Accumulation of Trehalose by Overexpression of tps1 , Coding for Trehalose-6-Phosphate Synthase, Causes Increased Resistance to Multiple Stresses in the Fission Yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that heat shock proteins and trehalose synthesis are important factors in the thermotolerance of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. We examined the effects of trehalose-6-phosphate (trehalose-6P) synthase overexpression on resistance to several stresses in cells of S. pombetransformed with a plasmid bearing the tps1 gene, which codes for trehalose-6P synthase, under the control of the strong thiamine-repressible promoter. Upon induction of trehalose-6P synthase, the elevated levels of intracellular trehalose correlated not only with increased tolerance to heat shock but also with resistance to freezing and thawing, dehydration, osmostress, and toxic levels of ethanol, indicating that trehalose may be the stress metabolite underlying the overlap in induced tolerance to these stresses. Among the isogenic strains transformed with this construct, one in which the gene coding for the trehalose-hydrolyzing enzyme, neutral trehalase, was disrupted accumulated trehalose to a greater extent and was more resistant to the above stresses. Increased trehalose concentration is thus a major determinant of the general stress protection response in S. pombe.

Effect of intracellular trehalose in Cryptococcus laurentii and exogenous lyoprotectants on its viability and biocontrol efficacy on Penicillium expansum in apple fruit

“…Trehalose is a major reserve carbohydrate in yeast cells and is also accepted as a protective metabolite against various stresses (Kwon et al 2003). Intracellular trehalose content shows strong correlation with stress resistance (Soto et al 1999). The accumulation of trehalose in C. laurentii was induced using 1% citric acid as carbon source in this study.…”

Expression of pigeonpea hybrid‐proline‐rich protein encoding gene (CcHyPRP) in yeast and Arabidopsis affords multiple abiotic stress tolerance

“…CcHyPRP-yeast transformants revealed marked superiority in their growth rate in comparison with the control yeast as evidenced by the colony size (Figure 4b), confirming that the stress-responsive CcHyPRP imparts substantial tolerance at the cellular level for multiple abiotic stresses. Over-expression of Arabidopsis DBF2 kinase (Lee et al, 1999), trehalose-6P synthase of yeast (Soto et al, 1999), Arabidopsis AtGSK (Piao et al, 1999) and rice rHsp90 (Liu et al, 2006) genes in yeast cells conveyed significant tolerance against different abiotic stresses. Yeast cells expressing Arabidopsis EARLI1 genes coding for HyPRP exhibited higher rates of freezing survival than the control cells (Zhang and Schlappi, 2007).…”

Trehalose promotes the survival ofSaccharomyces cerevisiaeduring lethal ethanol stress, but does not influence growth under sublethal ethanol stress

“…The dramatic and rapid variations in the level of trehalose in response to a variety of environmental changes may reflect a complex regulatory process governing the metabolism of this carbohydrate. Soto et al (1999) showed that mutant Schizosaccharomyces pombe strains, which were unable to synthesize trehalose, were sensitive to temperature, freeze/thawing, dehydration, sodium chloride and ethanol stresses. These authors speculated that trehalose is a key determinant in general stress tolerance.…”