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Physiological effects of overexpressed sigma factors on fermentative stress response of Zymomonas mobilis

Brazilian Journal of Microbiology volume 51, pages 65–75 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

Zymomonas mobilis is a bacterium of industrial interest due to its high ethanol productivity and high tolerance to stresses. Although the physiological parameters of fermentation are well characterized, there are few studies on the molecular mechanisms that regulate the response to fermentative stress. Z. mobilis ZM4 presents five different sigma factors identified in the genome annotation, but the absence of sigma 38 leads to the questioning of which sigma factors are responsible for its mechanism of fermentative stress response. Thus, in this study, factors sigma 32 and sigma 24, traditionally related to heat shock, were tested for their influence on the response to osmotic and ethanol stress. The overexpression of these sigma factors in Z. mobilis ZM4 strain confirmed that both are associated with heat shock response, as described in other bacteria. Moreover, sigma 32 has also a role in the adaptation to osmotic stress, increasing both growth rate and glucose influx rate. The same strain that overexpresses sigma 32 also showed a decrease in ethanol tolerance, suggesting an antagonism between these two mechanisms. It was not possible to conclude if sigma 24 really affects ethanol tolerance in Z. mobilis, but the overexpression of this sigma factor led to a decrease in ethanol productivity.

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Funding

This study was funded by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (400711/2014-1), by Fundação de Apoio à Pesquisa do Distrito Federal (193000830/2015) and by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES). The plasmid pBBR1MCS was kindly donated from Professor Henrique Ferreira (UNESP-Rio Claro, Brazil).

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Affiliations

  1. Cellular Biology Department, University of Brasilia, Brasilia, Brazil

    Tiago Benoliel, Marciano Régis Rubini, Carolina de Souza Baptistello, Christiane Ribeiro Janner, Vanessa Rodrigues Vieira, Fernando Araripe Torres & Lidia Maria Pepe de Moraes

  2. Department of Biosciences, Durham University, Durham, UK

    Adrian Walmsley

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  1. Tiago Benoliel
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  2. Marciano Régis Rubini
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  3. Carolina de Souza Baptistello
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  5. Vanessa Rodrigues Vieira
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Correspondence to Tiago Benoliel.

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Benoliel, T., Rubini, M.R., de Souza Baptistello, C. et al. Physiological effects of overexpressed sigma factors on fermentative stress response of Zymomonas mobilis. Braz J Microbiol 51, 65–75 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42770-019-00158-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42770-019-00158-3

Keywords

  • Zymomonas mobilis
  • Sigma factor
  • Osmotic stress
  • Heat shock response
  • Ethanol tolerance