Comparative xylose metabolism among the ascomycetes C. albicans, S. stipitis and S. cerevisiae

ABSTRACT: The ascomycetes Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida albicans and Scheffersomyces stipitis metabolize the pentose sugar xylose very differently. S. cerevisiae fails to grow on xylose, while C. albicans can grow, and S. stipitis can both grow and ferment xylose to ethanol. However, all three species contain highly similar genes that encode xylose reductase and xylitol dehydrogenase required to convert xylose to xylulose, on which all three fungi grow. We have created C. albicans strains deleted for either or both the xylose reductase gene GRE3, and the xylitol dehydrogenase gene XYL2. As expected, all the mutant strains cannot grow on xylose, while the gre3 mutant can grow on xylitol. The gre3 and xyl2 mutants are complemented efficiently by the XYL1 and XYL2 from S. stipitis respectively. Intriguingly, the S. cerevisiae GRE3 and SOR1 genes can complement the gre3 and xyl2 mutants respectively, showing that S. cerevisiae contains the enzymatic capacity for converting xylose to xylulose. In addition, the gre3 xyl2 double mutant is effectively rescued by the xylose isomerase (XI) gene of either Piromyces or Orpinomyces, suggesting that the XI provides an alternative to the missing oxido-reductase functions in the mutant required for the xylose-xylulose conversion. Overall this work establishes that C. albicans strains engineered to lack essential steps for xylose metabolism provide a platform for the analysis of xylose metabolism enzymes from a variety of species, and confirms that S. cerevisiae has the genetic potential to convert xylose to xylulose, although non-engineered strains cannot proliferate on xylose as the sole carbon source.

ORGANISM(S): Candida albicans Saccharomyces cerevisiae Candida albicans SC5314

PROVIDER: GSE50476 | GEO | 2013/10/30

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA217707

REPOSITORIES: GEO