Hexose transport in Torulaspora delbrueckii: identification of Igt1, a new dual-affinity transporter.

Torulaspora delbrueckii is a yeast species receiving increasing attention from the biotechnology industry, with particular relevance in the wine, beer and baking sectors. However, little is known about its sugar transporters and sugar transport capacity, frequently a rate-limiting step of sugar metabolism and efficient fermentation. Actually, only one glucose transporter, Lgt1, has been characterized so far.

Genome-wide identification of genes involved in the positive and negative regulation of acetic acid-induced programmed cell death in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Background: Acetic acid is mostly known as a toxic by-product of alcoholic fermentation carried out by Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which it frequently impairs. The more recent finding that acetic acid triggers apoptotic programmed cell death (PCD) in yeast sparked an interest to develop strategies to modulate this process, to improve several biotechnological applications, but also for biomedical research. Indeed, acetate can trigger apoptosis in cancer cells, suggesting its exploitation as an anticancer compound.

C2-phytoceramide perturbs lipid rafts and cell integrity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae in a sterol-dependent manner.

Specific ceramides are key regulators of cell fate, and extensive studies aimed to develop therapies based on ceramide-induced cell death. However, the mechanisms regulating ceramide cytotoxicity are not yet fully elucidated. Since ceramides also regulate growth and stress responses in yeast, we studied how different exogenous ceramides affect yeast cells.

Visual rapid naming and phonological abilities: different subtypes in dyslexic children.

One implication of the double-deficit hypothesis for dyslexia is that there should be subtypes of dyslexic readers that exhibit rapid naming deficits with or without concomitant phonological processing problems. In the current study, we investigated the validity of this hypothesis for Portuguese orthography, which is more consistent than English orthography, by exploring different cognitive profiles in a sample of dyslexic children. In particular, we were interested in identifying readers characterized by a pure rapid automatized naming deficit.

Improved gene disruption method for Torulaspora delbrueckii.

PCR-based disruption cassettes are one of the most commonly used strategies for gene targeting in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The efficiencies of gene disruption using this conventional method are highly variable among species, and often quite low with nonconventional yeasts. Here we describe an improved strategy to obtain deletion mutants in baker's yeast Torulaspora delbrueckii, one of the most abundant non-Saccharomyces species, present in home-made corn and rye bread dough.