Oxygen induces fatty acid (n-6)-desaturation independently of temperature in Acanthamoeba castellanii

Free-living amoebae and squatters in the wild: ecological and molecular features

Free-living amoebae are protists frequently found in water and soils. They feed on other microorganisms, mainly bacteria, and digest them through phagocytosis. It is accepted that these amoebae play an important role in the microbial ecology of these environments. There is a renewed interest for the free-living amoebae since the discovery of pathogenic bacteria that can resist phagocytosis and of giant viruses, underlying that amoebae might play a role in the evolution of other microorganisms, including several human pathogens. Recent advances, using molecular methods, allow to bring together new information about free-living amoebae. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the newly gathered insights into (1) the free-living amoeba diversity, assessed with molecular tools, (2) the gene functions described to decipher the biology of the amoebae and (3) their interactions with other microorganisms in the environment.

Temperature Stress: Reacting and Adapting: Lessons from Poikilotherms

Acanthamoeba castellanii (A. castellanii) is a common soil- or water-borne protozoon that feeds on bacteria by phagocytosis. A. castellanii can grow between 4 and 32 degrees C and has to adapt quickly to chilling in order to survive. We have identified a Delta12-fatty acid desaturase as key to low temperature adaptation. The activity of this enzyme is mainly increased through gene expression and new protein synthesis. Interestingly, the activity can also be altered independently by dissolved oxygen levels. In addition, we have identified a gene for the Delta12-desaturase, which, when expressed in yeast, catalyses Delta15-desaturation also. Moreover, it is also capable of producing very unusual n-1 polyunsaturated products.

Mechanisms of temperature adaptation in poikilotherms

For good function, membrane lipids have to be arranged appropriately and be in the correct physical state. In poikilotherms, exposure to cold stress or heat shock can alter membrane properties such that, unless they are corrected quickly, damage and, possibly, death can result. Low temperature stress is countered by modifying membrane lipids such that their average transition temperature is lowered. There are various ways in which this can be achieved but an increase in fatty acid unsaturation is the most common. For heat shock, various changes in lipids have been noted and some defensive strategies involving heat shock proteins noted. In this short review, we will describe recent results where adaptive lipid changes, as a result of temperature stress, have been found. Mechanisms for bringing about such alterations are discussed, together with the contrasting data for different organisms.

Membrane Lipid Homeostasis

The lipid matrix of biological membranes is composed of a complex mixture of polar lipids. It has been estimated that more than 600 distinct molecular species of lipid are constituents of biological membranes. This rather remarkable feature raises the questions of why such complexity is required when barrier properties and many protein functions can be reconstituted with relatively simple lipid systems. Secondly, the molecular species composition of morphologically distinct membranes appears to be preserved within fairly narrow limits. The biochemical mechanism(s) responsible for this homeostasis are not fully understood. This review examines the origin of membrane lipid complexity, the methods that are currently employed to measure and detect lipid molecular species and the biochemical reactions associated with the turnover of membrane lipids in resting and stimulated cells.

Oxygen induction of a novel fatty acid n-6 desaturase in the soil protozoon, Acanthamoeba castellanii

Induction of fatty acid desaturation is very important for the temperature adaptation of poikilotherms. However, in oxygen-limited late-exponential-phase Acanthamoeba castellanii cultures, oxygen alone was able to induce increased activity of a fatty acid desaturase that converts oleate into linoleate and which has been implicated in the temperature adaptation of this organism. Experiments with Delta(10)-nonadecenoate showed that the enzyme is an n -6 desaturase rather than a Delta(12)-desaturase. It also used preferentially 1-acyl-2-oleoyl-phosphatidylcholine as substrate and NAD(P)H as electron donor. The involvement of cytochrome b (5) as an intermediate electron carrier was shown by difference spectra measurements and anti-(cytochrome b (5)) antibody experiments. Of the three protein components of the desaturase complex, oxygen only increased the activity of the terminal (cyanide-sensitive) protein during n -6 desaturase induction. The induction of this terminal protein paralleled well the increase in overall oleate n -6 desaturation. The ability of oxygen to induce oleate desaturase independently of temperature in this lower eukaryotic animal model is of novel intrinsic interest, as well as being important for the design of future experiments to determine the molecular mechanism of temperature adaptation in poikilotherms.

Temperature and oxygen regulation of oleate desaturation in developing sunflower (Helianthus annuus) seeds

The effect of low (10 degrees C) and high (30 degrees C) temperature on in vivo oleate desaturation has been studied in developing sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) seeds under conditions of different oxygen availability (capitulum, detached achenes or peeled seeds). In seeds remaining in the capitulum, only a part of the oleate newly synthesized at high temperature was desaturated to linoleate, whereas more oleate than that synthesized de novo was desaturated at low temperature. Achenes were only able to significantly desaturate oleate at low temperatures. In contrast, oleate desaturation was detected in peeled seeds incubated at low and high temperatures, showing the highest rate at 20 degrees C. Hull removing dramatically increased the activity of the microsomal oleate desaturase (FAD2, EC 1.3.1.35) at all studied temperatures, although a long-term inactivation of the enzyme was observed at high temperatures. Low oxygen concentration (1-2%) obtained by respiration of peeled seeds incubated in sealed vials, brought about the inactivation of the enzyme. All these data suggest that temperature regulates oleate desaturation controlling the amount of oleate and the FAD2 activity. In addition, this enzyme seems to be also regulated by the availability of oxygen, which is affected inside the achene by its diffusion through the hull, and the competition with respiration, both factors being temperature-dependent.

Encystation in Acanthamoeba castellanii: development of biocide resistance

Since the early 1960s, axenic culture and the development of procedures for the induction of encystation have made Acanthamoeba spp. superb experimental systems for studies of cell biology and differentiation. More recently, since their roles as human pathogens causing keratitis and encephalitis have become widely recognized, it has become urgent to understand the parameters that determine differentiation, as cysts are much more resistant to biocides than are the trophozoites. Viability of trophozoites of the soil amoeba Acanthamoeba castellanii (Neff), is conveniently measured by its ability to form plaques on a lawn of Escherichia coli. Use of confocal laser scanning microscopy with Calcofluor white, Congo Red or the anionic oxonol dye, DiBAC4(3) or flow cytometry with propidium iodide diacetate and fluorescein or oxonol provides more rapid assessment. For cysts, the plaque method is still the best, because dye exclusion does not necessarily indicate viability and therefore the plate count method has been used to study the sequence of development of biocide resistance during the differentiation process. After two hours, resistance to HCl was apparent. Polyhexamethylene biguanide, benzalkonium chloride, propamidine isethionate, pentamidine isethionate, dibromopropamine isethionate, and H2O2 and moist heat, all lost effectiveness at between 14 and 24 h after trophozoites were inoculated into encystation media. Chlorhexidine diacetate resistance was observed at between 24 and 36 h. The molecular biology and biochemistry of the modifications that underlie these changes are now being investigated.

Effects of dissolved oxygen on the morphology of an arachidonic acid production by Mortierella alpina 1S-4

Arachidonic acid (AA) production by Mortierella alpina 1S-4 was investigated using a 50-L fermentor. In order to optimize the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration and to investigate the effect of DO on morphology, cultivation was carried out under constant DO at various levels in the range of 3-50 ppm. To maintain a DO concentration above 7 ppm, two methods, i.e., the oxygen-enrichment (OE) method (experimental range, 25-90% oxygen gas supplied) and the pressurization (PR) method (experimental range, 180-380 kPa headspace pressure), were used. As a result, the optimum DO concentration range was found to be 10-15 ppm. In this optimum DO concentration range, the AA yield was enhanced about 1.6-fold compared to that obtained at 7 ppm DO, and there was no difference in the AA productivity between the OE and PR methods. When the DO concentration was maintained at 20-50 ppm using the OE method, the morphology changed from filaments to pellets, and the AA yield decreased drastically because of stress due to the limited mass transfer through the pellet wall. When the DO concentration was maintained at 15-20 ppm using the PR method, the morphology did not change, and the AA yield decreased gradually.

Image analysis of morphological change during arachidonic acid production by Mortierella alpina 1S-4

The changes in mycelial morphology during arachidonic acid (AA) production by Mortierella alpina 1S-4 were investigated using an image analysis system. Cultivation was performed in a 10-kl fermentor, and the culture broth was separated into two fractions by sieving (0.5 mm aperture size): the filament fraction (F-fraction, <0.5 mm), and the pellet fraction (P-fraction, >0.5 mm). The effect of the mycelial morphology in each fraction on AA production was analyzed. As a result, a product distribution in the culture broth wherein the AA content in the mycelia of the P-fraction was observed to be higher than that in the mycelia of the F-fraction throughout the cultivation. Morphological analysis of the P-fraction revealed that the hairy pellets became smooth because the mycelia on the pellet surface were shaved off; some pellets were broken and reduced in size. The shaved-off mycelia from the hairy pellets surface moved into the F-fraction and aggregated there. From the above findings, it was likely that the low AA content in the F-fraction was due to mycelial damage during the cultivation. In addition, the morphology of the hairy pellets was found to contribute to an increase in the viscosity of culture broth.