Trehalose promotes the survival of Saccaromyces cerevisiae during lethal ethanol stress, but does not influence growth under sublethal ethanol stress

摘要

Trehalose is known to protect cells from various environmental assaults; however,\udits role in the ethanol tolerance of Saccharomyces cerevisiae remains controversial.\udMany previous studies report correlations between trehalose levels and ethanol\udtolerance across a variety of strains, yet variations in genetic background make it\uddifficult to separate the impact of trehalose from other stress response factors. In\udthe current study, investigations were conducted on the ethanol tolerance of\udS. cerevisiae BY4742 and BY4742 deletion strains, tsl1D and nth1D, across a range\udof ethanol concentrations. It was found that trehalose does play a role in ethanol\udtolerance at lethal ethanol concentrations, but not at sublethal ethanol concentrations;\uddifferences of 20–40% in the intracellular trehalose concentration did not\udprovide any growth advantage for cells incubated in the presence of sublethal\udethanol concentrations. It was speculated that the ethanol concentration-dependent\udnature of the trehalose effect supports a mechanism for trehalose in\udprotecting cellular proteins from the damaging effects of ethanol.