The use of violacein to study biochemical behaviour ofSaccharomyces cerevisiae cells

Abstract

Violacein, a biochemical compound produced by Chromobacterium violaceum which has antichagasic properties, was used to study biochemical behaviour of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells. At 20 microM and 40 microM, violacein did not alter the membrane potential (deltapsi) of S. cerevisae cells, which means that the integrity of the cell membrane was maintained. On the other hand, at 60 microM and 80 microM, violacein produced significant alterations in the membrane potential. This information will be very useful in using S. cerevisiae cells as a model to test the toxicity of new drugs before using in animals or human beings.

Versatile genetic assembly system (VEGAS) to assemble pathways for expression inS. cerevisiae

“…High-level constitutive expression may create a significant metabolic burden on the cell, or lead to the accumulation of toxic foreign intermediates. For example, violacein is toxic to yeast cells at high concentration ( 21 ), which may contribute to the slower growth of purple colonies as compared to white ones on the VEGAS violacein assembly plates (Figure 6D ).…”