Yeast response and tolerance to benzoic acid involves the Gcn4- and Stp1-regulated multidrug/multixenobiotic resistance transporter Tpo1

Abstract

The action of benzoic acid in the food and beverage industries is compromised by the ability of spoilage yeasts to cope with this food preservative. Benzoic acid occurs naturally in many plants and is an intermediate compound in the biosynthesis of many secondary metabolites. The understanding of the mechanisms underlying the response and resistance to benzoic acid stress in the eukaryotic model yeast is thus crucial to design more suitable strategies to deal with this toxic lipophilic weak acid. In this study, the Saccharomyces cerevisiae multidrug transporter Tpo1 was demonstrated to confer resistance to benzoic acid. TPO1 transcript levels were shown to be up-regulated in yeast cells suddenly exposed to this stress agent. This up-regulation is under the control of the Gcn4 and Stp1 transcription factors, involved in the response to amino acid availability, but not under the regulation of the multidrug resistance transcription factors Pdr1 and Pdr3 that have binding sites in TPO1 promoter region. Benzoic acid stress was further shown to affect the intracellular pool of amino acids and polyamines. The observed decrease in the concentration of these nitrogenous compounds, registered upon benzoic acid stress exposure, was not found to be dependent on Tpo1, although the limitation of yeast cells on nitrogenous compounds was found to activate Tpo1 expression. Altogether, the results described in this study suggest that Tpo1 is one of the key players standing in the crossroad between benzoic acid stress response and tolerance and the control of the intracellular concentration of nitrogenous compounds. Also, results can be useful to guide the design of more efficient preservation strategies and the biotechnological synthesis of benzoic acid or benzoic acid-derived compounds.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00253-017-8277-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Genome-wide transcriptional analyses of Clarireedia jacksonii isolates associated with multi-drug resistance

“…MFS transporter genes such as GE09014_g, GE09100_g, and GE09173_g in this study (Supplementary Table S3) were highly homologous with YLL028W (Tpo1), YLL028W (Tpo1), and YNL065W (Aqr1) in yeast. Tpo1 was demonstrated to confer resistance to benzoic acid in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and under the controls of the Gcn4 and Stp1 transcription factors involved in the response to amino acid availability (Godinho et al, 2017). However, the sequences of these three genes are consistent in MDR isolate LT586 and fungicide sensitive isolate LT15 without point mutations.…”

Benzoic acid inhibits Coenzyme Q biosynthesis in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

“…cerevisiae COQ2 [ 46 ]. If the specificity of Bz to various Coq2 homologs is not so strict, differences in the inhibitory effect of Bz on CoQ synthesis among different organisms might be due to differences in how effectively Bz is transported inside cells [ 47 ] and into mitochondria. On the contrary, the observation in this study that an inhibitory effect of 4-NB was not observed in S .…”

“…COQ2 and its homolog are interchangeable among species; S. cerevisiae COQ2 is functionally exchangeable with UbiA in E. coli [45] and an Arabidopsis PPT1 (COQ2) homolog with S. cerevisiae COQ2 [46]. If the specificity of Bz to various Coq2 homologs is not so strict, differences in the inhibitory effect of Bz on CoQ synthesis among different organisms might be due to differences in how effectively Bz is transported inside cells [47] and into mitochondria. On the contrary, the observation in this study For the pre-culture, PR110 yeast cells were cultivated in 10 mL YES for 1 day.…”

A Quick Biochemical Comparison between the Traditional Fermentation of Plantain Wine and Banana Wine Produced in Republic of Congo

“…At this pH, there are larger microorganism populations especially represented by Lactobacillus spp, Bacillus spp and yeast that can easily grow (Ouoba et al, 2010;Abriouel et al, 2006;Abriouel et al, 2007). Mecanisms of acidic resistance L. plantarum and yeast have been documented (Zhao et al, 2019;Godinho et al, 2017). Henick-Kling et al (1989) demonstrated that throughout the development of wine, the pH acts on several levels: it participates in the selection of species according to their acid-resistance, it directs their metabolism and determines their speed especially of multiplication as evidenced by our results obtained on PCA culture medium (Henick-Kling et al, 1989).…”