Browsing by Author "Volschenk, Heinrich"

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    Characterisation of L-malic acid metabolism in strains of Saccharomyces and the development of a commercial wine yeast strain with an efficient malo-ethanolic pathway
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2002-12) Volschenk, Heinrich; Van Vuuren, H. J. J.; Bloom, M.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Science. Dept. of Microbiology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: L-Malic and tartaric acid are the most prominent organic acids in wine and playa crucial role in winemaking processes and wine quality, including the organoleptic quality and the physical, biochemical and microbial stability of wine. The production of premium wines depends on the oenologist's skill to accurately adjust wine acidity to obtain the optimum balance with other wine components to produce wine with optimum colour and flavour. Strains of Saccharomyces, in general, rarely degrade L-malic acid completely in grape must during alcoholic fermentation, with relatively minor modifications in total acidity during vinification. The degree of L-malic acid degradation, however, varies from strain to strain. Some strains of Saccharomyces are known to be able to degrade a higher percentage of L-malic acid, but the underlying reason for this phenomenon is unknown. The underlying mechanisms of this phenomenon have been partially revealed during preliminary transcriptional regulation research during this study. In contrast, S. pombe cells can effectively degrade up to 29 gil L-malic acid via the malo-ethanolic pathway that converts L-malic acid to pyruvate and CO2, and ultimately to ethanol under fermentative conditions. A number of reasons for the weak degradation of L-malic acid in Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been postulated. Firstly, S. cerevisiae lacks the machinery for the active transport of L-malic acid found in S. pombe and relies on rate-limiting simple diffusion for the uptake of extracellular L-malic acid. Secondly, the malic enzyme of S. cerevisiae has a significantly lower substrate affinity for L-malic acid (Km = 50 mM) than that of S. pombe (Km = 3.2 mM), which contributes to the weaker degradation of L-malic acid in S. cerevisiae. Lastly, the mitochondrial location of the malic enzyme of S. cerevisiae, in contrast to the cytosolic S. pombe malic enzyme, suggests that the S. cerevisiae malic enzyme is inherently subject to the regulatory effects of fermentative metabolism. The malate permease gene tmael) and the malic enzyme gene (mae2) of S. pombe was therefore cloned and co-expressed in single or multi-copy under regulation of the constitutive S. cerevisiae 3-phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK1) promoter and terminator sequences in a laboratory strain of S. cerevisiae. This introduced a strong malo-ethanolic phenotype in S. cerevisiae where L-malic acid was rapidly and efficiently degraded in synthetic and Chardonnay grape must with the concurrent production of higher levels of ethanol. Functional expression of the malo-ethanolic pathway genes of S. pombe in a laboratory strain of S. cerevisiae paved the way for the genetic modification of industrial wine yeast strains of Saccharomyces for commercial winemaking. A prerequisite for becoming an inherited component of yeast is the stable integration of the malo-ethanolic genes into the genome of industrial wine yeast strains. Genetic engineering of wine yeasts strains of Saccharomyces is, however, complicated by the homothallic, multiple ploidy and prototrophic nature of industrial strains of Saccharomyces. Transformation and integration of heterologous genes into industrial strains of Saccharomyces require the use of dominant selectable markers, i.e. antibiotic or toxic compound resistance markers. Integration of these markers into the yeast genome is, however, not acceptable for commercial application due to the absence of long-term risk assessment and consumer resistance. A unique strategy for the integration of the S. pombe mae} and mae2 expression cassettes without the incorporation of any non-yeast derived DNA sequences was. The malo-ethanolic cassette, containing the S. cerevisiae PGK} promoter and terminator regions together with the S. pombe mae] and mae2 open reading frames, was integrated into the VRA3 locus of an industrial strain of Saccharomyces bayanus EC 1118 during co-transformation with a phleomycin-resistance plasmid, pUT332. After initial screening for phleomycin resistance, S. bayanus EC1118 transformants were cured of the phleomycin-resistance plasmid, resulting in the loss of non-yeast derived DNA sequences. After correct integration of the mae] and mae2 expression cassettes was verified, small-scale vinification in synthetic and Chardonnay grape must with stable transformants resulted in rapid and complete degradation of L-malic acid during the early stages of alcoholic fermentation. Integration and expression of the malo-ethanolic genes in S. bayanus ECll18 had no adverse effect on the fermentation ability of the yeast, while sensory evaluation and chemical analysis of the Chardonnay wines indicated an improvement in wine flavour compared to the control wines, without the production of any off-flavours.
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    Comparative secretome analysis of Trichoderma asperellum S4F8 and Trichoderma reesei Rut C30 during solid-state fermentation on sugarcane bagasse
    (BioMed Central, 2013-11) Marx, Isa Jacoba; Van Wyk, Niel; Smit, Salome; Jacobson, Daniel; Viljoen-Bloom, Marinda; Volschenk, Heinrich
    Background: The lignocellulosic enzymes of Trichoderma species have received particular attention with regard to biomass conversion to biofuels, but the production cost of these enzymes remains a significant hurdle for their commercial application. In this study, we quantitatively compared the lignocellulolytic enzyme profile of a newly isolated Trichoderma asperellum S4F8 strain with that of Trichoderma reesei Rut C30, cultured on sugarcane bagasse (SCB) using solid-state fermentation (SSF). Results: Comparison of the lignocellulolytic enzyme profiles of S4F8 and Rut C30 showed that S4F8 had significantly higher hemicellulase and β-glucosidase enzyme activities. Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry analysis of the two fungal secretomes enabled the detection of 815 proteins in total, with 418 and 397 proteins being specific for S4F8 and Rut C30, respectively, and 174 proteins being common to both strains. In-depth analysis of the associated biological functions and the representation of glycoside hydrolase family members within the two secretomes indicated that the S4F8 secretome contained a higher diversity of main and side chain hemicellulases and β-glucosidases, and an increased abundance of some of these proteins compared with the Rut C30 secretome. Conclusions: In SCB SSF, T. asperellum S4F8 produced a more complex lignocellulolytic cocktail, with enhanced hemicellulose and cellobiose hydrolysis potential, compared with T. reesei Rut C30. This bodes well for the development of a more cost-effective and efficient lignocellulolytic enzyme cocktail from T. asperellum for lignocellulosic feedstock hydrolysis.
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    Draft genome sequence of the lignocellulose-degrading ascomycete coniochaeta pulveracea CAB
    (American Society for Microbiology, 2019-01-03) Borstlap, Cornelius Johannes; de Witt, Riaan Neethling; Botha, Alfred; Volschenk, Heinrich
    Coniochaeta pulveracea is a soft-rot-causing ascomycete able to degrade lignocellulosic biomass. The first draft genome sequence of strain CAB 683 reported here has an estimated size of 30 Mb assembled into 852 scaffolds and 10,035 predicted protein-coding genes.
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    Engineering pathways for malate degradation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1996) Volschenk, Heinrich; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of . Dept. of .
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    Identification of the gene for β-fructofuranosidase from Ceratocystis moniliformis CMW 10134 and characterization of the enzyme expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
    (BioMed Central, 2013-11) Van Wyk, Niel; Trollope, Kim M.; Steenkamp, Emma T.; Wingfield, Brenda D.; Volschenk, Heinrich
    Background: β-Fructofuranosidases (or invertases) catalyse the commercially-important biotransformation of sucrose into short-chain fructooligosaccharides with wide-scale application as a prebiotic in the functional foods and pharmaceutical industries. Results: We identified a β-fructofuranosidase gene (CmINV) from a Ceratocystis moniliformis genome sequence using protein homology and phylogenetic analysis. The predicted 615 amino acid protein, CmINV, grouped with an existing clade within the glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 32 and showed typical conserved motifs of this enzyme family. Heterologous expression of the CmINV gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae BY4742Δsuc2 provided further evidence that CmINV indeed functions as a β-fructofuranosidase. Firstly, expression of the CmINV gene complemented the inability of the Δsuc2 deletion mutant strain of S. cerevisiae to grow on sucrose as sole carbohydrate source. Secondly, the recombinant protein was capable of producing short-chain fructooligosaccharides (scFOS) when incubated in the presence of 10% sucrose. Purified deglycosylated CmINV protein showed a molecular weight of ca. 66 kDa and a Km and Vmax on sucrose of 7.50 mM and 986 μmol/min/mg protein, respectively. Its optimal pH and temperature conditions were determined to be 6.0 and 62.5°C, respectively. The addition of 50 mM LiCl led to a 186% increase in CmINV activity. Another striking feature was the relatively high volumetric production of this protein in S. cerevisiae as one mL of supernatant was calculated to contain 197 ± 6 International Units of enzyme. Conclusion: The properties of the CmINV enzyme make it an attractive alternative to other invertases being used in industry.