Coexpression of cellulases in Pichia pastoris as a self-processing protein fusion.

The term cellulase refers to any component of the enzymatic complex produced by some fungi, bacteria and protozoans which act serially or synergistically to catalyze the cleavage of cellulosic materials. Cellulases have been widely used in many industrial applications ranging from food industry to the production of second generation ethanol. In an effort to develop new strategies to minimize the costs of enzyme production we describe the development of a Pichia pastoris strain able to coproduce two different cellulases.

Cell density-dependent linoleic acid toxicity to Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Since the discovery of the apoptotic pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, several compounds have been shown to cause apoptosis in this organism. While the toxicity of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) peroxides towards S. cerevisiae has been known for a long time, studies on the effect of nonoxidized PUFA are scarce.

The yeast genome may harbor hypoxia response elements (HRE).

The hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) is a heterodimeric transcription factor activated when cells are submitted to hypoxia. The heterodimer is composed of two subunits, HIF-1alpha and the constitutively expressed HIF-1beta. During normoxia, HIF-1alpha is degraded by the 26S proteasome, but hypoxia causes HIF-1alpha to be stabilized, enter the nucleus and bind to HIF-1beta, thus forming the active complex.