Molecular Physiology of the Cell

We are pleased to announce the publication in Scientific Reports of an article entitled “Deletion of QDR genes in a bioethanol‐producing yeast strain reduces propagation of contaminating lactic acid bacteria“. This study reports that the yeast Ethanol Red strain commonly used to produce bioethanol excretes amino acids via Qdr membrane transporters. This excretion favors propagation of co-cultivated lactic acid bacteria, which cannot grow without an external supply of amino acids. A derivative yeast mutant in which QDR genes have been deleted via CRISPR-Cas9 displays markedly reduced cross-feeding of these bacteria without reduction of ethanol production. Given that bacterial contaminations in yeast fermentation tanks are a recurring problem for the bioethanol production industry, this finding opens the perspective of using yeast strains with mutations in QDR genes to reduce the risk of such contaminations. This study, which has been mainly conducted by Dr. George Kapetanakis during his PhD work, is the result of a fruitful collaboration with Dr. Isabelle Georis (Labiris), Dr. LaurenceVan Nedervelde (Labiris), and the “Syngulon” startup company.  

The startup company Paleo exploits yeast to produce GMO-free, heme proteins of beef and other animals for plant-based meat alternatives, with the ultimate goal of making food production more ethical and sustainable. Paleo recently moved into the lab space and offices next to our lab in the IBMM (Institute of Molecular Biology and Medicine). We established excellent contacts with the Paleo team members and we look forward to collaborate with them. Welcome to Paleo and great success in the future!

Nadia Guarini attended the Yeast Genetics meeting 2022 organized at University of California in Los Angeles (August 17–21). She presented a “flash-talk” and a poster about her work on the role of the yeast H+-ATPase (Pma1) in control of TORC1 in yeast. This conference, the first edition of which was organized 40 years ago, is the “premier meeting for students, postdoctoral scholars, research staff, and principal investigators studying various aspects of eukaryotic biology in yeast, a major experimental model for understanding human cell biology and mechanisms of human disease“.

On May 13, the group of Isabelle Georis and our laboratory co-organized the “Yeasterday” meeting in Brussels. This annual meeting gathers scientists from the Benelux who use yeast as a model system or a tool in their research. The oral presentations given by young colleagues (PhD students and postdocs) were of top quality. Luis Sousa from our lab had the opportunity to present his work about amino acid excretion by yeast cells. The final plenary lecture was presented by Dr. Isabelle Sagot (CNRS, IBGC, Bordeaux) about the “The cell biology of quiescent yeast”. We thank all speakers, attendees and sponsors (Paelo, Syngulon FNRS, Rocc, aquilabiolabs) for this exciting science sharing day !

Good news for the end of this year! Christopher Dereppe was informed by the FNRS that he’s among the laureates of the last competition for FRIA fellowships. Christopher obtained a master diploma in Biochemistry and Molecular and Cellular Biology in 2021 at ULB. He did his master thesis work in our lab where he investigated a novel pathway of TORC1 activation in yeast. He will now further investigate the signals and molecular mechanisms of this pathway. Congratulations to him !