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The mechanism of improved intracellular organic selenium and glutathione contents in selenium-enriched Candida utilis by acid stress

  • Applied microbial and cell physiology
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Abstract

Batch culture of Candida utilis CCTCC M 209298 for the preparation of selenium (Se)-enriched yeast was carried out under different pH conditions, and maximal intracellular organic Se and glutathione (GSH) contents were obtained in a moderate acid stress environment (pH 3.5). In order to elucidate the physiological mechanism of improved performance of Se-enriched yeast by acid stress, assays of the key enzymes involved in GSH biosynthesis and determinations of energy supply and regeneration were performed. The results indicated that moderate acid stress increased the activity of γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase and the ratios of NADH/NAD+ and ATP/ADP, although no significant changes in intracellular pH were observed. In addition, the molecular mechanism of moderate acid stress favoring the improvement of Se-yeast performance was revealed by comparing whole transcriptomes of yeast cells cultured at pH 3.5 and 5.5. Comparative analysis of RNA-Seq data indicated that 882 genes were significantly up-regulated by moderate acid stress. Functional annotation of the up-regulated genes based on gene ontology and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genome (KEGG) pathway showed that these genes are involved in ATP synthesis and sulfur metabolism, including the biosynthesis of methionine, cysteine, and GSH in yeast cells. Increased intracellular ATP supply and more amounts of sulfur-containing substances in turn contributed to Na2SeO3 assimilation and biotransformation, which ultimately improved the performance of the Se-enriched C. utilis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biology and Basic Medical Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, People’s Republic of China

    Gao-Chuan Zhang, Da-Hui Wang, Dong-Hua Wang & Gong-Yuan Wei

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  1. Gao-Chuan Zhang
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  2. Da-Hui Wang
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  3. Dong-Hua Wang
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  4. Gong-Yuan Wei
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Correspondence to Gong-Yuan Wei.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21376155, 21506136), Suzhou Applied Fundamental Research Program (SNG201606), and a Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions. G. Wei was sponsored by Qing Lan Project of Jiangsu Province.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Da-Hui Wang and Gao-Chuan Zhang contributed equally to this work.

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Zhang, GC., Wang, DH., Wang, DH. et al. The mechanism of improved intracellular organic selenium and glutathione contents in selenium-enriched Candida utilis by acid stress. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 101, 2131–2141 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-8016-4

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