| 1. |
- Chen, Xin, 1980, et al.
(author)
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Graphene Oxide Attenuates Toxicity of Amyloid-β Aggregates in Yeast by Promoting Disassembly and Boosting Cellular Stress Response
- 2023
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In: Advanced Functional Materials. - 1616-3028 .- 1616-301X. ; 33:45
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease, with the aggregation of misfolded amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides in the brain being one of its histopathological hallmarks. Recently, graphene oxide (GO) nanoflakes have attracted significant attention in biomedical areas due to their capacity of suppressing Aβ aggregation in vitro. The mechanism of this beneficial effect has not been fully understood in vivo. Herein, the impact of GO on intracellular Aβ42 aggregates and cytotoxicity is investigated using yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as the model organism. This study finds that GO nanoflakes can effectively penetrate yeast cells and reduce Aβ42 toxicity. Combination of proteomics data and follow-up experiments show that GO treatment alters cellular metabolism to increases cellular resistance to misfolded protein stress and oxidative stress, and reduces amounts of intracellular Aβ42 oligomers. Additionally, GO treatment also reduces HTT103QP toxicity in the Huntington's disease (HD) yeast model. The findings offer insights for rationally designing GO nanoflakes-based therapies for attenuating cytotoxicity of Aβ42, and potentially of other misfolded proteins involved in neurodegenerative pathology.
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| 2. |
- Ishchuk, Olena, 1980, et al.
(author)
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Genome-scale modeling drives 70-fold improvement of intracellular heme production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
- 2022
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In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 119:30
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Heme is an oxygen carrier and a cofactor of both industrial enzymes and food additives. The intracellular level of free heme is low, which limits the synthesis of heme proteins. Therefore, increasing heme synthesis allows an increased production of heme proteins. Using the genome-scale metabolic model (GEM) Yeast8 for the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we identified fluxes potentially important to heme synthesis. With this model, in silico simulations highlighted 84 gene targets for balancing biomass and increasing heme production. Of those identified, 76 genes were individually deleted or overexpressed in experiments. Empirically, 40 genes individually increased heme production (up to threefold). Heme was increased by modifying target genes, which not only included the genes involved in heme biosynthesis, but also those involved in glycolysis, pyruvate, Fe-S clusters, glycine, and succinyl-coenzyme A (CoA) metabolism. Next, we developed an algorithmic method for predicting an optimal combination of these genes by using the enzyme-constrained extension of the Yeast8 model, ecYeast8. The computationally identified combination for enhanced heme production was evaluated using the heme ligand-binding biosensor (Heme-LBB). The positive targets were combined using CRISPR-Cas9 in the yeast strain (IMX581-HEM15-HEM14-HEM3- δshm1-HEM2-δhmx1-FET4-δgcv2-HEM1-δgcv1-HEM13), which produces 70-foldhigher levels of intracellular heme.
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| 3. |
- Meza, Eugenio, 1975, et al.
(author)
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Development of a method for heat shock stress assessment in yeast based on transcription of specific genes
- 2021
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In: Yeast. - : Wiley. - 1097-0061 .- 0749-503X. ; 38:10, s. 549-565
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- All living cells, including yeast cells, are challenged by different types of stresses in their environments and must cope with challenges such as heat, chemical stress, or oxidative damage. By reversibly adjusting the physiology while maintaining structural and genetic integrity, cells can achieve a competitive advantage and adapt environmental fluctuations. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been extensively used as a model for study of stress responses due to the strong conservation of many essential cellular processes between yeast and human cells. We focused here on developing a tool to detect and quantify early responses using specific transcriptional responses. We analyzed the published transcriptional data on S. cerevisiae DBY strain responses to 10 different stresses in different time points. The principal component analysis (PCA) and the Pearson analysis were used to assess the stress response genes that are highly expressed in each individual stress condition. Except for these stress response genes, we also identified the reference genes in each stress condition, which would not be induced under stress condition and show stable transcriptional expression over time. We then tested our candidates experimentally in the CEN.PK strain. After data analysis, we identified two stress response genes (UBI4 and RRP) and two reference genes (MEX67 and SSY1) under heat shock (HS) condition. These genes were further verified by real-time PCR at mild (42°C), severe (46°C), to lethal temperature (50°C), respectively.
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| 4. |
- Nielsen, Jens B, 1962, et al.
(author)
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Innovation trends in industrial biotechnology
- 2022
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In: Trends in Biotechnology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0167-7799 .- 1879-3096. ; 40:10, s. 1160-1172
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Microbial fermentations are used for the sustainable production of a range of products. Due to increasing trends in the food sector toward plant-based foods and meat and dairy product substitutes, microbial fermentation will have an increasing role in this sector, as it will enable a sustainable and scalable production of valuable foods and food ingredients. Microbial fermentation will also be used to advance and expand the production of sustainable chemicals and natural products. Much of this market expansion will come from new start-ups that translate academic research into novel processes and products using state-of-the art technologies. Here, we discuss the trends in innovation and technology and provide recommendations for how to successfully start and grow companies in industrial biotechnology.
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| 5. |
- Wang, Yanyan, 1989, et al.
(author)
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Expression of antibody fragments in Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains evolved for enhanced protein secretion
- 2021
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In: Microbial Cell Factories. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1475-2859. ; 20:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Monoclonal antibodies, antibody fragments and fusion proteins derived thereof have revolutionized the practice of medicine. Major challenges faced by the biopharmaceutical industry are however high production costs, long processing times and low productivities associated with their production in mammalian cell lines. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a well-characterized eukaryotic cell factory possessing the capacity of posttranslational modifications, has been industrially exploited as a secretion host for production of a range of products, including pharmaceuticals. However, due to the incompatible surface glycosylation, few antibody molecules have been functionally expressed in S. cerevisiae. Here, three non-glycosylated antibody fragments from human and the Camelidae family were chosen for expression in a S. cerevisiae strain (HA) previously evolved for high α-amylase secretion. These included the Fab fragment Ranibizumab (Ran), the scFv peptide Pexelizumab (Pex), and a nanobody consisting of a single V-type domain (Nan). Both secretion and biological activities of the antibody fragments were confirmed. In addition, the secretion level of each protein was compared in the wild type (LA) and two evolved strains (HA and MA) with different secretory capacities. We found that the secretion of Ran and Nan was positively correlated with the strains’ secretory capacity, while Pex was most efficiently secreted in the parental strain. To investigate the mechanisms for different secretion abilities in these selected yeast strains for the different antibody fragments, RNA-seq analysis was performed. The results showed that several bioprocesses were significantly enriched for differentially expressed genes when comparing the enriched terms between HA.Nan vs. LA.Nan and HA.Pex vs. LA.Pex, including amino acid metabolism, protein synthesis, cell cycle and others, which indicates that there are unique physiological needs for each antibody fragment secretion.
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| 6. |
- Chen, Xin, 1980, et al.
(author)
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Dataset for suppressors of amyloid-beta toxicity and their functions in recombinant protein production in yeast
- 2022
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In: Data in Brief. - : Elsevier BV. - 2352-3409. ; 42
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The production of recombinant proteins at high levels often induces stress-related phenotypes by protein misfolding or aggregation. These are similar to those of the yeast Alzheimer's disease (AD) model in which amyloid-beta peptides (A beta 42) were accumulated [1,2] . We have previously identified suppressors of A beta 42 cytotoxicity via the genome-wide synthetic genetic array (SGA) [3] and here we use them as metabolic engineering targets to evaluate their potentiality on recombinant protein production in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In order to investigate the mechanisms linking the genetic modifications to the improved recombinant protein production, we perform systems biology approaches (transcriptomics and proteomics) on the resulting strain and intermediate strains. The RNAseq data are preprocessed by the nf-core/RNAseq pipeline and analyzed using the Platform for Integrative Analysis of Omics (PIANO) package [4] . The quantitative proteome is analyzed on an Orbitrap Fusion Lumos mass spectrometer interfaced with an Easy-nLC1200 liquid chromatography (LC) system. LC-MS data files are processed by Proteome Discoverer version 2.4 with Mascot 2.5.1 as a database search engine. The original data presented in this work can be found in the research paper titled "Suppressors of Amyloid-beta Toxicity Improve Recombinant Protein Produc-tion in yeast by Reducing Oxidative Stress and Tuning Cellu-lar Metabolism", by Chen et al. [5] . (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc.
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| 7. |
- Chen, Xin, 1980, et al.
(author)
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FMN reduces Amyloid-beta toxicity in yeast by regulating redox status and cellular metabolism
- 2020
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In: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 11:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Alzheimer's disease (AD) is defined by progressive neurodegeneration, with oligomerization and aggregation of amyloid-beta peptides (A beta) playing a pivotal role in its pathogenesis. In recent years, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been successfully used to clarify the roles of different human proteins involved in neurodegeneration. Here, we report a genome-wide synthetic genetic interaction array to identify toxicity modifiers of A beta 42, using yeast as the model organism. We find that FMN1, the gene encoding riboflavin kinase, and its metabolic product flavin mononucleotide (FMN) reduce A beta 42 toxicity. Classic experimental analyses combined with RNAseq show the effects of FMN supplementation to include reducing misfolded protein load, altering cellular metabolism, increasing NADH/(NADH+NAD(+)) and NADPH/(NADPH+NADP(+)) ratios and increasing resistance to oxidative stress. Additionally, FMN supplementation modifies Htt103QP toxicity and alpha-synuclein toxicity in the humanized yeast. Our findings offer insights for reducing cytotoxicity of A beta 42, and potentially other misfolded proteins, via FMN-dependent cellular pathways.Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a model organism to study proteins involved in neurodegeneration. Here, the authors performed a yeast genome-wide synthetic genetic interaction array (SGA) to screen for toxicity modifiers of A beta 42 and identify riboflavin kinase and its metabolic product flavin mononucleotide as modulators that alleviate cellular A beta 42 toxicity, which is supported by further experimental analyses.
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| 8. |
- Chen, Xin, 1980, et al.
(author)
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Suppressors of amyloid-β toxicity improve recombinant protein production in yeast by reducing oxidative stress and tuning cellular metabolism
- 2022
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In: Metabolic Engineering. - : Elsevier BV. - 1096-7176 .- 1096-7184. ; 72, s. 311-324
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- High-level production of recombinant proteins in industrial microorganisms is often limited by the formation of misfolded proteins or protein aggregates, which consequently induce cellular stress responses. We hypothesized that in a yeast Alzheimer's disease (AD) model overexpression of amyloid-β peptides (Aβ42), one of the main peptides relevant for AD pathologies, induces similar phenotypes of cellular stress. Using this humanized AD model, we previously identified suppressors of Aβ42 cytotoxicity. Here we hypothesize that these suppressors could be used as metabolic engineering targets to alleviate cellular stress and improve recombinant protein production in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Forty-six candidate genes were individually deleted and twenty were individually overexpressed. The positive targets that increased recombinant α-amylase production were further combined leading to an 18.7-fold increased recombinant protein production. These target genes are involved in multiple cellular networks including RNA processing, transcription, ER-mitochondrial complex, and protein unfolding. By using transcriptomics and proteomics analyses, combined with reverse metabolic engineering, we showed that reduced oxidative stress, increased membrane lipid biosynthesis and repressed arginine and sulfur amino acid biosynthesis are significant pathways for increased recombinant protein production. Our findings provide new insights towards developing synthetic yeast cell factories for biosynthesis of valuable proteins.
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| 9. |
- Chen, Xin, 1980, et al.
(author)
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UBB+1 reduces amyloid-beta cytotoxicity by activation of autophagy in yeast
- 2021
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In: Aging. - : Impact Journals, LLC. - 1945-4589. ; 13:21, s. 23953-23980
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- UBB+1 is a mutated version of ubiquitin B peptide caused by a transcriptional frameshift due to the RNA polymerase II "slippage". The accumulation of UBB+1 has been linked to ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) dysfunction and neurodegeneration. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is defined as a progressive neurodegeneration and aggregation of amyloid-beta peptides (A beta) is a prominent neuropathological feature of AD. In our previous study, we found that yeast cells expressing UBB+1 at lower level display an increased resistance to cellular stresses under conditions of chronological aging. In order to examine the molecular mechanisms behind, here we performed genome-wide transcriptional analyses and molecular/cellular biology assays. We found that low UBB+1 expression activated the autophagy pathway, increased vacuolar activity, and promoted transport of autophagic marker ATG8p into vacuole. Furthermore, we introduced low UBB+1 expression to our humanized yeast AD models, that constitutively express A beta 42 and A beta 40 peptide, respectively. The co-expression of UBB+1 with A beta 42 or A beta 40 peptide led to reduced intracellular A beta levels, ameliorated viability, and increased chronological life span. In an autophagy deficient background strain (atg1 Delta), intracellular A beta levels were not affected by UBB+1 expression. Our findings offer insights for reducing intracellular A beta toxicity via autophagydependent cellular pathways under low level of UBB+1 expression.
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| 10. |
- Ishchuk, Olena, 1980, et al.
(author)
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Improved production of human hemoglobin in yeast by engineering hemoglobin degradation
- 2021
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In: Metabolic Engineering. - : Elsevier BV. - 1096-7176 .- 1096-7184. ; 66, s. 259-267
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- With the increasing demand for blood transfusions, the production of human hemoglobin (Hb) from sustainable sources is increasingly studied. Microbial production is an attractive option, as it may provide a cheap, safe, and reliable source of this protein. To increase the production of human hemoglobin by the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the degradation of Hb was reduced through several approaches. The deletion of the genes HMX1 (encoding heme oxygenase), VPS10 (encoding receptor for vacuolar proteases), PEP4 (encoding vacuolar proteinase A), ROX1 (encoding heme-dependent repressor of hypoxic genes) and the overexpression of the HEM3 (encoding porphobilinogen deaminase) and the AHSP (encoding human alpha-hemoglobin-stabilizing protein) genes — these changes reduced heme and Hb degradation and improved heme and Hb production. The reduced hemoglobin degradation was validated by a bilirubin biosensor. During glucose fermentation, the engineered strains produced 18% of intracellular Hb relative to the total yeast protein, which is the highest production of human hemoglobin reported in yeast. This increased hemoglobin production was accompanied with an increased oxygen consumption rate and an increased glycerol yield, which (we speculate) is the yeast's response to rebalance its NADH levels under conditions of oxygen limitation and increased protein-production.
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