Using EPR to characterise the role of specific mechanosensitive channels in yeast cells involved in stress response

使用 EPR 表征酵母细胞中参与应激反应的特定机械敏感通道的作用

• 批准号: 2596454
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Aston University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2596454
• 关键词: Using; EPR; characterise; role; specific

The global economy has an unsustainable dependence on fossil raw materials. Biotechnological processes using microorganisms as cell factories to produce valuable compounds from renewable biomass are an attractive alternative, and many high-value chemicals can be produced at an industrial scale using this strategy. However, many microbial processes are not implemented at industrial level due to poor product yield and being more expensive than chemical synthesis.It is well-established that microbes show stress responses during bioprocessing and poor product yields from cell factories are because production conditions are ultimately toxic to the cells, often at the level of the cell membrane. Examples of stresses that are demonstrably membrane-centric are solvents, e.g. butanol production by Clostridia and ethanol production by yeast, and weak acids such a lactic acid produced by bacteria. This project will seek to understand the cell membrane of industrial microbes to increase tolerance to stresses during bioprocessing.Mechanosensitive channels (MSCs) are diverse, ubiquitous to living cells and play an important role in mechanosensory transduction of mechanical force exerted on the membrane. They convert this stimulus into a variety of electrical and/or chemical intracellular signals. This project aims to identify key MSCs involved in yeast stress responses (e.g ethanol exposure, osmotic shock) and to understand their roles using molecular biology techniques and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). These insights would further our understanding and provide an opportunity to discover novel ways to engineer more 'tolerant' microbes with greater product yields.

全球经济对化石原料的依赖是不可持续的。利用微生物作为细胞工厂从可再生生物质中生产有价值的化合物的生物技术工艺是一种有吸引力的替代方案，并且许多高价值的化学品可以使用这种策略以工业规模生产。然而，许多微生物工艺由于产品产量低并且比化学合成更昂贵而没有在工业水平上实施。众所周知，微生物在生物加工过程中表现出应激反应，并且细胞工厂的产品产量低是因为生产条件最终对细胞有毒，通常在细胞膜水平。明显以膜为中心的应激的实例是溶剂，例如梭菌产生的丁醇和酵母产生的乙醇，以及弱酸如细菌产生的乳酸。本项目旨在了解工业微生物的细胞膜，以提高生物加工过程中对应力的耐受性。机械敏感通道（mechanosensitive channels，MSCs）是一种多样的、普遍存在于活细胞中的通道，在机械力传感器对施加在细胞膜上的机械力的传递中起着重要作用。它们将这种刺激转化为各种电和/或化学细胞内信号。该项目旨在鉴定参与酵母应激反应（例如乙醇暴露，渗透压休克）的关键MSC，并使用分子生物学技术和电子顺磁共振（EPR）了解它们的作用。这些见解将进一步加深我们的理解，并提供一个机会，发现新的方法来工程更“宽容”的微生物，更大的产品产量。