We investigated the severity of the inhibitory effects of 13 phenolic compounds usually found in spruce hydrolysates (4-hydroxy-3-methoxycinnamaldehyde, homovanilyl alcohol, vanillin, syringic acid, vanillic acid, gallic acid, dihydroferulic acid,p-coumaric acid, hydroquinone, ferulic acid, homovanillic acid, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid and vanillylidenacetone). The effects of the selected compounds on cell growth, biomass yield and ethanol yield were studied and the toxic concentration threshold was defined for each compound. Using Ethanol Red, the popular industrial strain ofSaccharomyces cerevisiae, we found the most toxic compound to be 4-hydroxy-3-methoxycinnamaldehyde which inhibited growth at a concentration of 1.8 mM. We also observed that toxicity did not generally follow a trend based on the aldehyde, acid, ketone or alcohol classification of phenolic compounds, but rather that other structural properties such as additional functional groups attached to the compound may determine its toxicity. Three distinctive growth patterns that effectively clustered all the compounds involved in the screening into three categories. We suggest that the compounds have different cellular targets, and that. We suggest that the compounds have different cellular targets and inhibitory mechanisms in the cells, also compounds who share similar pattern on cell growth may have similar inhibitory effect and mechanisms of inhibition.

Background: Pretreatment of biomass for lignocellulosic ethanol production generates compounds that can inhibit microbial metabolism. The furan aldehydes hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and furfural have received increasing attention recently. In the present study, the effects of HMF and furfural on redox metabolism, energy metabolism and gene expression were investigated in anaerobic chemostats where the inhibitors were added to the feed-medium. Results: By cultivating the xylose-utilizing Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain VTT C-10883 in the presence of HMF and furfural, it was found that the intracellular concentrations of the redox co-factors and the catabolic and anabolic reduction charges were significantly lower in the presence of furan aldehydes than in cultivations without inhibitors. The catabolic reduction charge decreased from 0.13(±0.005) to 0.08(±0.002) and the anabolic reduction charge decreased from 0.46(±0.11) to 0.27(±0.02) when HMF and furfural were present. The intracellular ATP concentration was lower when inhibitors were added, but resulted only in a modest decrease in the energy charge from 0.87(±0.002) to 0.85(±0.004) compared to the control. Transcriptome profiling followed by MIPS functional enrichment analysis of up-regulated genes revealed that the functional group “Cell rescue, defense and virulence” was over-represented when inhibitors were present compared to control cultivations. Among these, the ATP-binding efflux pumps PDR5 and YOR1 were identified as important for inhibitor efflux and possibly a reason for the lower intracellular ATP concentration in stressed cells. It was also found that genes involved in pseudohyphal growth were among the most up-regulated when inhibitors were present in the feed-medium suggesting nitrogen starvation. Genes involved in amino acid metabolism, glyoxylate cycle, electron transport and amino acid transport were enriched in the down-regulated gene set in response to HMF and furfural. It was hypothesized that the HMF and furfural-induced NADPH drainage could influence ammonia assimilation and thereby give rise to the nitrogen starvation response in the form of pseudohyphal growth and down-regulation of amino acid synthesis. Conclusions: The redox metabolism was severely affected by HMF and furfural while the effects on energy metabolism were less evident, suggesting that engineering of the redox system represents a possible strategy to develop more robust strains for bioethanol production.

Sustainable and economically viable manufacturing of bioethanol from lignocellulose raw material is dependent on the availability of a robust ethanol producing microorganism, able to ferment all sugars present in the feedstock, including the pentose sugars L-arabinose and D-xylose. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a robust ethanol producer, but needs to be engineered to achieve pentose sugar fermentation.

When using microorganisms as cell factories in the production of bio-based fuels or chemicals from lignocellulosic hydrolysate, inhibitory concentrations of acetic acid, released from the biomass, reduce the production rate. The undissociated form of acetic acid enters the cell by passive diffusion across the lipid bilayer, mediating toxic effects inside the cell. In order to elucidate a possible link between lipid composition and acetic acid stress, the present study presents detailed lipidomic profiling of the major lipid species found in the plasma membrane, including glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids and sterols, in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (CEN.PK 113_7D) and Zygosaccharomyces bailii (CBS7555) cultured with acetic acid. Detailed physiological characterization of the response of the two yeasts to acetic acid has also been performed in aerobic batch cultivations using bioreactors. Physiological characterization revealed, as expected, that Z. bailii is more tolerant to acetic acid than S. cerevisiae. Z. bailii grew at acetic acid concentrations above 24 g L⁻¹, while limited growth of S. cerevisiae was observed after 11 h when cultured with only 12 g L⁻¹ acetic acid. Detailed lipidomic profiling using electrospray ionization, multiple-reaction-monitoring mass spectrometry (ESI-MRM-MS) showed remarkable changes in the glycerophospholipid composition of Z. bailii, including an increase in saturated glycerophospholipids and considerable increases in complex sphingolipids in both S. cerevisiae (IPC 6.2×, MIPC 9.1×, M(IP)₂C 2.2×) and Z. bailii (IPC 4.9×, MIPC 2.7×, M(IP)₂C 2.7×), when cultured with acetic acid. In addition, the basal level of complex sphingolipids was significantly higher in Z. bailii than in S. cerevisiae, further emphasizing the proposed link between lipid saturation, high sphingolipid levels and acetic acid tolerance. The results also suggest that acetic acid tolerance is associated with the ability of a given strain to generate large rearrangements in its lipid profile.

Background: Cost-effective fermentation of lignocellulosic hydrolysate to ethanol by Saccharomyces cerevisiae requires efficient mixed sugar utilization. Notably, the rate and yield of xylose and arabinose co-fermentation to ethanol must be enhanced. Results: Evolutionary engineering was used to improve the simultaneous conversion of xylose and arabinose to ethanol in a recombinant industrial Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain carrying the heterologous genes for xylose and arabinose utilization pathways integrated in the genome. The evolved strain TMB3130 displayed an increased consumption rate of xylose and arabinose under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Improved anaerobic ethanol production was achieved at the expense of xylitol and glycerol but arabinose was almost stoichiometrically converted to arabitol. Further characterization of the strain indicated that the selection pressure during prolonged continuous culture in xylose and arabinose medium resulted in the improved transport of xylose and arabinose as well as increased levels of the enzymes from the introduced fungal xylose pathway. No mutation was found in any of the genes from the pentose converting pathways. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report that characterizes the molecular mechanisms for improved mixed-pentose utilization obtained by evolutionary engineering of a recombinant S. cerevisiae strain. Increased transport of pentoses and increased activities of xylose converting enzymes contributed to the improved phenotype.

Background: Production of bioethanol from lignocellulosic biomass requires the development of robust microorganisms that can tolerate the stressful conditions prevailing in lignocellulosic hydrolysates. Several inhibitors are known to affect the redox metabolism of cells. In this study, Saccharomyces cerevisiae was engineered for increased robustness by modulating the redox state through overexpression of GSH1, CYS3 and GLR1, three genes involved in glutathione (GSH) metabolism. Results: Overexpression constructs were stably integrated into the genome of the host strains yielding five strains overexpressing GSH1, GSH1/CYS3, GLR1, GSH1/GLR1 and GSH1/CYS3/GLR1. Overexpression of GSH1 resulted in a 42% increase in the total intracellular glutathione levels compared to the wild type. Overexpression of GSH1/CYS3, GSH1/GLR1 and GSH1/CYS3/GLR1 all resulted in equal or less intracellular glutathione concentrations than overexpression of only GSH1, although higher than the wild type. GLR1 overexpression resulted in similar total glutathione levels as the wild type. Surprisingly, all recombinant strains had a lower [reduced glutathione]:[oxidized glutathione] ratio (ranging from 32–67) than the wild type strain (88), suggesting a more oxidized intracellular environment in the engineered strains. When considering the glutathione half-cell redox potential (E_hc), the difference between the strains was less pronounced. E_hc for the recombinant strains ranged from -225 to -216 mV, whereas for the wild type it was estimated to -225 mV. To test whether the recombinant strains were more robust in industrially relevant conditions, they were evaluated in simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) of pretreated spruce. All strains carrying the GSH1 overexpression construct performed better than the wild type in terms of ethanol yield and conversion of furfural and HMF. The strain overexpressing GSH1/GLR1 produced 14.0 g L^-1 ethanol in 48 hours corresponding to an ethanol yield on hexoses of 0.17 g g^-1; while the wild type produced 8.2 g L^-1 ethanol in 48 hours resulting in an ethanol yield on hexoses of 0.10 g g^-1. Conclusions: In this study, we showed that engineering of the redox state by modulating the levels of intracellular glutathione results in increased robustness of S. cerevisiae in SSF of pretreated spruce.