Alternative transporters

02 Feb 2012

Microorganisms, especially those used in industrial production, are constantly under pressure to perform better. Generating microorganisms with improved characteristics is either done through direct engineering, which requires knowledge of the underlying genetic determinants, or through laboratory evolution, which opens the way for new mutations to occur in a more 'natural' process. Stefan de Kok (Delft University of Technology) and colleagues used laboratory evolution followed by transcriptome analysis and whole-genome resequencing to look for alternative lactate transporters in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker's yeast). So far, only one lactate transporter, Jen1p, has been documented in this yeast. The resequencing effort proved crucial and resulted in the discovery of single-nucleotide changes in ADY2, an acetate transporter gene. Introduction of these ADY2 alleles in a S. cerevisiae jen1∆ ady2∆ strain demonstrated that these alleles encode efficient lactate transporters.

de Kok S, Nijkamp JF, Oud B, Roque FC, de Ridder D, Daran JM, Pronk JT, van Maris AJ
Laboratory evolution of new lactate transporter genes in a jen1∆ mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and their identification as ADY2 alleles by whole-genome resequencing and transcriptome analysis.
FEMS Yeast Research 2012 1-16. doi:10.1111/j.1567-1364.2012.00787.x

By: Esther Thole

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