title: Graphene oxide induces plasma membrane damage, reactive oxygen species accumulation and fatty acid profiles change in Pichia pastoris.
abstract: During the past couple of years, graphene nanomaterials were extremely popular among the scientists due to the promising properties in many aspects. Before the materials being well applied, we should first focus on their biosafety and toxicity. In this study, we investigated the toxicity of synthesized graphene oxide (GO) against the model industrial organism Pichia pastoris. We found that the synthesized GO showed dose-dependent toxicity to P. pastoris, through cell membrane damage and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation. In response to these cell stresses, cells had normal unsaturated fatty acid (UFA) levels but increased contents of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) with up-regulation of UFA synthesis-related genes on the transcriptional level, which made it overcome the stress under GO attack. Two UFA defective strains (spt23Δ and fad12Δ) were used to demonstrate the results above. Hence, this study suggested a close connection between PUFAs and cell survival against GO.
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology and Technology, Department of Microbiology, College of Life Science, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, PR China.
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology and Technology, Department of Microbiology, College of Life Science, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, PR China.
authors.forename: Qilin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology and Technology, Department of Microbiology, College of Life Science, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, PR China.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology and Technology, Department of Microbiology, College of Life Science, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Traditional Chinese Medicine University, Tianjin 300193, PR China.
authors.forename: Biao
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology and Technology, Department of Microbiology, College of Life Science, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, PR China. Electronic address: nklimingchun@163.com.
authors.forename: Mingchun
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / Q000378:metabolism; D006108:Graphite / Q000633:toxicity*; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000633:toxicity*; D010087:Oxides / Q000378:metabolism; D010843:Pichia / Q000187:drug effects*; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; D010087:Oxides; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D006108:Graphite
keywords: Graphene oxide; Membrane damage; Pichia pastoris; Reactive oxygen species; Unsaturated fatty acid