Evaluation of ethanol tolerance in relation to intracellular storage compounds of Saccharomyces cerevisiae using FT-IR spectroscopy

Gaining insights into the responses of individual yeast cells to ethanol fermentation using Raman tweezers and chemometrics

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the most common microbe used for the industrial production of bioethanol, and it encounters various stresses that inhibit cell growth and metabolism during fermentation. However, little is currently known about the physiological changes that occur in individual yeast cells during ethanol fermentation. Therefore, in this work, Raman spectroscopy and chemometric techniques were employed to monitor the metabolic changes of individual yeast cells at distinct stages during high gravity ethanol fermentation. Raman tweezers was used to acquire the Raman spectra of individual yeast cells. Multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares (MCR-ALS) and principal component analysis were employed to analyze the Raman spectra dataset. MCR-ALS extracted the spectra of proteins, phospholipids, and triacylglycerols and their relative contents in individual cells. Changes in intracellular biomolecules showed that yeast cells undergo three distinct physiological stages during fermentation. In addition, heterogeneity among yeast cells significantly increased in the late fermentation period, and different yeast cells may respond to ethanol stress via different mechanisms. Our findings suggest that the combination of Raman tweezers and chemometrics approaches allows for characterizing the dynamics of molecular components within individual cells. This approach can serve as a valuable tool in investigating the resistance mechanism and metabolic heterogeneity of yeast cells during ethanol fermentation.

Plant-derived antioxidant dipeptides provide lager yeast with osmotic stress tolerance for very high gravity fermentation

Osmotic stress in the yeast limits productivity in industrial beer production under very high gravity brewing. This study focused on assessing the protective impacts of eleven plant-derived antioxidant dipeptides (PADs) on the osmotic stress tolerance of lager yeast. The results showed that PADs provided yeast with stress tolerance under osmotic stress. PADs supplementation enhanced cell membrane integrity and reduced oxidative damage. PADs upregulated the expression of SOD2, PEX11 and CTT1 genes under osmotic stress. Moreover, the volatile compounds contents and antioxidant activities of beers were improved by PADs, suggesting favorable quality characteristics. Especially, Phe-Cys and Leu-His could increase the DPPH radical scavenging activity of beer by 41.92% and 18.78% respectively, compared with control. Therefore, PADs are industrially scalable enhancers to improve the ability of yeast to resist osmotic stress and beer quality during very high gravity brewing.

Adaptive laboratory evolution under acetic acid stress enhances the multistress tolerance and ethanol production efficiency of Pichia kudriavzevii from lignocellulosic biomass

Second-generation bioethanol production using lignocellulosic biomass as feedstock requires a highly efficient multistress-tolerant yeast. This study aimed to develop a robust yeast strain of P. kudriavzevii via the adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) technique. The parental strain of P. kudriavzevii was subjected to repetitive long-term cultivation in medium supplemented with a gradually increasing concentration of acetic acid, the major weak acid liberated during the lignocellulosic pretreatment process. Three evolved P. kudriavzevii strains, namely, PkAC-7, PkAC-8, and PkAC-9, obtained in this study exhibited significantly higher resistance toward multiple stressors, including heat, ethanol, osmotic stress, acetic acid, formic acid, furfural, 5-(hydroxymethyl) furfural (5-HMF), and vanillin. The fermentation efficiency of the evolved strains was also improved, yielding a higher ethanol concentration, productivity, and yield than the parental strain, using undetoxified sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate as feedstock. These findings provide evidence that ALE is a practical approach for increasing the multistress tolerance of P. kudriavzevii for stable and efficient second-generation bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass.

Recent progress in adaptive laboratory evolution of industrial microorganisms

Adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) is a technique for the selection of strains with better phenotypes by long-term culture under a specific selection pressure or growth environment. Because ALE does not require detailed knowledge of a variety of complex and interactive metabolic networks, and only needs to simulate natural environmental conditions in the laboratory to design a selection pressure, it has the advantages of broad adaptability, strong practicability, and more convenient transformation of strains. In addition, ALE provides a powerful method for studying the evolutionary forces that change the phenotype, performance, and stability of strains, resulting in more productive industrial strains with beneficial mutations. In recent years, ALE has been widely used in the activation of specific microbial metabolic pathways and phenotypic optimization, the efficient utilization of specific substrates, the optimization of tolerance to toxic substance, and the biosynthesis of target products, which is more conducive to the production of industrial strains with excellent phenotypic characteristics. In this paper, typical examples of ALE applications in the development of industrial strains and the research progress of this technology are reviewed, followed by a discussion of its development prospects.

A review of yeast: High cell-density culture, molecular mechanisms of stress response and tolerance during fermentation

Yeast is widely used in the fermentation industry, and the major challenges in fermentation production system are high capital cost and low reaction rate. High cell-density culture is an effective method to increase the volumetric productivity of the fermentation process, thus making the fermentation process faster and more robust. During fermentation, yeast is subjected to various environmental stresses, including osmotic, ethanol, oxidation, and heat stress. To cope with these stresses, yeast cells need appropriate adaptive responses to acquire stress tolerances to prevent stress-induced cell damage. Since a single stressor can trigger multiple effects, both specific and nonspecific effects, general and specific stress responses are required to achieve comprehensive protection of cells. Since all these stresses disrupt protein structure, the upregulation of heat shock proteins and trehalose genes is induced when yeast cells are exposed to stress. A better understanding of the research status of yeast HCDC and its underlying response mechanism to various stresses during fermentation is essential for designing effective culture control strategies and improving the fermentation efficiency and stress resistance of yeast.

New Isolated Autochthonous Strains of S. cerevisiae for Fermentation of Two Grape Varieties Grown in Poland

Many commercial strains of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae species are used around the world in the wine industry, while the use of native yeast strains is highly recommended for their role in shaping specific, terroir-associated wine characteristics. In recent years, in Poland, an increase in the number of registered vineyards has been observed, and Polish wines are becoming more recognizable among consumers. In the fermentation process, apart from ethyl alcohol, numerous microbial metabolites are formed. These compounds shape the wine bouquet or become precursors for the creation of new products that affect the sensory characteristics and quality of the wine. The aim of this work was to study the effect of the grapevine varieties and newly isolated native S. cerevisiae yeast strains on the content of selected wine fermentation metabolites. Two vine varieties—Regent and Seyval blanc were used. A total of 16 different yeast strains of the S. cerevisiae species were used for fermentation: nine newly isolated from vine fruit and seven commercial cultures. The obtained wines differed in terms of the content of analyzed oenological characteristics and the differences depended both on the raw material (vine variety) as well as the source of isolation and origin of the yeast strain used (commercial vs. native). Generally, red wines characterized a higher content of tested analytes than white wines, regardless of the yeast strain used. The red wines are produced with the use of native yeast strains characterized by higher content of amyl alcohols and esters.

Impact of Germination on the Microstructural and Physicochemical Properties of Different Legume Types

The microstructural and physicochemical compositions of bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), lentil (Lens culinaris Merr.), soybean (Glycine max L.), chickpea (Cicer aretinium L.) and lupine (Lupinus albus) were investigated over 2 and 4 days of germination. Different changes were noticed during microscopic observations (Stereo Microscope, SEM) of the legume seeds subjected to germination, mostly related to the breakages of the seed structure. The germination caused the increase in protein content for bean, lentil, and chickpea and of ash content for lentil, soybean and chickpea. Germination increased the availability of sodium, magnesium, iron, zinc and also the acidity for all legume types. The content of fat decreased for lentil, chickpea, and lupine, whereas the content of carbohydrates and pH decreased for all legume types during the four-day germination period. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic (FT-IR) spectra show that the compositions of germinated seeds were different from the control and varied depending on the type of legume. The multivariate analysis of the data shows close associations between chickpea, lentil, and bean and between lupine and soybean samples during the germination process. Significant negative correlations were obtained between carbohydrate contents and protein, fat and ash at the 0.01 level.