Key Laboratory of Systems Bioengineering (Tianjin University), Ministry of Education, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, P. O. Box 6888, Tianjin, 300072, People's Republic of China.
Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2010 May;86(6):1915-24. doi: 10.1007/s00253-010-2518-2. Epub 2010 Mar 23.
Furfural and acetic acid are two prevalent inhibitors to microorganisms during cellulosic ethanol production, but molecular mechanisms of tolerance to these inhibitors are still unclear. In this study, genome-wide transcriptional responses to furfural and acetic acid were investigated in Saccharomyces cerevisiae using microarray analysis. We found that 103 and 227 genes were differentially expressed in the response to furfural and acetic acid, respectively. Furfural downregulated genes related to transcriptional control and translational control, while it upregulated stress-responsive genes. Furthermore, furfural also interrupted the transcription of genes involved in metabolism of essential chemicals, such as etrahydrofolate, spermidine, spermine, and riboflavin monophosphate. Acetic acid downregulated genes encoding mitochondrial ribosomal proteins and genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism and regulation and upregulated genes related to amino acid metabolism. The results revealed that furfural and acetic acid had effects on multiple aspects of cellular metabolism on the transcriptional level and that mitochondria might play important roles in response to both furfural and acetic acid. This research has provided insights into molecular response to furfural and acetic acid in S. cerevisiae, and it will be helpful to construct more resistant strains for cellulosic ethanol production.
糠醛和乙酸是纤维素乙醇生产过程中两种常见的微生物抑制剂，但对于这些抑制剂的耐受机制仍不清楚。本研究采用基因芯片分析技术，研究了酿酒酵母对糠醛和乙酸的全基因组转录响应。结果表明，糠醛和乙酸分别使 103 个和 227 个基因的表达发生差异。糠醛下调与转录调控和翻译调控相关的基因，而上调应激响应基因。此外，糠醛还干扰了四氢叶酸、亚精胺、精胺和 5-磷酸核黄素等必需化学物质代谢相关基因的转录。乙酸下调编码线粒体核糖体蛋白的基因以及参与碳水化合物代谢和调节的基因，而上调与氨基酸代谢相关的基因。结果表明，糠醛和乙酸在转录水平上对细胞代谢的多个方面都有影响，线粒体可能在应对糠醛和乙酸方面发挥重要作用。本研究为酿酒酵母对糠醛和乙酸的分子响应提供了新的见解，有助于构建更耐受的纤维素乙醇生产菌株。
