Journal of Microbiology

Journal Articles

Synthesis of pinene in the industrial strain Candida glycerinogenes by modification of its mevalonate pathway: Tengfei Ma , Hong Zong , Xinyao Lu , Bin Zhuge; J. Microbiol. 2022;60(12):1191-1200. Published online October 24, 2022; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-022-2344-0

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Abstract: Terpenes have many applications and are widely found in nature, but recent progress in synthetic biology has enabled the use of microorganisms as chassis cells for the synthesis of these compounds. Candida glycerinogenes (C. glycerinogenes) is an industrial strain that may be developed as a chassis for the synthesis of terpenes since it has a tolerance to hyperosmolality and high sugar, and has a complete mevalonate (MVA) pathway. However, monoterpenes such as pinene are highly toxic, and the tolerance of C. glycerinogenes to pinene was investigated. We also measured the content of mevalonate and squalene to evaluate the strength of the MVA pathway. To determine terpene synthesis capacity, a pathway for the synthesis of pinene was constructed in C. glycerinogenes. Pinene production was improved by overexpression, gene knockdown and antisense RNA inhibition. Pinene production was mainly enhanced by strengthening the upstream MVA pathway and inhibiting the production of by-products from the downstream pathway. With these strategies, yield could be increased by almost 16 times, to 6.0 mg/L. Overall, we successfully constructed a pinene synthesis pathway in C. glycerinogenes and enhanced pinene production through metabolic modification.

Fus3 and Tpk2 protein kinases regulate the phosphorylation-dependent functions of RNA helicase Dhh1 in yeast mating and Ste12 protein expression: Jaehee Hwang , Daehee Jung , Jinmi Kim; J. Microbiol. 2022;60(8):843-848. Published online July 14, 2022; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-022-2213-x

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Abstract: Decapping of mRNA is a key regulatory step for mRNA decay and translation. The RNA helicase, Dhh1, is known as a decapping activator and translation repressor in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Dhh1 also functions as a gene-specific positive regulator in the expression of Ste12, a mating-specific transcription factor. A previous study showed that the Nerminal phosphorylation of Dhh1 regulates its association with the mRNA-binding protein, Puf6, to affect the protein translation of Ste12. Here, we investigated the roles of the phosphorylated residues of Dhh1 in yeast mating process and Ste12 expression. The phospho-deficient mutation, DHH1- T10A, was associated with decreased diploid formation during mating and decreased level of the Ste12 protein in response to α-mating pheromone. A kinase overexpression analysis revealed that Ste12 protein expression was affected by overexpression of Fus3 MAP kinase or Tpk2 kinase. Tpk2 was shown to be responsible for phosphorylation of Dhh1 at Thr10. Our study shows that overexpression of Fus3 or Tpk2 alters the Dhh1-Puf6 protein interaction and thereby affects Ste12 protein expression.

Down-regulation of microRNA-155 suppressed Candida albicans induced acute lung injury by activating SOCS1 and inhibiting inflammation response: Xiaohua Li , Yuanzhong Gong , Xin Lin , Qiong Lin , Jianxiong Luo , Tianxing Yu , Junping Xu , Lifang Chen , Liyu Xu , Ying Hu; J. Microbiol. 2022;60(4):402-410. Published online February 14, 2022; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-022-1663-5

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Abstract: Acute lung injury caused by Candida albicans could result in high mortality and morbidity. MicroRNA-155 (miR-155) and suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 (SOCS1) have been believed to play a key in the regulation of inflammatory response. Whether miR-155/SOCS1 axis could regulate the acute lung injury caused by C. albicans has not been reported. The acute lung injury animal model was established with acute infection of C. albicans. miR-155 inhibitor, miR-155 mimic, and sh-SOCS1 were constructed. The binding site between miR- 155 and SOCS1 was identified with dual luciferase reporter assay. Knockdown of miR-155 markedly inhibited the germ tube formation of C. albicans. Knockdown of miR-155 significantly up-regulated the expression of SOCS1, and the binding site between miR-155 and SOCS1 was identified. Knockdown of miR-155 improved the acute lung injury, suppressed inflammatory factors and fungus loading through SOCS1. Knockdown of SOCS1 greatly reversed the influence of miR- 155 inhibitor on the cell apoptosis in vitro. The improvement of acute lung injury caused by C. albicans, suppression of inflammatory response and C. albicans infection, and inhibitor of cell apoptosis were achieved by knocking down miR-155 through SOCS1. This research might provide a new thought for the prevention and treatment of acute lung injury caused by C. albicans through targeting miR-155/SOCS1 axis.

The quorum sensing regulator OpaR is a repressor of polar flagellum genes in Vibrio parahaemolyticus: Renfei Lu , Junfang Sun , Yue Qiu , Miaomiao Zhang , Xingfan Xue , Xue Li , Wenhui Yang , Dongsheng Zhou , Lingfei Hu , Yiquan Zhang; J. Microbiol. 2021;59(7):651-657. Published online June 1, 2021; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-021-0629-3

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Abstract: Vibrio parahaemolyticus possesses two types of flagella: a single polar flagellum (Pof) for swimming and the peritrichous lateral flagella (Laf) for swarming. Expression of Laf genes has previously been reported to be regulated by the quorum sensing (QS) regulators AphA and OpaR. In the present study, we showed that OpaR, the QS regulator at high cell density (HCD), acted as a negative regulator of swimming motility and the transcription of Pof genes in V. parahaemolyticus. OpaR bound to the promoter-proximal DNA regions of flgAMN, flgMN, and flgBCDEFGHIJ within the Pof gene loci to repress their transcription, whereas it negatively regulates the transcription of flgKL-flaC in an indirect manner. Thus, this work investigated how QS regulated the swimming motility via direct action of its master regulator OpaR on the transcription of Pof genes in V. parahaemolyticus.

Full-repertoire comparison of the microscopic objects composing the human gut microbiome with sequenced and cultured communities: Edmond Kuete Yimagou , Jean-Pierre Baudoin , Rita Abou Abdallah , Fabrizio Di Pinto , Jacques Yaacoub Bou Khalil , Didier Raoult; J. Microbiol. 2020;58(5):377-386. Published online April 11, 2020; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-020-9365-3

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Abstract: The study of the human gut microbiome is essential in microbiology and infectious diseases as specific alterations in the gut microbiome might be associated with various pathologies, such as chronic inflammatory disease, intestinal infection and colorectal cancer. To identify such dysregulations, several strategies are being used to create a repertoire of the microorganisms composing the human gut microbiome. In this study, we used the “microscomics” approach, which consists of creating an ultrastructural repertoire of all the cell-like objects composing stool samples from healthy donors using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). We used TEM to screen ultrathin sections of 8 resin-embedded stool samples. After exploring hundreds of micrographs, we managed to elaborate ultrastructural categories based on morphological criteria or features. This approach explained many inconsistencies observed with other techniques, such as metagenomics and culturomics. We highlighted the value of our cultureindependent approach by comparing our microscopic images to those of cultured bacteria and those reported in the literature. This study helped to detect “minimicrobes” Candidate Phyla Radiation (CPR) for the first time in human stool samples. This “microscomics” approach is non-exhaustive but complements already existing approaches and adds important data to the puzzle of the microbiota.

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