Interaction of air cold plasma with Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the multi-scale microenvironment for improved ethanol yield

Cold Plasma Treatment Facilitated the Conversion of Lignin-Derived Aldehyde for Pseudomonas putida

Syringaldehyde derived from lignin is one of the essential intermediates for the production of basic chemicals. However, it was poorly understood for the direct microbial conversion of syringaldehyde. Here, this study tried to use cold plasma technique to enhance syringaldehyde conversion for the bacterium Pseudomonas putida. It illustrated that cell growth and syringaldehyde conversion were separately increased by 1.49 times at 3 h and 1.60 times at 6 h for 35 s, 1.16 and 3.44 times for 140 W, and 1.63 and 4.02 times for 105 Pa for P. putida through single factor assays of cold plasma treatment. To be sure, cell growth and syringaldehyde conversion were enhanced by 1.14 and 5.54 times at 3 h under the optimum parameters (35 s, 140 W, and 105 Pa) for P. putida. Furthermore, genome re-sequencing further discovered single-nucleotide polymorphisms of P. putida, such as PP_2589 (A428V), PP_5651 (V82F), and PP_0545 (W335R), and thus indicated that the potential genetic changes derived from cold plasma treatment would be responsible for the acceleration of syringaldehyde conversion. This work would provide a robust strain catalyst and the potential candidate mutation sites for genetic manipulation for microbial bioconversion of the value-added and lignin-based biochemicals.

Microbial membrane transport proteins and their biotechnological applications

Because of the hydrophobic nature of the membrane lipid bilayer, the majority of the hydrophilic solutes require special transportation mechanisms for passing through the cell membrane. Integral membrane transport proteins (MTPs), which belong to the Major Intrinsic Protein Family, facilitate the transport of these solutes across cell membranes. MTPs including aquaporins and carrier proteins are transmembrane proteins spanning across the cell membrane. The easy handling of microorganisms enabled the discovery of a remarkable number of transport proteins specific to different substances. It has been realized that these transporters have very important roles in the survival of microorganisms, their pathogenesis, and antimicrobial resistance. Astonishing features related to the solute specificity of these proteins have led to the acceleration of the research on the discovery of their properties and the development of innovative products in which these unique properties are used or imitated. Studies on microbial MTPs range from the discovery and characterization of a novel transporter protein to the mining and screening of them in a large transporter library for particular functions, from simulations and modeling of specific transporters to the preparation of biomimetic synthetic materials for different purposes such as biosensors or filtration membranes. This review presents recent discoveries on microbial membrane transport proteins and focuses especially on formate nitrite transport proteins and aquaporins, and advances in their biotechnological applications.

Calcium Ion Channels in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Regulating calcium ion (Ca²⁺) channels to improve the cell cycle and metabolism is a promising technology, ensuring increased cell growth, differentiation, and/or productivity. In this regard, the composition and structure of Ca²⁺ channels play a vital role in controlling the gating states. In this review, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as a model eukaryotic organism and an essential industrial microorganism, was used to discuss the effect of its type, composition, structure, and gating mechanism on the activity of Ca²⁺ channels. Furthermore, the advances in the application of Ca²⁺ channels in pharmacology, tissue engineering, and biochemical engineering are summarized, with a special focus on exploring the receptor site of Ca²⁺ channels for new drug design strategies and different therapeutic uses, targeting Ca²⁺ channels to produce functional replacement tissues, creating favorable conditions for tissue regeneration, and regulating Ca²⁺ channels to enhance biotransformation efficiency.