title: L-ascorbic acid producing yeasts learn from plants how to recycle it.
abstract: Microorganisms employed in industrial fermentation processes are often subjected to a variety of stresses that negatively affect growth, production and productivity. Therefore, stress robustness is an important property for their application. Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) accumulation is a common denominator to a lot of these stress factors. Ascorbic acid (L-AA) acts as ROS scavenger, thus potentially protecting cells from harmful oxidative products. We have previously reported the development of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains able to produce L-AA. This was obtained by expressing the known plant pathway genes and by complementing the missing step with an animal activity. Here, we show that L-AA accumulation inside yeast cells can be improved by expressing the complete biosynthetic plant pathway and, even further, by recycling its oxidation products. These new strains can be seen in a double perspective of exploitation: as novel organisms for vitamin C production and as novel cell factories for industrial processes.
authors.affiliation: University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, Milano, Italy. tiziana.fossati@unimib.it
authors.forename: Tiziana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fossati
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Solinas
authors.forename: Danilo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Porro
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Branduardi
mesh_terms: D001205:Ascorbic Acid / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D007218:Industrial Microbiology; D010944:Plants / Q000378:metabolism*; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D001205:Ascorbic Acid