GROUP OF APPLIED BIOCHEMISTRY https://gab.unibuc.ro Faculty of Chemistry, University of Bucharest, Romania Thu, 06 May 2021 11:57:33 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.5 https://gab.unibuc.ro/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cropped-Picture1-slide-2-32x32.png GROUP OF APPLIED BIOCHEMISTRY https://gab.unibuc.ro 32 32 Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Caffeine Implications on the Eukaryotic Cell https://gab.unibuc.ro/article-3/ Thu, 09 Jul 2015 15:10:06 +0000 http://createawebsite.eu/?p=73

Caffeine–a methylxanthine analogue of the purine bases adenine and guanine–is by far the most consumed neuro-stimulant, being the active principle of widely consumed beverages such as coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and cola. While the best-known action of caffeine is to prevent sleepiness by blocking the adenosine receptors, caffeine exerts a pleiotropic effect on cells, which lead to the activation or inhibition of various cell integrity pathways. The aim of this review is to present the main studies set to investigate the effects of caffeine on cells using the model eukaryotic microorganism Saccharomyces cerevisiae, highlighting the caffeine synergy with external cell stressors, such as irradiation or exposure to various chemical hazards, including cigarette smoke or chemical carcinogens. The review also focuses on the importance of caffeine-related yeast phenotypes used to resolve molecular mechanisms involved in cell signaling through conserved pathways, such as target of rapamycin (TOR) signaling, Pkc1-Mpk1 mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade, or Ras/cAMP protein kinase A (PKA) pathway.
Ruta, L.L.; Farcasanu, I.C. Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Caffeine Implications on the Eukaryotic Cell. Nutrients 2020, 12, 2440.

 

 

 

 

 

 

]]> Saccharomyces cerevisiae Concentrates Subtoxic Copper onto Cell Wall from Solid Media Containing Reducing Sugars as Carbon Source https://gab.unibuc.ro/article-2/ Thu, 09 Jul 2015 15:09:15 +0000 http://createawebsite.eu/?p=69 Copper is essential for life, but it can be deleterious in concentrations that surpass the physiological limits. Copper pollution is related to widespread human activities, such as viticulture and wine production. To unravel aspects of how organisms cope with copper insults, we used Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model for adaptation to high but subtoxic concentrations of copper. We found that S. cerevisiae cells could tolerate high copper concentration by forming deposits on the cell wall and that the copper-containing deposits accumulated predominantly when cells were grown statically on media prepared with reducing sugars (glucose, galactose) as the sole carbon source, but not on media containing nonreducing carbon sources, such as glycerol or lactate. Exposing cells to copper in liquid media under strong agitation prevented the formation of copper-containing deposits in the cell wall. Disruption of low-affinity copper intake through the plasma membrane increased the potential of the cell to form copper deposits on the cell surface. These results imply that biotechnology problems caused by high copper concentration can be tackled by selecting yeast strains and conditions to allow the removal of excess copper from various contaminated sites in the forms of solid deposits which do not penetrate the cell.

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