Analysis of the ethanol stress response mechanism in Wickerhamomyces anomalus based on transcriptomics and metabolomics approaches

Abstract

Background Wickerhamomyces anomalus (W. anomalus) is a kind of non-Saccharomyces yeast that has a variety of unique physiological characteristics and metabolic features and is widely used in many fields, such as food preservation, biomass energy, and aquaculture feed protein production. However, the mechanism of W. anomalus response to ethanol stress is still unclear, which greatly limits its application in the production of ethanol beverages and ethanol fuels. Therefore, we checked the effects of ethanol stress on the morphology, the growth, and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and metabolites (DEMs) of W. anomalus. Results High concentrations of ethanol (9% ethanol and 12% ethanol) remarkably inhibited the growth of W. anomalus. Energy metabolism, amino acid metabolism, fatty acids metabolism, and nucleic acid metabolism were significantly influenced when exposing to 9% ethanol and 12% ethanolstress, which maybe universal for W. anomalus to response to different concentrations of ethanol stressl Furthermore, extracellular addition of aspartate, glutamate, and arginine significantly abated ethanol damage and improved the survival rate of W. anomalus. Conclusions The results obtained in this study provide insights into the mechanisms involved in W. anomalus response to ethanol stress. Therefore, new strategies can be realized to improve the ethanol tolerance of W. anomalus through metabolic engineering.

Exogenous trehalose application promotes survival by alleviating oxidative stress and affecting transcriptome in ethanol-stressed Wickerhamomyces anomalus

“…, 2007) have been demonstrated to protect S. cerevisiae against ethanol stress. In addition, we have previously demonstrated the protective roles of aspartate, glutamate and arginine in W. anomalus under ethanol stress (Li et al ., 2022b). In this study, the DEGs identified after trehalose treatment were annotated to arginine metabolism.…”

“…The survival of W. anomalus was carried out using spot analysis. First, cells were harvested by centrifugation at 4,0003g for 10 min, washed and re-suspended in distilled water and spotted onto the YEPD solid plates as described previously by Li et al (2022b). Colonies were subsequently photographed using a microscope (Olympus, Japan).…”

“…We have previously examined the effects of ethanol stress on W. anomalus using transcriptomic and metabolomic approaches (Li et al, 2022b). Trehalose is considered a potential stress protectant that accumulates in yeasts during ethanol fermentation (Wang et al, 2014).…”

“…We have previously examined the effects of ethanol stress on W. anomalus using transcriptomic and metabolomic approaches (Li et al. , 2022b).…”

Contribution of trehalose to ethanol stress tolerance of Wickerhamomyces anomalus

“…In our previous research, we found that a high concentration of ethanol strongly suppressed the growth of WA and influenced nucleic acid metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, amino acid metabolism, and energy metabolism [ 21 ]. To reduce the adverse effects of ES on WA, we selected trehalose for application in this study.…”