Plant Physiol. (1999) 121: 45-52
Roles of Sugar Alcohols in Osmotic Stress Adaptation. Replacement
of Glycerol by Mannitol and Sorbitol in Yeast1
Bo Shen2,
Stefan Hohmann,
Richard G. Jensen, and
and Hans J. Bohnert*
Department of Plant Sciences (B.S., R.G.J., H.J.B.), Department of
Biochemistry (R.G.J., H.J.B.), and Department of Molecular and Cellular
Biology (H.J.B.), The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721; and The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721Department of General and Marine Microbiology, Göteborg
University, S-41390 Göteborg, Sweden (S.H.)
 |
ABSTRACT |
For
many organisms there is a correlation between increases of metabolites
and osmotic stress tolerance, but the mechanisms that cause this
protection are not clear. To understand the role of polyols, genes for
bacterial mannitol-1-P dehydrogenase and apple sorbitol-6-P
dehydrogenase were introduced into a Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant deficient in glycerol synthesis. Sorbitol and mannitol provided some protection, but less than that generated by a
similar concentration of glycerol generated by glycerol-3-P dehydrogenase (GPD1). Reduced protection by polyols suggested that
glycerol had specific functions for which mannitol and sorbitol could
not substitute, and that the absolute amount of the accumulating osmoticum might not be crucial. The retention of glycerol and mannitol/sorbitol, respectively, was a major difference. During salt
stress, cells retained more of the six-carbon polyols than glycerol. We
suggest that the loss of >98% of the glycerol synthesized could
provide a safety valve that dissipates reducing power, while a similar
high intracellular concentration of retained polyols would be less
protective. To understand the role of glycerol in salt tolerance,
salt-tolerant suppressor mutants were isolated from the
glycerol-deficient strain. One mutant, sr13, partially suppressed the
salt-sensitive phenotype of the glycerol-deficient line, probably due
to a doubling of [K+] accumulating during stress. We
compare these results to the "osmotic adjustment" concept typically
applied to accumulating metabolites in plants. The accumulation of
polyols may have dual functions: facilitating osmotic adjustment and
supporting redox control.
 |
INTRODUCTION |
Several mechanisms are involved in the adaptation to water stress
by Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which experiences both osmotic stress and ion toxicity when exposed to NaCl. To respond to a high
external osmotic environment, the cells accumulate glycerol, seemingly
to compensate for differences between the extracellular and
intracellular water potential (Brown, 1990
). High osmolarity is
perceived as a signal by two membrane osmosensors. The signal is
transferred via a MAP-kinase cascade (HOG) and, among many other
effects, enhances the expression of the glycerol biosynthetic pathway
(Maeda et al., 1994
). Glycerol-3-P dehydrogenase (GPD), which is
encoded by two GPD genes, catalyzes the first reaction from
dihydroxyacetone-P to glycerol-3-P, which is then converted to glycerol
by glycerol-3-phosphatase (GPP), which is encoded by the GPP genes
(Albertyn et al., 1994
; Norbeck et al., 1996
; Ansell et al., 1997
).
Increased glycerol production leads to an increase in intracellular
glycerol concentration, likely due to altered membrane permeability to
glycerol under osmotic stress (Brown, 1990
; Albertyn et al., 1994
).
In contrast, the salt-tolerant Zygosaccharomyces rouxii
seems to achieve glycerol accumulation by increased retention or uptake rather than by increased production during osmotic stress (Brown, 1990
). The energy cost required for maintaining high glycerol concentrations seems to limit further increases in salt tolerance in
this species. Fps1p (fdp1 suppressor), a glycerol
transporter that shows homology to water channel proteins, has been
isolated. Expression of FPS was not regulated by the HOG signaling
pathway that regulates glycerol biosynthesis (Luyten et al., 1995
). It has recently been shown that Fps1p exerts control over glycerol accumulation and release in yeast, that the protein seems to be important as an exporter of glycerol, and that its action is controlled by a separate signaling pathway (Tamas et al., 1999
). It would be
interesting to determine whether other polyols, such as mannitol and
sorbitol, could replace glycerol and show less leakage during osmotic
stress.
To reduce Na+ toxicity, yeast cells need to
maintain ion homeostasis under salt stress, especially for
Na+ and K+. A low
Na+ to K+ ratio is
essential for salt tolerance. A low Na+
concentration in the cytoplasm is usually achieved by an increased efflux via the Na+-ATPase and the
Na+-H+ antiporter proteins
under salt stress (Haro et al., 1991
; Garciadeblas et al., 1993
;
Wieland et al., 1995
; Prior et al., 1996
). Mutants that failed to
maintain low Na+ concentrations in cells were
salt sensitive despite normal glycerol accumulation (Yagi and
Tada, 1988
; Ushio et al., 1992
; Garciadeblas et al., 1993
;
Welihinda et al., 1994
). K+ is taken up
via high- and low-affinity K+ transporters (Ko
and Gaber, 1991
). The high-affinity K+
transporter shows a higher K+ to
Na+ discrimination than the low-affinity
transporter. Under salt stress, high-affinity K+
uptake allows cells to accumulate more K+ than
Na+ and thus maintain a low
Na+ to K+ ratio (Haro et
al., 1993
).
Overexpression of halotolerant genes such as HAL1 and HAL3 results in a
decreased Na+ to K+ ratio,
and thus increased salt tolerance (Gaxiola et al., 1992
; Ferrando et
al., 1995
). Increased Na+ to
K+ discrimination by a wheat high-affinity
K+ transporter enhanced salt tolerance of yeast
strains deficient in K+ uptake (Rubio et al.,
1995
). In addition, the vacuole may play an important role in salt
tolerance, because mutants defective in vacuole morphology and vacuolar
protein targeting are salt-sensitive (Latterich and Watson, 1991
), and
a mutant in subunit C of the vacuolar ATPase shows increased
sensitivity to Na+ and Li+
(Haro et al., 1993
). The essential function of the vacuole may be
associated with both compartmentation of ions and osmoregulation.
The details of the signal transduction pathway regulating ion
homeostasis remain unknown. Studies have revealed that calcineurin (a
protein phosphatase 2B) and protein phosphatase PPZ may be involved
(Nakamura et al., 1993
; Mendoza et al., 1994
; Posas et al., 1995
). The
activity of calcineurin requires Ca2+ and
calmodulin. Null mutants of calcineurin were shown to be salt sensitive
because they failed to fully induce ENA1 (encoding the major
Na+-ATPase) gene expression and failed to switch
from low- to high-affinity K+ transport under
salt stress (Mendoza et al., 1994
). In contrast, deletions of the
protein phosphatases PPZ1 and PPZ2 increased salt tolerance and
enhanced expression of ENA1 (Posas et al., 1995
), suggesting an
essential role of phosphatases in the regulation of yeast ion
homeostasis.
Accumulation of glycerol is essential for salt tolerance, since mutants
that cannot accumulate glycerol are salt-sensitive (Albertyn et al.,
1994
). Glycerol can function either as an osmolyte, contributing to the
maintenance of water balance, or as an osmoprotectant, allowing the
operation of many cellular processes during osmotic stress. To test the
concept that "osmotic adjustment" by glycerol is a determinant for
salt tolerance in yeast, we used a mutant unable to produce glycerol
and substituted the presumptive function of glycerol with genes leading
to either mannitol or sorbitol production. Neither mannitol or sorbitol
could replace glycerol completely. Mutants from the glycerol-deficient
strain that partially suppressed salt sensitivity did so by
accumulating significantly more K+ under salt
stress. Taken together, the results seem to support complex roles for
accumulating metabolites, including osmotic adjustment and metabolic
functions.
 |
MATERIALS AND METHODS |
Strains, Media, and Growth Conditions
The yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) strains
used in this study were isogenic to W303-1A(MAT
and MATa leu2-3, 112 ura3-1 try1-1 his3-11, 15 ade2-1 can1-100 SUC2 GAL mal0). The gpd1
gpd2
strain was constructed by deletion/replacement of two GPD
genes, as described previously (Albertyn et al., 1994
; Ansell et al., 1997
). Salt-resistant suppressor mutants were isolated from ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS)-treated gpd1
gpd2
cells, which grew at 0.7 M NaCl in yeast peptone dextrose (YPD) plates.
EMS mutagenesis of gpd1
gpd2
cells was carried out as described
previously (Kaiser et al., 1994
). The percentage of cells surviving
after EMS treatment was 40%. Fifteen salt-resistant suppressor lines
were isolated from approximately 105 cells. One
such suppressor mutant, sr13, was used here. gpd/cnb1 and sr13/cnb1
diploids were constructed according to the method of Kaiser et al.
(1994)
.
Haploid cnb1
strain (MATa leu2-3, 112 ura3-1 try1-1 his3-11,
15 ade2-1 can1-100 SUC2 GAL mal0 cnb1
::LEU2-3) (Mendoza et al., 1994
) was mated with haploid gpd1
gpd2
strain (MAT
leu2-3, 112 ura3-1 try1-1 his3-11, 15 ade2-1 can1-100 SUC2 GAL mal0
gpd1
::TRP1 gpd2
::URA3) and haploid sr13
(MAT
leu2-3, 112 ura3-1 try1-1 his3-11, 15 ade2-1 can1-100 SUC2 GAL
mal0 gpd1
::TRP1 gpd2
::URA3 sr13).
Diploids were selected on synthetic medium without Leu, Trp, or uracil.
Cells were grown in either YPD medium (1% [w/v] yeast
extract, 2% [w/v] peptone, 2% [w/v] dextrose) or
synthetic yeast nitrogen base (YNB) medium prepared as described
previously (Kaiser et al., 1994
). NaCl was added to the medium as
indicated.
Gene Constructions and Transformation
The yeast expression vector pXKL2 (a gift from K. Luyten,
Katholicke Universiteit, Leuven-Haverlee, Belgium) was derived
from YEplac181 (Gietz and Sugino, 1988
) by inserting a 1.8-kb
HindIII fragment of pMA91 at the HindIII site. It
contains the constitutive strong promoter and terminator of PGK, the
yeast phosphoglyceride kinase gene (Mellor et al., 1983
). PCR fragments
of a bacterial mannitol-1-P dehydrogenase gene (MTLD; Novotny et al.,
1984
) and an apple gene encoding sorbitol-6-P dehydrogenase (S6PDH)
(Kanayama et al., 1992
) were cloned into the BglII site of
pXKL2, resulting in pXKL-MTLD and pXKL-S6PDH, as shown in Figure
1. The gene constructs were introduced
into gpd1
gpd2
using the lithium acetate method.

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| Figure 1.
Gene constructs (A) and polyol biosynthetic
pathway (B). PGK represents the promoter and 3 noncoding region of the
yeast gene encoding phosphoglyceride kinase. The connection of polyol
biosynthesis to carbon flux pathways in yeast is indicated.
|
|
Determination of Sugar Alcohols and Ions
Sugar alcohols were determined by HPLC as described previously
(Tarczynski et al., 1992
) with some modifications. Yeast cells were
collected and rinsed with the same growth medium without Glc to remove
the remainder of the medium without disturbing the pellets. The pellet
was extracted with 500 µL of extraction solvent (chloroform:ethanol:water = 3:5:1). After 10 min of vortexing, 500 µL of water was added. The extract was centrifuged at 12,000 rpm
(model MC12C centrifuge, Sorvall) for 5 min. Extract supernatant (400 µL) was added to a small ion-exchange column filled with Amberlite
IRA-68-OH (Rohm and Haas, Philadelphia) and
Dowex-H+ (Dow Chemicals, Midland, MI) to remove
salt from the samples. The column was washed with four column-volumes
of ethanol:water (1:1), and all elutes were vacuum dried. Dried samples
were re-suspended in 500 µL of water and filtered through a Sep-Pak
(Waters) column or a nylon filter. The analysis of sugar
alcohols was performed using a HPLC system (Dionex, Sunnyvale, CA) as
previously described (Tarczynski et al., 1992
).
The concentration of cations was also determined with the HPLC system.
Cells were collected, washed with an iso-osmotic sorbitol solution
three times, and extracted with extraction solvent
(chloroform:ethanol:water = 3:5:1). The supernatant of the
extracts was filtered through a nylon filter (0.2 µm, Gelman, Ann
Arbor, MI), and 100 µL was injected into the HPLC. The separation and
analysis of cations was carried out on an IonPac CS14 column with a
IonPac CG14 guard column (both from Dionex). The elutant was 10 mM methanesulfonic acid at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. Cations were detected by conductivity using a cation
self-regenerating suppressor.
 |
RESULTS |
Replacement of Glycerol by Mannitol and Sorbitol in gpd1
gpd2
To determine whether sorbitol and mannitol could substitute for
glycerol in stress adaptation, a bacterial gene encoding MTLD and an
apple gene encoding S6PDH were introduced into the glycerol-deficient mutant gpd1
gpd2
. In this strain, two GPD genes had been deleted, which led to the accumulation of only trace amounts of glycerol under
salt stress, resulting in high sensitivity to salt stress and poor
growth under anaerobic conditions (Ansell et al., 1997
). The genes
encoding MTLD and S6PDH, respectively, were cloned into a multicopy
expression vector under the control of a strong, constitutive phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) promoter (Fig. 1). Transformants that
received the GPD1 gene were used as positive controls. Polyol amounts
in these transformants are shown in Table
I.
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Table I.
Intracellular polyol content in yeast transformants
Yeast cells were grown in synthetic selective media in the absence of
NaCl or in the presence of 0.6 M NaCl. Cells not in NaCl
stress were collected for polyol measurement when the OD600
reached 1.0. Cells in NaCl stress were collected after 3 h of culture
in the presence of 0.6 M NaCl. Values are means ± SE of three independent transformants. gpd, gpd1 gpd2
strain transformed with pXKL2 vector; GPD1, gpd1 gpd2 strain
transformed with the GPD1 gene (Albertyn et al. 1994 ); MTLD,
gpd1 gpd2 strain transformed with pXKL-MTLD; S6PDH, gpd1 gpd2
strain transformed with pXKL-S6PDH. ND, Not detected. The detection
limit of HPLC for polyol was 0.1 nmol/50 µL
injection.
|
|
Yeast cells grown under salt stress accumulated 3- to 5-fold-higher
amounts of polyols than cells grown without Na+,
suggesting that membrane permeability to polyols may be reduced under
salt-stress conditions or that metabolic flux may be changed to favor
polyol biosynthesis. Under salt stress, the amount of sorbitol in the
S6PDH transformants was 375 µmol/g dry weight, which is close to 400 µmol/g dry weight glycerol in the GPD1 transformants, while mannitol
in the MTLD transformants was approximately one-half of the glycerol
found in the GPD1 transformants. Mannitol was not found in wild-type
yeast cells, while low amounts of sorbitol were detected.
Interestingly, the gpd1
gpd2
strain accumulated 10-fold more
sorbitol than the GPD1 transformants, indicating that glycerol
biosynthesis down-regulates endogenous sorbitol biosynthesis. S6PDH and
MTLD transformants accumulated less glycerol than the gpd1
gpd2
strain (Table I). During culture in salt medium, GPD1 transformants
leaked more than 98% of the glycerol produced into the medium, whereas
less than 50% of the sorbitol and mannitol leaked out in the S6PDH and
MTLD transformants. The retention of polyols by the cell increased
significantly under salt stress (Table
II). When cells were washed with
hypo-osmotic solutions, the loss of glycerol was greater than the loss
of sorbitol (Fig. 2), indicating that
membrane permeability for glycerol was much higher than that for
sorbitol and mannitol under salt stress.
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|
Table II.
Leakage of polyols during culture in synthetic
medium
Yeast cells were cultured in synthetic medium in the absence of NaCl or
in the presence of 0.6 M NaCl and collected at an
OD600 of approximately the amount of polyol in the medium
and in cells was determined. Values (%) are the amount of polyol in
the cell divided by the total amount of polyol produced. Strains were
labeled as in Table I.
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| Figure 2.
Acute leakage of polyols during hypo-osmotic
shock. GPD1 and S6PDH transformants were grown in YNB selective medium
for 2 d. Equal amounts of yeast cell pellet were resuspended in
solution containing different NaCl concentrations and centrifuged
immediately. Glycerol in the GPD1 transformant (shaded bars) and
sorbitol in the S6PDH transformant (black bars) were measured by HPLC.
CK, Control cells. The percentage of polyol retained in cells is equal
to the amount of polyol recovered in the pellet after washing, divided
by the amount of polyol in the pellet without washing.
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|
Salt Tolerance of S6PDH and MTLD Transformants
Compared with the gpd1
gpd2
strain, MTLD and S6PDH
transformants showed some improvement in salt tolerance at 0.5 M NaCl (Fig. 3), but this was
not comparable to the protection provided by glycerol in the GPD1
transformants, which continued to grow in 0.8 M NaCl (Fig.
3). The I50 is the salt concentration that inhibits growth by 50% in liquid culture. Compared with gpd1
gpd2
, the I50 for S6PDH and MTLD transformants
increased from 0.4 to 0.5 M NaCl, whereas the
I50 for the GPD1 transformants was 0.9 M NaCl, about 2-fold higher than that of the gpd1
gpd2
strain (data not shown). These results indicate that mannitol and sorbitol do provide protection against salt stress, but that this
protection is much smaller than the protection provided by an equal
concentration of glycerol in GPD1 transformants.

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| Figure 3.
Growth of polyol-producing transformants under
salt stress. A, Growth on solid medium. Cells were grown in YNB
synthetic, selective medium supplemented with 2% (w/v) Glc for
2 d. Cells (OD600 approximately 1.3) from the
stationary growth phase were spotted in a 1:10 dilution series onto YPD
with NaCl, and grown at 30°C for 3 d. B, Relative growth of
cells in suspension at different concentrations of NaCl. , GPD1;
, S6PDH; , MTLD; , gpd. A single experiment is shown; repeat
experiments showed identical kinetics of growth.
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|
Isolation of a Salt-Tolerant Suppressor Mutant
To better understand the role of glycerol in salt-stress
adaptation, the gpd1
gpd2
strain was mutagenized with EMS and
screened for salt-tolerant suppressor mutants. Fifteen colonies (termed "sr") that could grow in YPD medium containing 0.7 M
NaCl were found, while the gpd1
gpd2
cells ceased to grow in NaCl
concentrations higher than 0.4 M. Sr13 showed the highest
salt tolerance and was therefore analyzed further (Fig.
4). To determine if sr13 accumulated
other polyols, which would replace the function of glycerol in salt
adaptation, sugar extracts from sr13 and gpd1
gpd2
strain were
analyzed by HPLC. The amounts of Glc, Fru, and Suc were identical in
both strains (data not shown). Glycerol amounts in sr13 were
approximately doubled compared with gpd1
gpd2
under salt stress,
but were only 25% of the amount found in the GPD1 transformant (Fig.
5, Table I). The amount of sorbitol in
sr13 increased about 4-fold, whereas trehalose decreased about one-third compared with gpd1
gpd2
under salt stress (Fig. 5).

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| Figure 4.
Growth of the sr13 mutant under salt stress. Cells
were grown in YNB medium. Cells grown to the end of the logarithmic
growth phase were spotted in a 1:10 dilution series onto YPD medium
containing different NaCl concentrations, and grown at 30°C for
3 d. Sr13 is a salt-resistant suppressor mutant. GPD1 and gpd are
as in Table I.
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| Figure 5.
Polyol content in sr13 (black bars) and
gpd1 gpd2 (white bars) strains. Cells were grown in synthetic
medium in the absence of NaCl for 24 h or in the presence of 0.6 M NaCl for 36 h. Intracellular polyol content was
measured as described. Strains were labeled as in Figure 4. Values are
means ± SE of three to six measurements from three
independent experiments. DW, Dry weight.
|
|
To further determine changes that distinguished sr13 from the original
strain, the amounts of Na+ and
K+ were measured. Sr13 accumulated more than
twice the amount of K+ under salt stress as the
wild type, while Na+ levels remained comparable
to the amounts found in wild type (Fig.
6). Without salt stress, the amount of
K+ in sr13 was similar to that found in wild-type
cells, indicating that the accumulation of K+ in
sr13 was salt induced. In a sr13/cnb1 diploid (defective in calcineurin), the K+ level was similar to wild
type rather than to sr13, indicating that the accumulation of
K+ was recessive. Na+
levels in the sr13/cnb1 diploid, however, did not revert to wild-type levels for reasons that remain unknown (but may have been due to the
interaction between CNB and SR13). In control experiments, the amounts
of both Na+ and K+ in the
gpd/cnb1 diploid were indistinguishable from the amounts found in the
wild type (Fig. 6).

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| Figure 6.
Intracellular content of Na+
(black bars) and K+ (hatched bars). Cells were grown in YPD
medium in the absence (A) or presence of NaCl (B). gpd, gpd1
gpd2 ; cnb1, a deletion mutant of the calcineurin regulatory subunit
(Mendoza et al., 1994 ); wt, wild-type strain W3031-A; gpd/cnb1 and
sr13/cnb1 are diploid strains. Ion concentrations under NaCl stress
were measured after a 36-h incubation in 0.77 M (4.5%)
NaCl. DW, Dry weight.
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 |
DISCUSSION |
The Compatible Solute Concept
The accumulation of compatible solutes plays an essential role in
osmotic stress adaptation (Brown, 1990
; McCue and Hanson, 1990
). In
yeast, polyols are the main compatible solute and glycerol is the
predominant osmolyte, and a correlation between the accumulation of
glycerol and osmotolerance has been established. Although the essential
role of glycerol in the adaptation to osmotic stress has been
demonstrated by analysis of mutants deficient in glycerol production
(Albertyn et al., 1994
), the mechanisms by which glycerol can confer
such tolerance are not clear. An obvious physiological mechanism is
that glycerol is involved in osmotic adjustment by facilitating water
flux across the plasma membrane. To determine whether glycerol was
sufficient for the acquisition of osmotolerance and whether glycerol
could be replaced by other osmolytes, we introduced the coding regions
of enzymes leading to mannitol and sorbitol production into a
glycerol-deficient mutant, and our results indicated that accumulation
of either sorbitol or mannitol was not sufficient to replace glycerol
completely.
Although some protective effects were observed with accumulation of
mannitol and sorbitol, these effects were much less than the protective
effect provided by glycerol. By reintroducing one of the deleted yeast
GPD genes into the strain, the accumulation of glycerol in the
glycerol-deficient mutant resulted in a significant increase in
tolerance and the I50 increased to 0.9 M NaCl, compared with 0.4 M in the gpd1
gpd2
strain and 0.55 M in the sorbitol or mannitol
accumulators. If osmotic adjustment by glycerol were the only
requirement for successful adaptation, an equal concentration of
sorbitol or mannitol would be expected to confer the same tolerance. This interpretation was also supported by comparing the gpd strain and
the mutant sr13, which accumulated K+. Strain
sr13 was more tolerant than gpd.
When the intracellular polyols (glycerol and sorbitol) and trehalose
were compared (Fig. 5), trehalose, which accumulated more in gpd, did
not appear to add significantly to tolerance. However, trehalose
amounts are correlated with stress tolerance, and the inability to
synthesize trehalose is correlated with salt sensitivity in S. cerevisiae and other organisms (e.g. Hounsa et al., 1998
; Marin et
al., 1998
). Among the possible roles for trehalose in microorganisms
and in higher plants are sugar sensing and osmotic stress protection
(e.g. Goddijn and Smeekens, 1998
; Zentella et al., 1999
), but the
precise role and the mechanism of action for trehalose remain
enigmatic.
Additional Functions of Polyols
The results suggest that the concept underlying the term
"osmotic adjustment" may not be the essential or the only
determinant for adaptation to high salinity. The consequence of this
view is that glycerol has specific protective functions for which
mannitol and sorbitol cannot substitute. Blomberg and Adler (1992)
reported that conditioning of yeast cells at low NaCl concentrations
leads to tolerance to a higher NaCl concentration. When glycerol made by the conditioned cells was flushed out, the cells still retained the
acquired osmotolerance for some time. Also, glycerol accumulation in
cycloheximide-treated cells could not protect against osmotic stress,
indicating that the continuous maintenance of other functions was
necessary and possibly enhanced or protected by glycerol. Alternatively, the less-protective effects by mannitol and sorbitol could be caused by different intracellular distribution of polyols. The
compartmentation of polyols in yeast cells is not clear, but glycerol
seems to be evenly distributed in the cells (Blomberg and Adler, 1992
).
Another explanation is that the synthesis of different polyols might
have different metabolic effects. For example, glycerol formation is
required for the removal of excess NADH during anaerobic growth (Ansell
et al., 1997
). Based on the biochemical pathways, mannitol and sorbitol
biosynthesis should have the same effect with respect to regeneration
of NAD+, and phosphate would be equally recovered
in these pathways. However, there are two differences: (a) sorbitol and
mannitol contain twice the number of carbon atoms, and (b) most of the glycerol synthesized leaks from the cells (Table II) or is exported through the glycerol transporter Fps1p (Tamas et al., 1999
). Comparing the energy expenditure for equal intracellular amounts of the polyols,
and considering how much is exported, glycerol synthesis consumed
approximately 15-fold more carbon than either mannitol or sorbitol. As
a hypothesis, the accumulation and leakage/export of glycerol may have
two effects: osmotic adjustment and lowering of [NADH], with the
latter having beneficial effects on mitochondrial respiration, energy
charge, and, possibly, reduced radical oxygen production in the cells.
Leakage or export of glycerol into the medium and/or energy production
may be limiting factors for further increases of salt tolerance in
S. cerevisiae. Less than 2% of the glycerol produced was
retained by the cells during salt stress, increasing the energy cost of
achieving glycerol accumulation (Table II). In contrast, the extremely
salt-tolerant Z. rouxii accumulated glycerol through increased retention or uptake rather than increased production, which
would reduce the energy cost (Brown, 1990
). If the hypothesis that
glycerol has a role in redox control and/or energy charge is correct,
then Z. rouxii should exert a more stringent control over
mitochondrial respiration than S. cerevisiae. Sorbitol and mannitol showed a much higher percentage of retention than glycerol, indicating that membrane permeability to sorbitol and mannitol was
lower compared with glycerol. Less leakage of sorbitol during salt
stress could be an advantage for the replacement of glycerol by
sorbitol. During salt stress, the polyol contents are increased 4- to
5-fold. Since the activity of the PGK promoter is actually reduced
during stress (S. Hohmann, unpublished data), the increase in polyols
was most likely not due to an increased amount of the enzymes; it was
probably due to metabolic changes that stimulated polyol biosynthesis
and/or to decreased membrane permeability during salt stress.
Suppression of Glycerol Deficiency
To search for other mechanisms that might replace the function of
glycerol during salt adaptation, mutants were isolated that suppressed
salt sensitivity of the gpd1
gpd2
strain. Several mutants were
isolated that accumulated more K+ under salt
stress, indicating that K+ may partially replace
the glycerol function up to approximately 0.75 M NaCl. One
suppressor mutant strain showed no difference in
Na+and K+ content and the
polyol levels were comparable to the gpd1
gpd2
strain under salt
stress. However, this mutant still showed resistance to 0.75 M NaCl (Shen, 1997
), implying that other mechanisms may lead to salt tolerance. In addition to glycerol accumulation and ion
homeostasis, mutants with a salt-sensitive phenotype that are defective
in other cellular components and impaired in, for example, the
biosynthesis of plasma membrane ATPase, vacuole, or cell walls, have
been identified (McCusher et al., 1987
; Latterich and Watson, 1991
;
Shimizu et al., 1994
; Nelson et al., 1998
).
K+ plays an important role in salt tolerance in
both yeast and plants. In yeast, Na+ becomes
toxic at a Na+ to K+ ratio
greater than 0.5 (Gaxiola et al., 1992
). Increased salt tolerance was
correlated with enhanced K+ accumulation (Gaxiola
et al., 1992
, 1996
; Ferrando et al., 1995
; Rubio et al., 1995
).
Similarly, tobacco cells adapted to NaCl showed an increased capacity
for K+ uptake. Inhibition of
K+ uptake by NaCl was not observed in these
long-term salt-adapted cells (Watad et al., 1991
). Arabidopsis SOS1
mutants were hypersensitive to salt stress due to a defect in
high-affinity K+ uptake, indicating an important
role of K+ for salt tolerance in plants (Wu et
al., 1996
).
We isolated a salt-tolerant suppressor mutant, sr13, which can
partially suppress the salt sensitivity of gpd1
gpd2
. Compared with the amounts of glycerol, sorbitol, and trehalose that yeast normally synthesize, the mutant showed some differences. The sr13 mutant accumulated double the amount of K+ and
glycerol, 4-fold more sorbitol, and less trehalose compared with
gpd1
gpd2
under salt stress. However, the concentration of
glycerol in sr13 amounted to only 25% of that found in GPD1 transformants. S6PDH transformants accumulated 4-fold more sorbitol than sr13, but were more sensitive to NaCl compared with sr13, suggesting that increased sorbitol in sr13 was not the cause for salt
tolerance. Thus, increased salt tolerance in sr13 seems to be caused by
increased glycerol or higher K+ amounts.
Recently, a salt-tolerant mutant has been isolated from wild-type
yeast. The mutant cells have a lower Na+ to
K+ ratio than wild type, again supporting the
essential role of K+ in salt tolerance (Gaxiola
et al., 1996
). Additional experiments (Shen, 1997
, and data not
included) indicated that the mutation sr13 is either downstream of
calcineurin or in a separate signaling pathway. Calcineurin is a
protein phosphatase of the 2B type that is involved in the regulation
of K+ uptake and Na+
extrusion in yeast (Nakamura et al., 1993
; Mendoza et al., 1994
). The
diploid strain sr13/cbn1 (defective in calcineurin) showed wild-type
K+ amounts under salt stress, suggesting that
K+ accumulation in sr13 is recessive. In contrast
to the mutants HAL1, HAL3, and calcineurin, all of which result in salt
sensitivity and less K+ accumulation when the
genes are disrupted, sr13 enhanced salt tolerance and
K+ accumulation when disrupted.
Yeast provides an excellent cellular model that has added to our
understanding of osmotic stress tolerance and aided in the analysis of
plant tolerance mechanisms (Frommer and Ninnemann, 1995
; Rubio
et al., 1995
; Nelson et al., 1998
; Zentella et al., 1999
). The results
presented here could indicate that "osmotic adjustment," the term
widely used for explaining the accumulation of a variety of metabolites
in higher plants and microorganisms, may be just one aspect of the
beneficial function of accumulating metabolites. The export of glycerol
affecting energy charge and/or redox control in yeast would not be
unprecedented, because indicators exist for radical oxygen species as
major contributors to damage under osmotic stress conditions in yeast
and in photosynthesis-competent organisms (Allen et al., 1997
; Godon et
al., 1998
; Smirnoff, 1998
).
 |
FOOTNOTES |
1
The work has been supported by the Department of
Energy, Division of Energy Biosciences (grant nos. DE-FG03-95ER20179
and DE-FG03-98ER20179.001) and, in part, by the Arizona Agricultural Experiment Station and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, Japan.
2
Present address: Pioneer Hi-Bred, Johnston, IA
50131.
*
Corresponding author; e-mail bohnerth{at}u.arizona.edu; fax
520-621-1697.
Received January 14, 1999;
accepted May 14, 1999.
 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
We thank Wendy Chmara (University of Arizona, Tucson) for help
with HPLC analysis, Dr. Jose Pardo (Purdue University, West Lafayette,
IN) for providing strains, and Dr. Carol Dieckmann (University of
Arizona, Tucson) for help with the yeast vectors.
 |
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