Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) links the folate cycle to the methionine cycle in one-carbon metabolism. The enzyme is known to be allosterically inhibited by S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) for decades, but the importance of this regulatory control to one carbon metabolism has never been adequately understood. To shed light on this issue, we exchanged selected amino acid residues in a highly conserved stretch within the regulatory region of yeast MTHFR to create a series of feedback-insensitive, deregulated mutants. These were exploited to investigate the impact of defective allosteric regulation on one carbon metabolism. We observed a strong growth defect in the presence of methionine. Biochemical and metabolite analysis revealed that both the folate and methionine cycles were affected in these mutants, as was the transulfuration pathway, leading also to a disruption in redox homeostasis. The major consequences, however, appeared to be in the depletion of nucleotides. 13C isotope labelling and metabolic studies revealed that the deregulated MTHFR cells undergo continuous transmethylation of homocysteine by methyltetrahydrofolate (CH3THF) to form methionine. This reaction also drives SAM formation and further depletes ATP reserves. SAM was then cycled back to methionine, leading to futile cycles of SAM synthesis and recycling, and explaining the necessity for MTHFR to be regulated by SAM. The study has yielded valuable new insights into the regulation of one carbon metabolism, and the mutants appear as powerful new tools to further dissect out the intersection of one carbon metabolism with various pathways both in yeasts and in humans.

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In vitro studies involving cell lines or primary cells, provide critical insights into their physiology under normal and perturbed conditions like cancer and infection. Given that there are multiple sources of carbon, nitrogen, and other nutrients available in routinely used standard media (such as DMEM, RPMI), it is vital to quantify their contribution to cellular metabolism. 13C based Isotopic tracers of the media components can be used to kinetically track their oxidation by the cell systems such as Human Lung Carcinoma (A549) cells. In this study, a universally labelled glucose tracer ([13C6]glucose) was used to quantify its metabolic contribution that provided further insights into the central carbon metabolism of A549 cells. Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS) based mass isotopomer analysis (average 13C) of methanolic extracts (glycerol: 5.46±3.53 % and lactate: 74.4±2.65 %), amino acids derived from acid hydrolysates of protein (Serine: 4.51±0.21 %, Glycine: 2.44±0.31 %, Alanine: 24.56±0.59 %, Glutamate: 8.81±0.85 %, Proline: 6.96±0.53 % and Aspartate: 10.72±0.95 %) and the metabolites of the culture filtrate (glycerol: 43.14±1.45 % and lactate: 81.67±0.91 %), allowed to capture the relative contribution of glucose. We observed the Warburg effect and a significant amount of lactate contributed from glucose, was released to the media. 13C glycerol of glucogenic origin was kinetically released to the culture filtrate and might be playing a critical role in metabolic reprogramming of A549 cells. Part of the protein biomass contributed from amino acids were of glucogenic origin. Besides, the workflow adopted for 13C analysis and derived average 13C of each metabolite provided a standard methodology that could be useful in defining the metabolic phenotypes of cells in normal and perturbed conditions. Understanding precisely the altered cellular metabolism to meet the biomass demand under a range of physiological conditions, kinetically, may identify pathways for targeted and effective therapeutic interventions.

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Improved technologies are needed for sustainable conversion of cellulosic waste to valuable products. Here we demonstrate the successful integration of a synthetic microbial consortium (SynCONS) based consolidated bioprocessing with pyrolysis to produce commodity chemicals from cellulose. Promising microbial partners were rationally identified from 7626 organisms via comparative metabolic mapping which led to establishing two promising SynCONS with abilities to convert cellulose to ethanol and lactate in bioreactors. The partners in the two SynCONS were a) the mesophilic fungus Trichoderma reesei grown sequentially with the thermophilic bacterium Parageobacillus thermoglucosidasius NCIMB 11955 (TrPt) and b) a thermophilic bacterium Thermobifida fusca grown together with Parageobacillus thermoglucosidasius NCIMB 11955 (TfPt). TrPt sequential bioprocessing resulted in 39% (g/g) cellulose consumption with product yields up to 9.3% g/g (ethanol + lactate). The TfPt co-cultures demonstrated a cellulose consumption of 30% (g/g) and combined yields of ethanol and lactic acid up to 23.7% g/g of consumed cellulose. The total product yields were further enhanced (51% g/g cellulose) when commercially available cellulases were used in place of T. fusca. Furthermore, when the metabolically engineered ethanol-producing strain of P. thermoglucosidasius TM242 (TfPt242) was substituted in the thermophilic TfPt co-culture consortium, ethanol yields were substantially higher (32.7% g/g of consumed cellulose). Finally, subjecting the residual cellulose and microbial biomass to pyrolysis resulted in carbon material with physicochemical properties similar to commercially available activated carbon as analysed using Scanning Electron Microscopy, X-Ray Diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. Overall, the integration of this synthetic microbial consortia-based bioprocessing strategy with pyrolysis demonstrated a promising strategy for conversion of waste cellulose to chemicals, biofuels, and industrial carbon potentially suitable for several industrial applications.