Enzymes of Polyphosphate Metabolism in Yeast: Properties, Functions, Practical Significance.

Inorganic polyphosphates (polyP) are the linear polymers of orthophosphoric acid varying in the number of phosphate residues linked by the energy-rich phosphoanhydride bonds. PolyP is an essential component in living cells. Knowledge of polyP metabolizing enzymes in eukaryotes is necessary for understanding molecular mechanisms of polyP metabolism in humans and development of new approaches for treating bone and cardiovascular diseases associated with impaired mineral phosphorus metabolism. Yeast cells represent a rational experimental model for this research due to availability of the methods for studying phosphorus metabolism and construction of knockout mutants and strains overexpressing target proteins. Multicomponent system of polyP metabolism in Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells is presented in this review discussing properties, functioning, and practical significance of the enzymes involved in the synthesis and degradation of this important metabolite.

Cell wall canals formed upon growth of Candida maltosa in the presence of hexadecane are associated with polyphosphates.

Canals are supramolecular complexes observed in the cell wall of Candida maltosa grown in the presence of hexadecane as a sole carbon source. Such structures were not observed in glucose-grown cells. Microscopic observations of cells stained with diaminobenzidine revealed the presence of oxidative enzymes in the canals. 4΄,6΄-diamino-2-phenylindole staining revealed that a substantial part of cellular polyphosphate was present in the cell wall of cells grown on hexadecane in condition of phosphate limitation. The content and chain length of polyphosphates were higher in hexadecane-grown cells than in glucose grown ones. The treatment of cells with yeast polyphosphatase PPX1 resulted in the decrease of the canal size. These data clearly indicated that polyphosphates are constituents of canals; they might play an important role in the canal structure and functioning.

Accumulation of phosphate and polyphosphate by Cryptococcus humicola and Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the absence of nitrogen.

The search for new phosphate-accumulating microorganisms is of interest in connection with the problem of excess phosphate in environment. The ability of some yeast species belonging to ascomycetes and basidiomycetes for phosphate (P (i) ) accumulation in nitrogen-deficient medium was studied. The ascomycetous Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Kuraishia capsulata and basidiomycetous Cryptococcus humicola, Cryptococcus curvatus, and Pseudozyma fusiformata were the best in P (i) removal. The cells of Cryptococcus humicola and S. cerevisiae took up 40% P (i) from the media containing P (i) and glucose (5 and 30 mM, respectively), and up to 80% upon addition of 5 mM MgSO(4) (.) The cells accumulated P (i) mostly in the form of polyphosphate (PolyP). In the presence of Mg(2+) , the content of PolyP with longer average chain length increased in both yeasts; they both had numerous inclusions fluorescing in the yellow region of the spectrum, typical of DAPI-PolyP complexes. Among the yeast species tested, Cryptococcus humicola is a new promising model organisms to study phosphorus removal from the media and biomineralization in microbial cells.

Phosphate accumulation of Acetobacter xylinum.

The cells of Acetobacter xylinum decreased phosphate concentration in the medium from 5 to 2.5 or 0.3 mM during incubation in the presence of Mg(2+) and glucose, or Mg(2+) and casamino acids, respectively. The prevalence of orthophosphate or polyphosphate in the biomass of A. xylinum depends on the medium composition. Under phosphate uptake in the presence of glucose, the content of orthophosphate in the biomass changed little, while that of polyphosphate increased fourfold. At incubation with casamino acids, the content of orthophosphate increased 15 times, while that of polyphosphate increased only 2.5 times. Some part of orthophosphate in this case seems to be bound with the cell surface. The polyphosphate chain length in the cells of A. xylinim increases under phosphate uptake. This increase is more noticeable in the presence of glucose. Casamino acids can be replaced by alpha-ketoglutaric acid in combination with (NH(4))(2)SO(4), or arginine, or glutamine, the catabolism of which results in formation of NH(4) (+) and alpha-ketoglutarate.