Influence of cell surface characteristics on adhesion of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to the biomaterial hydroxylapatite

A new plate-hanging method for biofilm quantification and its application to evaluate the role of surface hydrophobicity

A novel procedure for the quantitative analysis of biofilm formation by bacteria and yeasts, the Plate-hanging method, was developed. In this system, various polymer disks were hung from the lid of a 6-well plate, immersed in a cell suspension, and moderately shaken (70 rpm). In order to verify the validity of the procedure, the effects of the solid surface hydrophobicity of the test disks and the cell surface hydrophobicities of microorganisms on biofilm formation were investigated. Biofilm formation of bacteria and yeasts on the solid surface strongly depended on hydrophobic interactions between the solid surface and the cell surface. A positive correlation between the hydrophobic properties of substratum and cell surfaces was observed. On the other hand, hydrophilic yeasts preferentially adsorbed onto relatively hydrophilic surfaces. Moreover, the plate-hanging method coupled with the periodic exchange of the liquid medium enabled the quantification of long-term biofilm growth.

Green Process: Improved Semi-Continuous Fermentation of Pichia pastoris Based on the Principle of Vitality Cell Separation

The large-scale fermentation of Pichia pastoris for recombinant protein production would be time consuming and produce a large amount of waste yeast. Here we introduce a novel semi-continuous fermentation process for P. pastoris GS115 that can separate vitality cells from broth and recycle the cells to produce high-secretory recombinant pectate lyase. It is based on differences in cell sedimentation coefficients with the formation of salt bridges between metal ions and various cell states. Compared to batch-fed cultivation and general semi-continuous culture, the novel process has significant advantages, such as consuming fewer resources, taking less time, and producing less waste yeast. Sedimentation with the addition of Fe3+ metal ions consumed 14.8 ± 0.0% glycerol, 97.8 ± 1.3% methanol, 55.0 ± 0.9 inorganic salts, 81.5 ± 0.0% time cost, and 77.0 ± 0.1% waste yeast versus batch-fed cultivation to produce an equal amount of protein; in addition, the cost of solid-liquid separation was lower for cells in the collected fermentation broth. The process is economically and environmentally efficient for producing recombinant proteins.

Surface display of HFBI and DewA hydrophobins on Saccharomyces cerevisiae modifies tolerance to several adverse conditions and biocatalytic performance

Hydrophobins are relatively small proteins produced naturally by filamentous fungi with interesting biotechnological and biomedical applications given their self-assembly capacity, efficient adherence to natural and artificial surfaces, and to introduce modifications on the hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity of surfaces. In this work we demonstrate the efficient expression on the S. cerevisiae cell surface of class II HFBI of Trichoderma reesei and class I DewA of Aspergillus nidulans, a hydrophobin not previously exposed, using the Yeast Surface Display a-agglutinin (Aga1-Aga2) system. We show that the resulting modifications affect surface properties, and also yeast cells' resistance to several adverse conditions. The fact that viability of the engineered strains increases under heat and osmotic stress is particularly interesting. Besides, improved biocatalytic activity toward the reduction of ketone 1-phenoxypropan-2-one takes place in the reactions carried out at both 30 °C and 40 °C, within a concentration range between 0.65 and 2.5 mg/mL. These results suggest interesting potential applications for hydrophobin-exposing yeasts. KEY POINTS : • Class I hydrophobin DewA can be efficiently exposed on S. cerevisiae cell surfaces. • Yeast exposure of HFBI and DewA increases osmotic and heat resistance. • Engineered strains show modified biocatalytic behavior.

Disturbing-Free Determination of Yeast Concentration in DI Water and in Glucose Using Impedance Biochips

Deionized water and glucose without yeast and with yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) of optical density OD₆₀₀ that ranges from 4 to 16 has been put in the ring electrode region of six different types of impedance biochips and impedance has been measured in dependence on the added volume (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 µL). The measured impedance of two out of the six types of biochips is strongly sensitive to the addition of both liquid without yeast and liquid with yeast and modelled impedance reveals a linear relationship between the impedance model parameters and yeast concentration. The presented biochips allow for continuous impedance measurements without interrupting the cultivation of the yeast. A multiparameter fit of the impedance model parameters allows for determining the concentration of yeast (c_y) in the range from c_y = 3.3 × 10⁷ to c_y = 17 × 10⁷ cells/mL. This work shows that independent on the liquid, i.e., DI water or glucose, the impedance model parameters of the two most sensitive types of biochips with liquid without yeast and with liquid with yeast are clearly distinguishable for the two most sensitive types of biochips.

FLO1, FLO5 and FLO11 Flocculation Gene Expression Impacts Saccharomyces cerevisiae Attachment to Penicillium chrysogenum in a Co-immobilization Technique

A reoccurring flaw of most yeast immobilization systems that limits the potential of the technique is leakage of the cells from the matrix. Leakage may be due to weakly adherent cells, deterioration of the matrix, or to new growth and loss of non-adherent daughter cells. Yeast biocapsules are a spontaneous, cost effective system of immobilization whereby Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells are attached to the hyphae of Penicillium chrysogenum, creating hollow spheres that allow recovery and reutilization. This attachment is based on naturally occurring adherent properties of the yeast cell surface. We hypothesized that proteins associated with flocculation might play a role in adherence to fungal hyphae. To test this hypothesis, yeast strains with overexpressed and deleted flocculation genes (FLO1, FLO5, and FLO11) were evaluated for biocapsule formation to observe the impact of gene expression on biocapsule diameter, number, volume, dry mass, and percent immobilized versus non-immobilized cells. Overexpression of all three genes enhanced immobilization and resulted in larger diameter biocapsules. In particular, overexpression of FLO11 resulted in a five fold increase of absorbed cells versus the wild type isogenic strain. In addition, deletion of FLO1 and FLO11 significantly decreased the number of immobilized yeast cells compared to the wild type BY4742. These results confirm the role of natural adherent properties of yeast cells in attachment to fungal hyphae and offer the potential to create strongly adherent cells that will produce adherent progeny thereby reducing the potential for cell leakage from the matrix.

Adhesion Behavior of Microorganisms Isolated from Soil on Hydroxyapatite and Other Materials

The adhesion behavior of microorganisms on different materials was examined to obtain basic knowledge for designing support materials for microorganisms. The microorganisms were isolated from soil, and their adhesion behavior on hydroxyapatite (HA), carbon-coated HA (Carbon), poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC), and polyurethane (PU) pellets was investigated. The total metabolic activity on and adherence of microorganisms to the tested materials were in the following order: HA > Carbon > PVC > PU. This order was consistent with the extent of hydrophilicity of the materials. Morphological examination and polymerase chain reaction denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) analysis of microorganisms adhered to the materials revealed that the activities and states of microorganisms were affected by the composition of the pellets. PCR-DGGE analysis revealed various species of microorganisms adhered to the HA pellet. HA ceramics are expected to be one of the most suitable materials for supporting microorganisms.

Nitric Acid-Treated Carbon Fibers with Enhanced Hydrophilicity for Candida tropicalis Immobilization in Xylitol Fermentation

Nitric acid (HNO₃)-treated carbon fiber (CF) rich in hydrophilic groups was applied as a cell-immobilized carrier for xylitol fermentation. Using scanning electron microscopy, we characterized the morphology of the HNO₃-treated CF. Additionally, we evaluated the immobilized efficiency (IE) of Candida tropicalis and xylitol fermentation yield by investigating the surface properties of nitric acid treated CF, specifically, the acidic group content, zero charge point, degree of moisture and contact angle. We found that adhesion is the major mechanism for cell immobilization and that it is greatly affected by the hydrophilic–hydrophilic surface properties. In our experiments, we found 3 hto be the optimal time for treating CF with nitric acid, resulting in an improved IE of Candida tropicalis of 0.98 g∙g⁻¹ and the highest xylitol yield and volumetric productivity (70.13% and 1.22 g∙L⁻¹∙h⁻¹, respectively). The HNO₃-treated CF represents a promising method for preparing biocompatible biocarriers for multi-batch fermentation.

The effect of medium structure complexity on the growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in gelatin-dextran systems

As most food systems are (semi-)solid, the effect of food structure on bacterial growth has been widely acknowledged. However, studies on the growth dynamics of yeasts have neglected the effect of food structure. In this paper, the growth dynamics of the spoilage yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was investigated at 23.5 °C in broth, singular, homogeneous biopolymer systems and binary biopolymer systems with a heterogeneous microstructure. The biopolymers gelatin and dextran were used to introduce the different levels of structure. The metabolizing ability of gelatin and dextran by S. cerevisiae was examined. To study microbial behavior in the binary systems at the micro level, mixtures were imaged with confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Growth dynamics and microscopic images of S. cerevisiae were compared with those obtained for Escherichia coli in the same model system (Boons et al., 2014). Different phase-separated, heterogeneous microstructures were obtained by changing the amount of added gelatin and dextran. Regardless of the microstructure, S. cerevisiae was preferentially located in the dextran phase. Metabolizing ability-tests indicated that gelatin could be consumed by S. cerevisiae but in the presence of glucose, no change in gelatin concentration was observed. No indication of dextran metabolizing ability was observed. When supplementing broth with gelatin or dextran alone, an enhanced growth rate and maximum cell density were observed. This enhancement was further increased by adding a second biopolymer, introducing a heterogeneous microstructure and hence increasing the medium structure complexity. The results obtained indicate that food structure complexity plays a significant role in the growth dynamics of S. cerevisiae, an important food spoiler.

In vitro evaluation of the mucin-adhesion ability and probiotic potential of Lactobacillus mucosae LM1

AIMS

In this report, we characterized the probiotic potential of Lactobacillus mucosae LM1, focusing on its in vitro mucin-adhesion abilities.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Screening assays were used to evaluate LM1. Previous studies on Lact. mucosae species have been performed, but few have examined the ability of this species to adhere to and colonize the intestinal mucosa. Thus, adhesion, aggregation and pathogen inhibition assays of LM1 along with microbial adhesion to solvents (MATS) assay were carried out in comparison with another putative probiotic, Lactobacillus johnsonii PF01, and the commercial strain, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG. Based on MATS assay, the cell surfaces of the lactobacilli strains were found to be hydrophobic and highly electron-donating, but the average hydropathy (GRAVY) index of predicted surface-exposed proteins in the LM1 genome indicated that most were hydrophilic. LM1 showed the highest adhesion, aggregation and hydrophobicity among the strains tested and significantly inhibited the adhesion of Escherichia coli K88 and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium KCCM 40253. Correlations among adhesion, aggregation and hydrophobicity, as well as between coaggregation and displacement of E. coli, were observed.

CONCLUSIONS

Increased adhesion may not always correlate with increased pathogen inhibition due to various strain-specific mechanisms. Nevertheless, LM1 has promising probiotic properties that can be explored further using a genomics approach.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

Our data on adhesion of LM1 strain showed a significant correlation between adhesion, hydrophobicity of cell surface and autoaggregation. This study gives basic knowledge for the elucidation of the adhesion mechanism of Lactobacillus sp. and prediction of its adherence in specific host models.

Electric field-induced effects on yeast cell wall permeabilization

The permeability of the yeast cells (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) to lipophilic tetraphenylphosphonium cations (TPP(+) ) after their treatment with single square-shaped strong electric field pulses was analyzed. Pulsed electric fields (PEF) with durations from 5 to 150 µs and strengths from 0 to 10 kV/cm were applied to a standard electroporation cuvette filled with the appropriate buffer. The TPP(+) absorption process was analyzed using an ion selective microelectrode (ISE) and the plasma membrane permeability was determined by measurements obtained using a calcein blue dye release assay. The viability of the yeast and the inactivation of the cells were determined using the optical absorbance method. The experimental data taken after yeasts were treated with PEF and incubated for 3 min showed an increased uptake of TPP(+) by the yeast. This process can be controlled by setting the amplitude and pulse duration of the applied PEF. The kinetics of the TPP(+) absorption process is described using the second order absolute rate equation. It was concluded that the changes of the charge on the yeast cell wall, which is the main barrier for TPP(+) , is due to the poration of the plasma membrane. The applicability of the TPP(+) absorption measurements for the analysis of yeast cells electroporation process is also discussed.

Novel permittivity test for determination of yeast surface charge and flocculation abilities

Yeast flocculation has been found to be important in many biotechnological processes. It has been suggested that flocculation is promoted by decreasing electrostatic repulsion between cells. In this study, we used an unconventional rapid technique—permittivity test—for determination of the flocculation properties and surface charge values of three industrial yeast strains with well-known flocculation characteristics: Saccharomyces cerevisiae NCYC 1017 (brewery, ale), S. pastorianus NCYC 680 (brewery, lager), and Debaryomyces occidentalis LOCK 0251 (unconventional amylolytic yeast). The measurements of permittivity were compared with the results from two classical methods for determination of surface charge: Alcian blue retention and Sephadex DEAE attachment. The permittivity values for particular strains correlated directly with the results of Alcian blue retention (r = 0.9). The results also confirmed a strong negative relationship between the capacitance of yeast suspensions and their flocculation abilities. The highest permittivity was noted for the ale strain NCYC 1017, with weak flocculation abilities, and the lowest for the flocculating lager yeast NCYC 680. This paper is the first to describe the possibility of using a rapid permittivity test to evaluate the surface charge of yeast cells and their flocculation abilities. This method is of practical value in various biotechnological industries where flocculation is applied as a major method of cell separation.

Adhesion of yeast cells to different porous supports, stability of cell-carrier systems and formation of volatile by-products

The aim of our research was to study how the conditions of immobilization influence cell attachment to two different ceramic surfaces: hydroxylapatite and chamotte tablets. Three fermentative yeast strains, namely brewery TT, B4 (ale, lager) and distillery Bc15a strains belonging to Saccharomyces spp., and one strain of Debaryomyces occidentalis Y500/5 of weak fermentative nature, but with high amylolytic activity due to extracellular α-amylase and glucoamylase, were used in this study. Different media, including cell starvation, were applied for immobilization of yeast strains as well as different phases of cell growth. Immobilization of selected yeasts on a hydroxylapatite carrier was rather weak. However, when incubation of starved yeast cells was conducted in the minimal medium supplemented by calcium carbonate, the scale of immobilization after 24 h was higher, especially for the D. occidentalis strain. Adhesion to hydroxylapatite carriers in wort broth was of reversible character and better results of adhesion were observed in the case of another ceramic carrier-chamotte. The number of immobilized cells was about 10⁶–10⁷ per tablet and cell adhesion was stable during the whole fermentation process. The comparison of the volatile products that were formed during fermentation did not show any significant qualitative and quantitative differences between the free and the immobilized cells. This is the first time when a cheap, porous chamotte surface has been applied to yeast adhesion and fermentation processes.

A new approach on Brewer's spent grains treatment and potential use as lignocellulosic yeast cells carriers

The major objective of this work is to improve the pretreatments of brewer's spent grains (BSG) aiming at their use as a source for lignocellulosic yeast carriers (LCYC) production. Therefore, several pretreatments of BSG have been designed aiming at obtaining various yeast carriers, differing on their physicochemical composition. Cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, fat, protein, and ash content were determined for crude BSG and the LCYCs. The long chain fatty acids profile for the crude BSG was also analyzed. Chemical treatments successfully produced several different LCYC based on BSG. The highest cellulose content in LCYC was achieved upon application of caustic (NaOH) treatment during 40 min. Either caustic or combined acid-caustic treatments predominately generated hydrophobic, negatively charged LCYC. The feasibility of using BSG for LCYC production is strengthened by the fact that added-value byproduct can be extracted before the chemical treatments are applied.