Effects of Non-Thermal Plasma on Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Short-term Effects of Non-invasive Physical Plasma Treatment on Genomic Stability

BACKGROUND/AIM

The application of non-invasive physical plasma (NIPP) generates reactive oxygen species. These can lead to chemical oxidation of cellular molecules including DNA. On the other hand, NIPP can induce therapeutically intended apoptosis, which also leads to DNA fragmentation in the late phase. Therefore, to assess unwanted genotoxic effects, the formation of DNA damage was investigated in this study in discrimination from apoptotic processes.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Mutation events after NIPP application were analyzed in CCL-93 fibroblast cells using the hypoxanthine phosphoribosyl transferase assay. Additionally, DNA single-strand breaks (SSB) and double-strand breaks (DSB) were quantified by performing the alkaline comet assay, and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling assay. DSBs were quantified by phospho-histone 2AX-p53-binding protein 1 co-localization DSB focus assay. The data were compared with cell death quantification by the caspase-3/7 apoptosis assay.

RESULTS

Treatment with NIPP led to exceedingly rapid damage to genomic DNA and the appearance of DNA SSBs and DSBs in the initial 4 h. However, damage decreased again within the first 4-8 h, then the late phase began, characterized by DNA DSB and increasing caspase-3/7 activation.

CONCLUSION

Although NIPP treatment leads to extremely rapid damage to genomic DNA, this damage is reversed very quickly by efficient DNA-repair processes. As a consequence, only those cells whose genome damage can be repaired actually survive and proliferate. Persistent genotoxic effects were not observed in the cell system used.

Defects in Mitochondrial Functions Affect the Survival of Yeast Cells Treated with Non-Thermal Plasma

Exposure of living cells to non-thermal plasma produced in various electrical discharges affects cell physiology and often results in cell death. Even though plasma-based techniques have started finding practical applications in biotechnology and medicine, the molecular mechanisms of interaction of cells with plasma remain poorly understood. In this study, the involvement of selected cellular components or pathways in plasma-induced cell killing was studied employing yeast deletion mutants. The changes in yeast sensitivity to plasma-activated water were observed in mutants with the defect in mitochondrial functions, including transport across the outer mitochondrial membrane (∆por1), cardiolipin biosynthesis (∆crd1, ∆pgs1), respiration (ρ⁰) and assumed signaling to the nucleus (∆mdl1, ∆yme1). Together these results indicate that mitochondria play an important role in plasma-activated water cell killing, both as the target of the damage and the participant in the damage signaling, which may lead to the induction of cell protection. On the other hand, our results show that neither mitochondria-ER contact sites, UPR, autophagy, nor proteasome play a major role in the protection of yeast cells from plasma-induced damage.

Nonthermal Plasma Effects on Fungi: Applications, Fungal Responses, and Future Perspectives

The kingdom of Fungi is rich in species that live in various environments and exhibit different lifestyles. Many are beneficial and indispensable for the environment and industries, but some can threaten plants, animals, and humans as pathogens. Various strategies have been applied to eliminate fungal pathogens by relying on chemical and nonchemical antifungal agents and tools. Nonthermal plasma (NTP) is a potential tool to inactivate pathogenic and food-contaminating fungi and genetically improve fungal strains used in industry as enzyme and metabolite producers. The NTP mode of action is due to many highly reactive species and their interactions with biological molecules. The interaction of the NTP with living cells is believed to be synergistic yet not well understood. This review aims to summarize the current NTP designs, applications, and challenges that involve fungi, as well as provide brief descriptions of underlying mechanisms employed by fungi in interactions with the NTP components.

The Strong Enhancement of Electron-Impact Ionization Processes in Dense Plasma by Transient Spatial Localization

Recent experiments have observed much higher electron–ion collisional ionization cross sections and rates in dense plasmas than predicted by the current standard atomic collision theory, including the plasma screening effect. We suggest that the use of (distorted) plane waves for incident and scattered electrons is not adequate to describe the dissipation that occurs during the ionization event. Random collisions with free electrons and ions in plasma cause electron matter waves to lose their phase, which results in the partial decoherence of incident and scattered electrons. Such a plasma-induced transient spatial localization of the continuum electron states significantly modifies the wave functions of continuum electrons, resulting in a strong enhancement of the electron–ion collisional ionization of ions in plasma compared to isolated ions. Here, we develop a theoretical formulation to calculate the differential and integral cross sections by incorporating the effects of plasma screening and transient spatial localization. The approach is then used to investigate the electron-impact ionization of ions in solid-density magnesium plasma, yielding results that are consistent with experiments. In dense plasma, the correlation of continuum electron energies is modified, and the integral cross sections and rates increase considerably. For the ionization of Mg9+e+1s22s2S→1s21S+2e, the ionization cross sections increase several-fold, and the rates increase by one order of magnitude. Our findings provide new insight into collisional ionization and three-body recombination and may aid investigations of the transport properties and nonequilibrium evolution of dense plasma.

The Improvement of Reserve Polysaccharide Glycogen Level and Other Quality Parameters of S. cerevisiae Brewing Dry Yeasts by Their Rehydration in Water, Treated with Low-Temperature, Low-Pressure Glow Plasma (LPGP)

The increasing popularity of active dry yeast arises from its properties, such as ease of storage, and simplicity of preparation and dosing. Herein, we elaborate on the effect of plasma-treated water (PTW) under air atmosphere (PTWAir) and nitrogen (PTWN) on the improvement of the reserve polysaccharide glycogen level and other quality parameters of S. cerevisiae brewing dry yeast in comparison with the non plasma-treated water (CW). For this purpose, strains of top-fermenting (S. cerevisiae T58 (poor quality), S33 (poor quality)) and bottom-fermenting (S. pastorianus W30/70 (poor quality)) yeast stored one year after opening and S. cerevisiae US-05 (fresh strain) were selected to examine the influence of PTWs toward the quality parameters of yeast biomass after the rehydration and fermentation process. The obtained results showed that in the case of poor quality yeast strains, PTWAir increased glycogen content after the rehydration and fermentation process, which was a favorable trend. A similar increase was observed for the trehalose content. Results showed that PTWN significantly reduced the number of yeast cells in ale strains and the viability of all analyzed samples. The lowest viability was observed in Sc S33 strain for PTWAir (41.99%), PTWN (18.6%) and CW (22.86%). PTWAir did not contribute to reducing the analyzed parameter; in particular, the results of Sc T58 yeast strain’s viability are shown: PTWAir (58.83%), PTWN (32.28%) and CW (43.56%). The obtained results suggest that rehydration by PTWN of dry yeast with a weakened condition is not recommended for both qualitative and cost-related reasons, while PTWAir significantly contributed to the improvement of some yeast parameters after rehydration and fermentation (higher glycogen and trehalose content).