Cloning, sequence and functional analyses of the Kluyveromyces lactis genes KlNDI1 and KlNDE1 are reported. These genes encode for proteins with high homology to the mitochondrial internal (Ndi1p) and external (Nde1p) alternative NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductases from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and complement the respective mutations. Analysis of KlNDI1 transcriptional regulation showed that expression of this gene is lower in 2% glucose than in 0.5% glucose or non-fermentable carbon sources. Beta-galactosidase activity values, shown by lacZ fusions of KlNDI1 promoter deletions, suggested that two Adr1p binding sites mediate this carbon source regulation of KlNDI1. The expression of the KlNDE1 gene in S. cerevisiae mutant strains and measurement of respiration with isolated mitochondria showed that the protein encoded by KlNDE1 oxidizes NADPH, this being an important difference with respect to the conventional yeast S. cerevisiae. Moreover, Northern blot experiments using a phosphoglucose isomerase mutant showed that KlNDE1 gene transcription increases with glucose metabolism through the pentose phosphate pathway.

In recent years, it has been proposed that tumours are not homogeneous but composed of several cellular types like normal tissues. A cellular subtype, which is though to be the origin of tumours as well as their malignant properties (i.e., capacity for regrowth and metastasis), are the cancer stem cells (CSCs). CSCs, like normal stem cells, have a nearly unlimited capacity to self-renew and to proliferate so that are responsible, besides their same auto-perpetuation giving rise to the features previously depicted, also for the generation of the bulk of more differentiated cells in tumour. The altered behaviour of CSCs may be caused by the malfunction of a number of signalling pathways involved in normal embryonic development and in tissue homeostasis in adulthood. Among these signalling pathways are Wnt, Hedgehog, Notch and BMP pathways. In this review, we will focus on the study of molecular aspects of BMP signalling as well as its involvement in cancer.

We examined several strategies for the secretion of Kluyveromyces lactis beta-galactosidase into the culture medium, in order to facilitate the downstream processing and purification of this intracellular enzyme of great industrial interest. We constructed plasmids by fusing the LAC4 gene or engineered variants to the secretion signal of the K.lactis killer toxin or to the secretion signal of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae alpha-factor. With these plasmids we transformed strains of the yeasts K.lactis and S.cerevisiae, respectively and tested beta-galactosidase extracellular activity in different culture media. We achieved partial secretion of beta-galactosidase in the culture medium since the high molecular weight and oligomeric nature of the enzyme, among other factors, preclude full secretion. The percentage of secretion was improved by directed mutagenesis of the N-terminus of the protein. We developed several deletion mutants which helped us to propose structure-function relationships by comparison with the available data on the homologous Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase. The influence of the culture conditions on heterologous beta-galactosidase secretion was also studied.

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