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Glutamine: a major player in nitrogen catabolite repression in the yeast Dekkera bruxellensis

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Abstract

In the present work we studied the expression of genes from nitrogen central metabolism in the yeast Dekkera bruxellensis and under regulation by the Nitrogen Catabolite Repression mechanism (NCR). These analyses could shed some light on the biological mechanisms involved in the adaptation and survival of this yeast in the sugarcane fermentation process for ethanol production. Nitrogen sources (N-sources) in the form of ammonium, nitrate, glutamate or glutamine were investigated with or without the addition of methionine sulfoximine, which inhibits the activity of the enzyme glutamine synthetase and releases cells from NCR. The results showed that glutamine might act as an intracellular sensor for nitrogen availability in D. bruxellensis, by activating NCR. Gene expression analyses indicated the existence of two different GATA-dependent NCR pathways, identified as glutamine-dependent and glutamine-independent mechanisms. Moreover, nitrate is sensed as a non-preferential N-source and releases NCR to its higher level. After grouping genes according to their regulation pattern, we showed that genes for ammonium assimilation represent a regulon with almost constitutive expression, while permease encoding genes are mostly affected by the nitrogen sensor mechanism. On the other hand, nitrate assimilation genes constitute a regulon that is primarily subjected to induction by nitrate and, to a lesser extent, to a repressive mechanism by preferential N-sources. This observation explains our previous reports showing that nitrate is co-consumed with ammonium, a trait that enables D. bruxellensis cells to scavenge limiting N-sources in the industrial substrate and, therefore, to compete with Saccharomyces cerevisiae in this environment

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Funding

This work was sponsored by the Bioethanol Research Network of the State of Pernambuco (CNPq-FACEPE/PRONEM program, Grant No APQ-1452-2.01/10) and by Grants of the National Council of Science and Technology (CNPq No 472533/2013-4 and 474847/2013-6).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Interdepartmental Research Group in Metabolic Engineering, Recife, PE, 50760-901, Brazil

    Danielli Batista Bezerra Cajueiro, Denise Castro Parente, Fernanda Cristina Bezerra Leite, Marcos Antonio de Morais Junior & Will de Barros Pita

  2. Department of Antibiotics, Recife, PE, 50760-901, Brazil

    Will de Barros Pita

  3. Department of Genetics, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, PE, 50760-901, Brazil

    Marcos Antonio de Morais Junior

  4. Department of Biology, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Recife, PE, 52171-900, Brazil

    Fernanda Cristina Bezerra Leite

  5. Departamento de Antibióticos, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Artur de Sá, Cidade Universitária, Recife, PE, 50740520, Brazil

    Will de Barros Pita

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  1. Danielli Batista Bezerra Cajueiro
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  2. Denise Castro Parente
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  3. Fernanda Cristina Bezerra Leite
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  4. Marcos Antonio de Morais Junior
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  5. Will de Barros Pita
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Correspondence to Will de Barros Pita.

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Cajueiro, D.B.B., Parente, D.C., Leite, F.C.B. et al. Glutamine: a major player in nitrogen catabolite repression in the yeast Dekkera bruxellensis . Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 110, 1157–1168 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-017-0888-5

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