Ildar Nisamedtinov

Modification of A-stat for the characterization of microorganisms.

Two novel modifications of continuous culture with gradual change of dilution rate (A-stat): D-stat and auxo-accelerostat were evaluated in the studies of the effect of changing individual environmental parameters (T, pH, pO(2), substrate concentration, etc.) on growth characteristics of different microorganisms. Common for those cultivation methods is that one environmental parameter is programmed to change with constant change rate (change-stat) while the others are kept constant or in the range not affecting the growth characteristics. The environment response growth curves were obtained starting with chemostat (in A-stat and D-stat) or auxostat (in auxo-accelerostat) steady-state cultures followed by change of set-point value of the desired cultivation parameter. Physiological studies of Saccharomyces sp. and Lactococcus lactis were combined with validation of the different modifications of the A-stat method based on well-known cultivation techniques: chemostat, pH-auxostat, pO(2)-auxostat CO(2)-auxostat and fed-batch. The auxo-accelerostat was shown to be very efficient for cell characterization and dynamic studies in growth environments with excess of essential substrates. Choosing the rate of change of environmental parameters was shown to be critical in comparative physiological studies of microorganisms.

Metabolic changes underlying the higher accumulation of glutathione in Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutants.

Molecular mechanisms leading to glutathione (GSH) over-accumulation in a Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain produced by UV irradiation-induced random mutagenesis were studied. The mutant accumulated GSH but also cysteine and γ-glutamylcysteine in concentrations that were several fold higher than in its wild-type parent strain under all studied cultivation conditions (chemostat, fed-batch, and turbidostat). Transcript analyses along with shotgun proteome quantification indicated a difference in the expression of a number of genes and proteins, the most pronounced of which were several fold higher expression of CYS3, but also that of GSH1 and its transcriptional activator YAP1. This together with the higher intracellular cysteine concentration is most likely the primary factor underlying GSH over-accumulation in the mutant. Comparative sequencing of GSH1 and the fed-batch experiments with continuous cysteine addition demonstrated that the feedback inhibition of Gsh1p by GSH was still operational in the mutant.

The response of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to sudden vs. gradual changes in environmental stress monitored by expression of the stress response protein Hsp12p.

The response of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to sudden vs. gradual changes in different environmental stress conditions during both respiratory growth and aerobic fermentative growth in the presence of excess glucose was investigated by monitoring the level and rate of expression of the stress response protein Hsp12p using the fluorescent fusion construct Hsp12p-Gfp2p. The initial expression level and the rate of Hsp12p synthesis was significantly greater under glucose-limited conditions in the chemostat (D<0.14 h(-1)) compared with when excess glucose was present in the auxostat. Decreasing the dilution rate and the glucose concentration further in the A-stat resulted in increased Hsp12p expression, which was more marked when a rapid rather than a gradual change was affected. Common stress factors such as NaCl, ethanol and elevated temperature caused stress responses in both D-stat and auxo-accelerostat culture. The magnitude of the stress response depended on the stress factor, cultivation conditions as well as the rate of change of the stress factor. The rate of Hsp12p synthesis increased due to all applied stresses, with the observed increase between 2 and 20 times lower when the stress was applied gradually rather than rapidly. The results suggested that the Hsp12p expression rate is a good indicator of applied stress in S. cerevisiae.

Glutathione accumulation in ethanol-stat fed-batch culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae with a switch to cysteine feeding

Shot-wise supplementation of cysteine to a yeast culture is a common means of promoting glutathione (GSH) production. In the present work, we study the accumulation kinetics of cysteine, γ-glutamylcysteine, and GSH and the expression of genes involved in GSH and sulfur metabolism in ethanol-stat fed-batch cultures as a result of switching to a medium enriched with cysteine and glycine. Supplementation in this fashion resulted in a rapid but short-term increase in the rate of GSH synthesis, while the expression of GSH1 decreased. Expression of GSH1 and GSH synthesis rate were observed to revert close to the base level after a few hours. These results indicate that, under such conditions, the control of GSH synthesis at higher concentrations occurred at the enzymatic, rather than the transcriptional level. The incorporation of cysteine into GSH was limited to ∼40% of the theoretical yield, due to its requirement as a source of sulfur for protein synthesis under conditions whereby the sulfate assimilation pathway is down-regulated. This was supported by the expression profiles of genes involved in cysteine and homocysteine interconversion.

YAP1 over‐expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae enhances glutathione accumulation at its biosynthesis and substrate availability levels

Microbiological production of glutathione using genetically engineered yeast strains has a potential to satisfy the increasing industrial demand of this tripeptide. In the present work accumulation of glutathione in response to YAP1 over‐expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae was studied. The over‐expression resulted in intracellular glutathione level over two times higher than in the parent strain. Transcript analyses revealed that, in addition to the genes encoding enzymes in the glutathione biosynthesis pathway (GSH1 and GSH2), the expression levels of the genes in the cysteine biosynthesis pathway (CYS3 and CYS4) were also significantly higher in the YAP1 over‐expressed strain. This suggests that YAP1 over‐expression affects glutathione accumulation at both its biosynthesis and substrate availability levels.

Uptake and accumulation of B-group vitamers in Saccharomyces cerevisiae in ethanol-stat fed-batch culture

Abstract The uptake and accumulation of the B-group vitamins thiamine, riboflavin, nicotinamide, pantothenic acid and pyridoxine in Saccharomyces cerevisiae was studied by gradually increasing the specific dosage of vitamins in an ethanol-stat fed-batch culture. Thiamine, nicotinamide, pantothenic acid, and pyridoxine were almost completely taken up at low vitamin dosages. Thiamine was determined to be the major accumulating form of vitamin B1 while most of the assimilated nicotinamide and pantothenic acid accumulated in cofactor forms. Despite the obvious uptake of pyridoxine, accumulation of B6 vitamers was not observed. In contrast with the other vitamins studied, riboflavin began accumulating in the culture medium immediately after vitamin addition was initiated. By the end of the experiment, the apparent uptake of all vitamins exceeded their accumulation in the cells. Variations in the growth rate of yeast at different vitamin dosages demonstrate the importance of balancing the vitamins in the media during cultivation.

Application of 13C-[2] - and 13C-[1,2] acetate in metabolic labelling studies of yeast and insect cells.

The advantage of using 13C-labelled glucose in metabolic studies is that it is an important carbon and energy source for almost all biotechnologically and medically important organisms. On the other hand, the disadvantage is its relatively high cost in the labelling experiments. Looking for cheaper alternatives we found that 13C-[2] acetate or 13C-[1,2] acetate is a prospective compound for such experiments. Acetate is well incorporated by many organisms, including mammalian and insect cell cultures as preferred source of acetyl-CoA. Our experimental results using 13C NMR demonstrated that acetate was efficiently incorporated into glutamate and alanine secreted by the insect cell culture. Using D-stat culture of Saccharomyces uvarum on glucose/13C-acetate mineral media we demonstrated that the labelling patterns of proteinogenic amino acids can be well predicted on the basis of specific substrate consumption rates using the modified scheme of yeast metabolism and stoichiometric modelling. According to this scheme aspartate and alanine in S. uvarum under the experimental conditions used is synthesised in the mitochondria. Synthesis of alanine in the mitochondria was also demonstrated for Spodoptera frugiperda. For both organisms malic enzyme was also operative. For S. uvarum it was shown that the activity of malic enzyme is sufficient for supporting the mitochondrial biosynthetic reactions with NADPH.

Assessment of bioavailable B vitamin content in food using in vitro digestibility assay and LC-MS SIDA

AbstractStandardized analytical methods, where each B vitamin is extracted from a given sample individually using separate procedures, typically ensure that the extraction conditions provide the maximum recovery of each vitamin. However, in the human gastrointestinal tract (GIT), the extraction conditions are the same for all vitamins. Here, we present an analytically feasible extraction protocol that simulates conditions in the GIT and provides a measure of the content of bioavailable vitamins using LC-MS stable isotope dilution assay. The results show that the activities of both human gastric and duodenal juices were insufficient to liberate absorbable vitamers (AV) from pure cofactors. The use of an intestinal brush border membrane (IBBM) fraction derived from the mucosal tissue of porcine small intestine ensured at least 70% AV recovery. The rate of AV liberation, however, was strongly dependent on the cofactor, e.g., in the case of NADH, it was magnitudes higher than in the case of thiamine diphosphate. For some vitamins in some food matrices, the use of the IBBM fraction assay resulted in lower values for the content of AV than conventional vitamin determination methods. Conventional methods likely overestimate the actual bioavailability of some vitamins in these cases. Graphical abstractAssessment of bioavailable B vitamin content in food