbon source in industrial biotechnology processes based on S. cerevisiae as a production organism.

Quantitative trait analysis of yeast biodiversity yields novel gene tools for metabolic engineering

Engineering of metabolic pathways by genetic modification has been restricted largely to enzyme-encoding structural genes. The product yield of such pathways is a quantitative genetic trait. Out of 52 Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains phenotyped in small-scale fermentations, we identified strain CBS6412 as having unusually low glycerol production and higher ethanol yield as compared to an industrial reference strain. We mapped the QTLs underlying this quantitative trait with pooled-segregant whole-genome sequencing using 20 superior segregants selected from a total of 257. Plots of SNP variant frequency against SNP chromosomal position revealed one major and one minor locus. Downscaling of the major locus and reciprocal hemizygosity analysis identified an allele of SSK1, ssk1(E330N…K356N), expressing a truncated and partially mistranslated protein, as causative gene. The diploid CBS6412 parent was homozygous for ssk1(E330N…K356N). This allele affected growth and volumetric productivity less than the gene deletion. Introduction of the ssk1(E330N…K356N) allele in the industrial reference strain resulted in stronger reduction of the glycerol/ethanol ratio compared to SSK1 deletion and also compromised volumetric productivity and osmotolerance less. Our results show that polygenic analysis of yeast biodiversity can provide superior novel gene tools for metabolic engineering.

Identification of multiple interacting alleles conferring low glycerol and high ethanol yield in Saccharomyces cerevisiae ethanolic fermentation

BackgroundGenetic engineering of industrial microorganisms often suffers from undesirable side effects on essential functions. Reverse engineering is an alternative strategy to improve multifactorial traits like low glycerol/high ethanol yield in yeast fermentation. Previous rational engineering of this trait always affected essential functions like growth and stress tolerance. We have screened Saccharomyces cerevisiae biodiversity for specific alleles causing lower glycerol/higher ethanol yield, assuming higher compatibility with normal cellular functionality. Previous work identified ssk1E330N…K356N as causative allele in strain CBS6412, which displayed the lowest glycerol/ethanol ratio.ResultsWe have now identified a unique segregant, 26B, that shows similar low glycerol/high ethanol production as the superior parent, but lacks the ssk1E330N…K356N allele. Using segregants from the backcross of 26B with the inferior parent strain, we applied pooled-segregant whole-genome sequence analysis and identified three minor quantitative trait loci (QTLs) linked to low glycerol/high ethanol production. Within these QTLs, we identified three novel alleles of known regulatory and structural genes of glycerol metabolism, smp1R110Q,P269Q, hot1P107S,H274Y and gpd1L164P as causative genes. All three genes separately caused a significant drop in the glycerol/ethanol production ratio, while gpd1L164P appeared to be epistatically suppressed by other alleles in the superior parent. The order of potency in reducing the glycerol/ethanol ratio of the three alleles was: gpd1L164P > hot1P107S,H274Y ≥ smp1R110Q,P269Q.ConclusionsOur results show that natural yeast strains harbor multiple specific alleles of genes controlling essential functions, that are apparently compatible with survival in the natural environment. These newly identified alleles can be used as gene tools for engineering industrial yeast strains with multiple subtle changes, minimizing the risk of negatively affecting other essential functions. The gene tools act at the transcriptional, regulatory or structural gene level, distributing the impact over multiple targets and thus further minimizing possible side-effects. In addition, the results suggest polygenic analysis of complex traits as a promising new avenue to identify novel components involved in cellular functions, including those important in industrial applications.

A new laboratory evolution approach to select for constitutive acetic acid tolerance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and identification of causal mutations

BackgroundAcetic acid, released during hydrolysis of lignocellulosic feedstocks for second generation bioethanol production, inhibits yeast growth and alcoholic fermentation. Yeast biomass generated in a propagation step that precedes ethanol production should therefore express a high and constitutive level of acetic acid tolerance before introduction into lignocellulosic hydrolysates. However, earlier laboratory evolution strategies for increasing acetic acid tolerance of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, based on prolonged cultivation in the presence of acetic acid, selected for inducible rather than constitutive tolerance to this inhibitor.ResultsPreadaptation in the presence of acetic acid was shown to strongly increase the fraction of yeast cells that could initiate growth in the presence of this inhibitor. Serial microaerobic batch cultivation, with alternating transfers to fresh medium with and without acetic acid, yielded evolved S. cerevisiae cultures with constitutive acetic acid tolerance. Single-cell lines isolated from five such evolution experiments after 50–55 transfers were selected for further study. An additional constitutively acetic acid tolerant mutant was selected after UV-mutagenesis. All six mutants showed an increased fraction of growing cells upon a transfer from a non-stressed condition to a medium containing acetic acid. Whole-genome sequencing identified six genes that contained (different) mutations in multiple acetic acid-tolerant mutants. Haploid segregation studies and expression of the mutant alleles in the unevolved ancestor strain identified causal mutations for the acquired acetic acid tolerance in four genes (ASG1, ADH3, SKS1 and GIS4). Effects of the mutations in ASG1, ADH3 and SKS1 on acetic acid tolerance were additive.ConclusionsA novel laboratory evolution strategy based on alternating cultivation cycles in the presence and absence of acetic acid conferred a selective advantage to constitutively acetic acid-tolerant mutants and may be applicable for selection of constitutive tolerance to other stressors. Mutations in four genes (ASG1, ADH3, SKS1 and GIS4) were identified as causative for acetic acid tolerance. The laboratory evolution strategy as well as the identified mutations can contribute to improving acetic acid tolerance in industrial yeast strains.

Genetic determinants for enhanced glycerol growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae generally shows a low natural capability to utilize glycerol as the sole source of carbon, particularly when synthetic medium is used and complex supplements are omitted. Nevertheless, wild type isolates have been identified that show a moderate growth under these conditions. In the current study we made use of intraspecies diversity to identify targets suitable for reverse metabolic engineering of the non-growing laboratory strain CEN.PK113-1A. A genome-wide genetic mapping experiment using pooled-segregant whole-genome sequence analysis was conducted, and one major and several minor genetic loci were identified responsible for the superior glycerol growth phenotype of the previously selected S. cerevisiae strain CBS 6412-13A. Downscaling of the major locus by fine-mapping and reciprocal hemizygosity analysis allowed the parallel identification of two superior alleles (UBR2CBS 6412-13A and SSK1CBS 6412-13A). These alleles together with the previously identified GUT1CBS 6412-13A allele were used to replace the corresponding alleles in the strain CEN.PK113-1A. In this way, glycerol growth could be established reaching a maximum specific growth rate of 0.08h(-1). Further improvement to a maximum specific growth rate of 0.11h(-1) could be achieved by heterologous expression of the glycerol facilitator FPS1 from Cyberlindnera jadinii.

Directed evolution of promoters and tandem gene arrays for customizing RNA synthesis rates and regulation.

Manipulating RNA synthesis rates is a primary method the cell uses to adjust its physiological state. Therefore to design synthetic genetic networks and circuits, precise control of RNA synthesis rates is of the utmost importance. Often, however, a native promoter does not exist that has the precise characteristics required for a given application. Here, we describe two methods to change the rates and regulation of RNA synthesis in cells to create RNA synthesis of a desired specification. First, error-prone PCR is discussed for diversifying the properties of native promoters, that is, changing the rate of synthesis in constitutive promoters and the induction properties for an inducible promoter. Specifically, we describe techniques for generating diversified promoter libraries of the constitutive promoters P(L)tetO-1 in Escherichia coli and TEF1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae as well as the inducible, oxygen-repressed promoter DAN1 in S. cerevisiae. Beyond generating promoter libraries, we discuss techniques to quantify the parameters of each new promoter. Promoter characteristics for each promoter in hand, the designer can then pick and choose the promoters needed for the specific genetic circuit described in silico. Second, Chemically Induced Chromosomal Evolution (CIChE) is presented as an alternative method to finely adjust RNA synthesis rates in E. coli by variation of gene cassette copy numbers in tandem gene arrays. Both techniques result in precisely defined RNA synthesis and should be of great utility in synthetic biology.

The Cytosolic pH of Individual Saccharomyces cerevisiae Cells Is a Key Factor in Acetic Acid Tolerance

ABSTRACT It was shown recently that individual cells of an isogenic Saccharomyces cerevisiae population show variability in acetic acid tolerance, and this variability affects the quantitative manifestation of the trait at the population level. In the current study, we investigated whether cell-to-cell variability in acetic acid tolerance could be explained by the observed differences in the cytosolic pHs of individual cells immediately before exposure to the acid. Results obtained with cells of the strain CEN.PK113-7D in synthetic medium containing 96 mM acetic acid (pH 4.5) showed a direct correlation between the initial cytosolic pH and the cytosolic pH drop after exposure to the acid. Moreover, only cells with a low initial cytosolic pH, which experienced a less severe drop in cytosolic pH, were able to proliferate. A similar correlation between initial cytosolic pH and cytosolic pH drop was also observed in the more acid-tolerant strain MUCL 11987-9. Interestingly, a fraction of cells in the MUCL 11987-9 population showed initial cytosolic pH values below the minimal cytosolic pH detected in cells of the strain CEN.PK113-7D; consequently, these cells experienced less severe drops in cytosolic pH. Although this might explain in part the difference between the two strains with regard to the number of cells that resumed proliferation, it was observed that all cells from strain MUCL 11987-9 were able to proliferate, independently of their initial cytosolic pH. Therefore, other factors must also be involved in the greater ability of MUCL 11987-9 cells to endure strong drops in cytosolic pH.