Methylamine metabolism in Hansenula polymorpha: an in vivo 13C and 31P nuclear magnetic resonance study

In-cell NMR: Why and how?

NMR spectroscopy has been applied to cells and tissues analysis since its beginnings, as early as 1950. We have attempted to gather here in a didactic fashion the broad diversity of data and ideas that emerged from NMR investigations on living cells. Covering a large proportion of the periodic table, NMR spectroscopy permits scrutiny of a great variety of atomic nuclei in all living organisms non-invasively. It has thus provided quantitative information on cellular atoms and their chemical environment, dynamics, or interactions. We will show that NMR studies have generated valuable knowledge on a vast array of cellular molecules and events, from water, salts, metabolites, cell walls, proteins, nucleic acids, drugs and drug targets, to pH, redox equilibria and chemical reactions. The characterization of such a multitude of objects at the atomic scale has thus shaped our mental representation of cellular life at multiple levels, together with major techniques like mass-spectrometry or microscopies. NMR studies on cells has accompanied the developments of MRI and metabolomics, and various subfields have flourished, coined with appealing names: fluxomics, foodomics, MRI and MRS (i.e. imaging and localized spectroscopy of living tissues, respectively), whole-cell NMR, on-cell ligand-based NMR, systems NMR, cellular structural biology, in-cell NMR… All these have not grown separately, but rather by reinforcing each other like a braided trunk. Hence, we try here to provide an analytical account of a large ensemble of intricately linked approaches, whose integration has been and will be key to their success. We present extensive overviews, firstly on the various types of information provided by NMR in a cellular environment (the "why", oriented towards a broad readership), and secondly on the employed NMR techniques and setups (the "how", where we discuss the past, current and future methods). Each subsection is constructed as a historical anthology, showing how the intrinsic properties of NMR spectroscopy and its developments structured the accessible knowledge on cellular phenomena. Using this systematic approach, we sought i) to make this review accessible to the broadest audience and ii) to highlight some early techniques that may find renewed interest. Finally, we present a brief discussion on what may be potential and desirable developments in the context of integrative studies in biology.

Operational strategies, monitoring and control of heterologous protein production in the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris under different promoters: a review

The methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris has been widely reported as a suitable expression system for heterologous protein production. The use of different phenotypes under PAOX promoter, other alternative promoters, culture medium, and operational strategies with the objective to maximize either yield or productivity of the heterologous protein, but also to obtain a repetitive product batch to batch to get a robust process for the final industrial application have been reported. Medium composition, kinetics growth, fermentation operational strategies from fed-batch to continuous cultures using different phenotypes with the most common PAOX promoter and other novel promoters (GAP, FLD, ICL), the use of mixed substrates, on-line monitoring of the key fermentation parameters (methanol) and control algorithms applied to the bioprocess are reviewed and discussed in detail.

Developing high cell density fed‐batch cultivation strategies for heterologous protein production in Pichia pastoris using the nitrogen source‐regulated FLD 1 Promoter

A Pichia pastoris strain expressing a Rhizopus oryzae lipase gene under the transcriptional control of the promoter from the P. pastoris formaldehyde dehydrogenase 1 gene (PFLD) was utilized to study the feasibility of this expression system for recombinant protein production using methanol-free fed-batch high cell density cultivations. We have developed a simple and reliable fed-batch strategy using the PFLD system based on the use of methylamine and sorbitol as nitrogen and carbon sources, respectively, for the induction phase. Three different fed-batch fermentations were performed at three different constant growth rates, i.e., at a low growth rate (0.005/h), at an intermediate growth rate of (0.01/h), and at a constant residual sorbitol concentration of 8 g/L, i.e., allowing cells to grow at high (near micro(max)) growth rate (0.02/h). Important differences were observed between the lower and higher growth rate cultivation phases in terms of specific production rate (q(p)) profiles. In all three cases, maximum q(p) were reached soon after the start of the induction phase; after that maximum, an exponential decrease reaching final values close to zero were observed, except for the cells growing at near micro(max). The best results in terms of Y(P/X), productivity and specific productivity were obtained when the microorganism was growing at the highest growth rate. Furthermore, such results were significantly better in relation to those obtained with the PAOX-based system expressing the same protein.

Methylamine in human urine

BACKGROUND

Methylamine is the simplest aliphatic amine found in human urine. In the body it is thought to play a significant part in central nervous system disturbances observed during renal and hepatic disease and also has a role in general toxicity caused by oxidative stress. The present study provides data on the daily urinary excretion of methylamine in a population of unrelated healthy volunteers and investigates a variety of food substances as potential dietary sources.

METHODS

Complete 0-24 h urine samples were collected from 203 volunteers (102 male, age 22.2 +/- 4.5 years, mean +/- S.D.; 101 female, age 21.6 +/- 5.0 years) maintained on their normal diets. Six male subjects also consumed, on different occasions separated by at least 1 week, 41 foods and collected the subsequent 0-8 h urine. In addition, these subjects also ingested various dietary precursors (betaine, carnitine, choline, creatinine, lecithin) and collected the following 0-3 day urine. All urine samples were analysed for their methylamine content.

RESULTS

The average daily output of methylamine was 11.00 +/- 8.17 mg (12.73 +/- 9.35 male; 9.27 +/- 6.35 female) with a range of values spreading from 1.68 to 62.30 mg. Dietary studies suggested that certain fish and seafoods (clam, crab, haddock, halibut, octopus, tuna) and fruit and vegetables (pear, peas, tomato) may add to this urinary output. Ingestion of creatinine also increased urinary methylamine levels.

CONCLUSIONS

For the first time, standard daily excretion values for methylamine have been established for a large population. Chemical and dietary precursor studies indicated that there was no major exogenous source of this amine and suggested that the origin of the majority of human urinary methylamine is endogenous with only subtle contributions from the diet.

Evidence that fungal MEP proteins mediate diffusion of the uncharged species NH(3) across the cytoplasmic membrane

Methylammonium and ammonium (MEP) permeases of Saccharomyces cerevisiae belong to a ubiquitous family of cytoplasmic membrane proteins that transport only ammonium (NH(4)(+) + NH(3)). Transport and accumulation of the ammonium analog [(14)C]methylammonium, a weak base, led to the proposal that members of this family were capable of energy-dependent concentration of the ammonium ion, NH(4)(+). In bacteria, however, ATP-dependent conversion of methylammonium to gamma-N-methylglutamine by glutamine synthetase precludes its use in assessing concentrative transport across the cytoplasmic membrane. We have confirmed that methylammonium is not metabolized in the yeast S. cerevisiae and have shown that it is little metabolized in the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa. However, its accumulation depends on the energy-dependent acidification of vacuoles. A Deltavph1 mutant of S. cerevisiae and a Deltavma1 mutant, which lack vacuolar H(+)-ATPase activity, had large (fivefold or greater) defects in the accumulation of methylammonium, with little accompanying defect in the initial rate of transport. A vma-1 mutant of N. crassa largely metabolized methylammonium to methylglutamine. Thus, in fungi as in bacteria, subsequent energy-dependent utilization of methylammonium precludes its use in assessing active transport across the cytoplasmic membrane. The requirement for a proton gradient to sequester the charged species CH(3)NH(3)(+) in acidic vacuoles provides evidence that the substrate for MEP proteins is the uncharged species CH(3)NH(2). By inference, their natural substrate is NH(3), a gas. We postulate that MEP proteins facilitate diffusion of NH(3) across the cytoplasmic membrane and speculate that human Rhesus proteins, which lie in the same domain family as MEP proteins, facilitate diffusion of CO(2).

Biochemical genetics revisited: the use of mutants to study carbon and nitrogen metabolism in the photosynthetic bacteria

The biochemical genetics approach is defined as the use of mutants, in comparative studies with the wild-type, to obtain information about biochemical and physiological processes in complex metabolic systems. This approach has been used extensively, for example in studies on the bioenergetics of the photosynthetic bacteria, but has been applied less frequently to studies of intermediary carbon and nitrogen metabolism in phototrophic organisms. Several important processes in photosynthetic bacteria--the regulation of nitrogenase synthesis and activity, the control of intracellular redox balance during photoheterotrophic growth, and chemotaxis--have been shown to involve metabolism. However, current understanding of carbon and nitrogen metabolism in these organisms is insufficient to allow a complete understanding of these phenomena. The purpose of the present review is to give an overview of carbon and nitrogen metabolism in the photosynthetic bacteria, with particular emphasis on work carried out with mutants, and to indicate areas in which the biochemical genetics approach could be applied successfully. In particular, it will be argued that, in the case of Rhodobacter capsulatus and Rb. sphaeroides, two species which are fast-growing, possess a versatile metabolism, and have been extensively studied genetically, it should be possible to obtain a complete, integrated description of carbon and nitrogen metabolism, and to undertake a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the flow of carbon and reducing equivalents during photoheterotrophic growth. This would require a systematic biochemical genetic study employing techniques such as HPLC, NMR, and mass spectrometry, which are briefly discussed. The review is concerned mainly with Rb. capsulatus and Rb. sphaeroides, since most studies with mutants have been carried out with these organisms. However, where possible, a comparison is made with other species of purple non-sulphur bacteria and with purple and green sulphur bacteria, and recent literature relevant to these organisms has been cited.