Physiological and transcriptional responses of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to zinc limitation in chemostat cultures

Zinc is indispensable for the catalytic activity and structural stability of many proteins, and its deficiency can have severe consequences for microbial growth in natural and industrial environments. For example, Zn depletion in wort negatively affects beer fermentation and quality. Several studies have investigated yeast adaptation to low Zn supply, but were all performed in batch cultures, where specific growth rate depends on Zn availability. The transcriptional responses to growth-rate and Zn availability are then intertwined, which obscures result interpretation. In the present study, transcriptional responses of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to Zn availability were investigated at a fixed specific growth rate under Zn limitation and excess in chemostat culture. To investigate the context-dependency of this transcriptional response, yeast was grown under several chemostat regimes resulting in various carbon (glucose), nitrogen (ammonium) and oxygen supplies. A robust set of genes that responded consistently to Zn limitation was identified and enabled the definition of a Zn-specific Zap1 regulon comprising of 26 genes and characterized by a broader ZRE consensus (MHHAACCBYNMRGGT) than so far described. Most surprising was the Zn-dependent regulation of genes involved in storage carbohydrate metabolism. Their concerted down-regulation was physiologically relevant as revealed by a substantial decrease in glycogen and trehalose cellular content under Zn limitation. An unexpectedly large amount of genes were synergistically or antagonistically regulated by oxygen and Zn availability. This combinatorial regulation suggested a more prominent involvement of Zn in mitochondrial biogenesis and function than hitherto identified.

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De Nicola R, Hazelwood LA, De Hulster EA, Walsh MC, Knijnenburg TA, Reinders MJ, Walker GM, Pronk JT, Daran JM, Daran-Lapujade P