Enzymatic digestion of spent yeast cells for nutrient recycling in inulase production

1990 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kin Sing Lam ◽  
J. W. D. GrootWassink
2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 530-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Bauer ◽  
Volker Herzog ◽  
Matthias F. Bauer

AbstractYeast cells represent a powerful model system in cell biology mainly due to their amenability to genetic manipulations. Increasingly, studies focus on mutant genes resulting in alterations of cellular structures and organelles. To ascertain the phenotypic changes involved, it is often desirable to use the resolving power of electron microscopy. In contrast to higher eukaryotic cells, yeast cells are particularly difficult to preserve mainly due to the presence of a thick cell wall that acts as a barrier against diffusion of fixatives. Although several procedures are targeted to overcome these difficulties, none of them have become established as a standard procedure. As a consequence, electron microscopy is still not used routinely as a tool in yeast cell biology. This prompted us to develop an easy-to-follow protocol for yeast transmission electron microscopy that should be useful in all cases where membrane integrity and organelle morphology is emphasized. One means of making the yeast cytoplasm more attainable to fixation and staining solutions is by enzymatic digestion of the cell wall. Following this approach, we were able to reliably preserve yeast cells and their cellular organelles. Enzymatic treatment with zymolyase 20T to partially remove the yeast cell wall allowed the fixation, preservation, and visualization of the yeast cytoplasm revealing detailed ultrastructure. The advancement of this technique is demonstrated with mitochondria as a model organelle. Our studies on various yeast mutants clearly show the power of the enzymatic digestion technique in visualizing subtle changes of membrane structure and organelle morphology.


Author(s):  
E. Keyhani

The matrix of biological membranes consists of a lipid bilayer into which proteins or protein aggregates are intercalated. Freeze-fracture techni- ques permit these proteins, perhaps in association with lipids, to be visualized in the hydrophobic regions of the membrane. Thus, numerous intramembrane particles (IMP) have been found on the fracture faces of membranes from a wide variety of cells (1-3). A recognized property of IMP is their tendency to form aggregates in response to changes in experi- mental conditions (4,5), perhaps as a result of translational diffusion through the viscous plane of the membrane. The purpose of this communica- tion is to describe the distribution and size of IMP in the plasma membrane of yeast (Candida utilis).Yeast cells (ATCC 8205) were grown in synthetic medium (6), and then harvested after 16 hours of culture, and washed twice in distilled water. Cell pellets were suspended in growth medium supplemented with 30% glycerol and incubated for 30 minutes at 0°C, centrifuged, and prepared for freeze-fracture, as described earlier (2,3).


Author(s):  
K. J. Böhm ◽  
a. E. Unger

During the last years it was shown that also by means of cryo-ultra-microtomy a good preservation of substructural details of biological material was possible. However the specimen generally was prefixed in these cases with aldehydes.Preparing ultrathin frozen sections of chemically non-prefixed material commonly was linked up to considerable technical and manual expense and the results were not always satisfying. Furthermore, it seems to be impossible to carry out cytochemical investigations by means of treating sections of unfixed biological material with aqueous solutions.We therefore tried to overcome these difficulties by preparing yeast cells (S. cerevisiae) in the following manner:


Author(s):  
E. Keyhani

The mutagenic effect of ethidium bromide on the mitochondrial DNA is well established. Using thin section electron microscopy, it was shown that when yeast cells were grown in the presence of ethidium bromide, besides alterations in the mitochondria, the plasma membrane also showed alterations consisting of 75 to 110 nm-deep pits. Furthermore, ethidium bromide induced an increase in the length and number of endoplasmic reticulum and in the number of intracytoplasmic vesicles.Freeze-fracture, by splitting the hydrophobic region of the membrane, allows the visualization of the surface view of the membrane, and consequently, any alteration induced by ethidium bromide on the membrane can be better examined by this method than by the thin section method.Yeast cells, Candida utilis. were grown in the presence of 35 μM ethidium bromide. Cells were harvested and freeze-fractured according to the procedure previously described.


Author(s):  
Hirano T. ◽  
M. Yamaguchi ◽  
M. Hayashi ◽  
Y. Sekiguchi ◽  
A. Tanaka

A plasma polymerization film replica method is a new high resolution replica technique devised by Tanaka et al. in 1978. It has been developed for investigation of the three dimensional ultrastructure in biological or nonbiological specimens with the transmission electron microscope. This method is based on direct observation of the single-stage replica film, which was obtained by directly coating on the specimen surface. A plasma polymerization film was deposited by gaseous hydrocarbon monomer in a glow discharge.The present study further developed the freeze fracture method by means of a plasma polymerization film produces a three dimensional replica of chemically untreated cells and provides a clear evidence of fine structure of the yeast plasma membrane, especially the dynamic aspect of the structure of invagination (Figure 1).


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