Project description:Rhodotorula toruloides is a non-conventional, oleaginous yeast able to naturally accumulate high amounts of microbial lipids. Constraint-based modeling of R. toruloides has been mainly focused on the comparison of experimentally measured and model predicted growth rates, while the analysis of intracellular flux patterns has been superficial. Hence, the intrinsic metabolic properties of R. toruloides that make lipid synthesis possible are not thoroughly understood. At the same time, the lack of diverse physiological data sets has often been the bottleneck to predict accurate fluxes. In this study, we collected detailed physiology data sets of R. toruloides while growing on glucose, xylose and acetate as the sole carbon source in mineral medium. Regardless of the carbon source, the growth was divided into two phases from which proteomic and lipidomic data were collected. Complemental physiological parameters were collected in these two phases and altogether implemented into metabolic models. Simulated intracellular flux patterns acknowledged the role of phosphoketolase in the generation of acetyl-CoA, one of the main precursors during lipid biosynthesis, while the role of ATP citrate lyase was not confirmed. Metabolic modeling on xylose as a carbon substrate was greatly improved by the detection of chirality of D-arabinitol, which together with D-ribulose were involved in an alternative xylose assimilation pathway. Further, flux patterns pointed to a metabolic trade-offs associated with NADPH allocation between nitrogen assimilation and lipid biosynthetic pathways, which was linked to large-scale differences in protein and lipid content. This work includes the first extensive multi-condition analysis of R. toruloides using enzyme-constrained models and quantitative proteomics. Further, more precise kcat values should extend the application of the newly developed enzyme-constrained models that are publicly available for future studies.
Project description:Our study is the first investigation of proteome of oleaginous yeast Rhotodorula toruloides during conversion of xylose into lipids. We performed comparative proteomics of R. toruloides during cultivation of two carbon sources: glucose and xylose. Proteome analysis revealed significantly lower levels of ribosomal proteins and translation associated factors in xylose-grown cells as compared to glucose-grown cells. We showed that proteins involved in sugar transport, phospholipid and leucine biosynthesis as well as peroxisomal beta-oxidation and oxidative stress response were differentially regulated in response to carbon source.
Project description:The oleaginous red yeast species Rhodotorula toruloides, a prominent environmental basidiomycetous yeast, has garnered significant interest for its remarkable capacity to utilize main carbon sources present in lignocellulosic hydrolysates, such as glucose, xylose, and acetic acid, and to efficiently produce lipids and carotenoids. This species can also efficiently use other less usual and difficult-to-catabolize C-sources, as is the case of the acid sugar D-galacturonic acid and the neutral sugar L-arabinose, present in hydrolysates from pectin-rich agro-industrial residues. Strain R. toruloides IST536 (alias PYCC 5615) was previously selected in our laboratory for sugar beet pulp valorization based on its ability to produce lipids and carotenoids through the complete catabolism of the major C-sources present in the hydrolysates (1). This strain, whose genome has been recently sequenced in our laboratory, is a conjugated strain derived from IFO 0559 (isolated from wood-pulp; GCA_000988805.1) × IFO 0880 (isolated from air; GCA_001255795.1) (2). Despite its potential, the metabolism of this promising strain can be limited by the presence of acetic acid in the hydrolysates as well as other inhibitors present in lignocellulosic hydrolysates. To increase IST536 (PYCC 5615) strain robustness, an adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) strategy was used. The selected evolved strain IST536 MM15 exhibits increased tolerance to several inhibitors of biotechnological relevance: methanol and the four main inhibitors present in lignocellulosic hydrolysates: acetic and formic acids, hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), and furfural (3). The superior performance of this evolved multi-stress tolerant strain for lipid production from non-detoxified lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysates was confirmed. To obtain mechanistic insights underlying such multi-tolerant phenotype, the genomes of the original and the evolved strains, IST536 (PYCC 5615) and IST536 MM15, respectively, were sequenced and the transcriptomic profiling of both strains under non-stressing conditions was performed. References: 1. Martins LC, et, al. Journal of Fungi. 2021; 7(3):215. https://doi.org/10.3390/jof7030215 2. Banno, I. (1967). The Journal of General and Applied Microbiology, 13(2), 167-196. https://doi.org/10.2323/jgam.13.167 3. Fernandes, M. A., Mota, M. N., et al, Journal of Fungi, 2023, 9(11), 1073 https://doi.org/10.3390/jof9111073