Loss of Cmk1 Ca(2+)-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase in yeast results in constitutive weak organic acid resistance, associated with a post-transcriptional activation of the Pdr12 ATP-binding cassette transporter.

Yeast cells display an adaptive stress response when exposed to weak organic acids at low pH. This adaptation is important in the spoilage of preserved foods, as it allows growth in the presence of weak acid food preservatives. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, this stress response leads to strong induction of the Pdr12 ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter, which catalyses the active efflux of weak acid anions from the cytosol of adapted cells. S. cerevisiae cells lacking the Cmk1 isoform of Ca2+-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase are intrinsically resistant to weak acid stress, in that they do not need to spend a long adaptive period in lag phase before resuming growth after exposure to this stress. This resistance of the cmk1 mutant is Pdr12 dependent and, unlike with wild-type S. cerevisiae, cmk1 cells are capable of performing Pdr12-specific functions such as energy-dependent cellular extrusion of fluorescein and benzoate. However, they have neither higher PDR12 gene promoter activity nor higher Pdr12 protein levels. The increased Pdr12 activity in cmk1 cells is therefore caused by Cmk1 exerting a negative post-transcriptional influence over the activity of the Pdr12 ABC transporter, a transporter protein that is constitutively expressed in low-pH yeast cultures. This is the first preliminary evidence that shows a protein kinase, either directly or indirectly, regulating the activity of a yeast ABC transporter.

Hsp30, the integral plasma membrane heat shock protein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is a stress-inducible regulator of plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae has a single integral plasma membrane heat shock protein (Hsp). This Hsp30 is induced by several stresses, including heat shock, ethanol exposure, severe osmostress, weak organic acid exposure and glucose limitation. Plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase activities of heat shocked and weak acid-adapted, hsp30 mutant and wild-type cells, revealed that Hsp30 induction leads to a downregulation of the stress-stimulation of this H(+)-ATPase. Plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase activity consumes a substantial fraction of the ATP generated by the cell, a usage that will be increased by the H(+)-ATPase stimulation occurring with several Hsp30-inducing stresses. Hsp30 might therefore provide an energy conservation role, limiting excessive ATP consumption by plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase during prolonged stress exposure or glucose limitation. Consistent with the role of Hsp30 being energy conservation, Hsp30 null cultures give lower final biomass yields. They also have lower ATP levels, consistent with higher H(+)-ATPase activity, at the glucose exhaustion stage of batch fermentations (diauxic lag), when Hsp30 is normally induced. Loss of Hsp30 does not affect several stress tolerances but it extends the time needed for cells to adapt to growth under several stressful conditions where the maintenance of homeostasis will demand an unusually high usage of energy, hsp30 is the first yeast gene identified as both weak organic acid-inducible and assisting the adaptation to growth in the presence of these acids.