Micro-organisms benefit human life in many ways, but little is known about how they function. The Yeast Group of the TU’s Biotechnology department is striving to get to grips with yeast.
br />
Small but useful. That’s the best way to describe micro- organisms like yeast. Yeast is well known within biotechnology laboratories, where researchers are fascinated by the organism’s ability to produce ethanol from glucose, via its own central metabolism. This is very useful, particularly since biotech-produced ethanol is seen as a future bio-fuel alternative to gasoline. No wonder, then, that yeast is the most studied micro-organism in biotechnology research.
Yeast, moreover, is known as an exceedingly friendly organism, not toxic, and renowned for its genomes. It’s also extremely flexible, capable of being thoroughly manipulated but still performing well. Researchers therefore have been able to manipulate and direct yeast metabolism, producing the desired products. However, despite all that’s known about yeast, the little guy still holds many secrets.
Genome
When yeast grows in certain conditions (temperatures, food types), it survives by converting the available carbon source % like sugars – in its environment into energy and simpler products. To do this, yeast needs enzymes, and the type of enzymes required depends on the environmental conditions where the yeast grows. It may have the required enzyme already in its cells, or, in some cases, it must synthesize new ones, for example, when it acquires new types of food. Put simply, it’s like a foreign student who is used to eating rice coming to Europe, where everyone eats bread. For both the foreign student and the yeast, adjustment takes place within the body. How then does yeast decide that it needs certain types of enzymes?
Mariela Serrano, an MSc student from Ecuador, is hoping to answer this question. Her research focuses on analyzing the smallest part of this organism: genomes, or DNA. Serrano: “Amino acid is the basic compound of enzymes. These are produced from the genome level via message proteins. What I’m doing is growing yeast in certain conditions. The yeast is grown in chemo stats, where I vary the limited carbon source and control all other factors. Afterwards, I take samples from these chemo stats and measure the DNA’s message protein levels and the enzyme activity in the cell.”
The experiment results are not the end, however, because Serrano must continue her analysis in order to “find the possible connection between the enzyme activity and the message proteins from DNA.”
Most researchers in this field believe that higher message protein levels lead to a higher enzyme level. “It’s probably not like this at all, but we don’t know for sure,” Serrano says. How important is it to understand this connection? Serrano: “As Professor Jack Pronk says, our main interest is understandingwhat’s going on. This is really scientific research. However, the knowledge helps us to better control the processes using yeast.”
Technology
Although yeast research is not new, the technique Serrano uses to characterize the functions of genes is a real breakthrough. The technique is DNA chip-arrays, which uses a chip to place specific fragments of DNA at various spots. Special computer software is available for analyzing that DNA.
Serrano: “Because the complete DNA sequence of yeast is known, this technique can be applied. It uses computer programs to measure and analyze levels of message proteins. This is what makes our research different from previous research.”
Despite using such technology, Serrano doesn’t have great expectations: “It’s difficult to figure out the exact answer. There are more than 6,000 genes in the yeast genome, from which I will just compare the genes that have changed in expression at the given conditions, which is between 150 to 900 genes. From this analysis I hope to understand the main metabolism of yeast; however, there’s much more to do in this field.”
Clone
This research gives Serrano more inside knowledge of DNA and cloning. “Cloning is an advanced technology we have now in laboratory,” she says. “At this level, it’s very handy.” However, human cloning is not only about technology: “It’s scary to know how much you can actually do by cloning DNA. But, I think, creating and putting a human clone into society is more an ethical issue.” Serrano would never want to clone a human, despite her experiences with yeast, because “a human being is more than just genome.”
Micro-organisms benefit human life in many ways, but little is known about how they function. The Yeast Group of the TU’s Biotechnology department is striving to get to grips with yeast.
Small but useful. That’s the best way to describe micro- organisms like yeast. Yeast is well known within biotechnology laboratories, where researchers are fascinated by the organism’s ability to produce ethanol from glucose, via its own central metabolism. This is very useful, particularly since biotech-produced ethanol is seen as a future bio-fuel alternative to gasoline. No wonder, then, that yeast is the most studied micro-organism in biotechnology research.
Yeast, moreover, is known as an exceedingly friendly organism, not toxic, and renowned for its genomes. It’s also extremely flexible, capable of being thoroughly manipulated but still performing well. Researchers therefore have been able to manipulate and direct yeast metabolism, producing the desired products. However, despite all that’s known about yeast, the little guy still holds many secrets.
Genome
When yeast grows in certain conditions (temperatures, food types), it survives by converting the available carbon source % like sugars – in its environment into energy and simpler products. To do this, yeast needs enzymes, and the type of enzymes required depends on the environmental conditions where the yeast grows. It may have the required enzyme already in its cells, or, in some cases, it must synthesize new ones, for example, when it acquires new types of food. Put simply, it’s like a foreign student who is used to eating rice coming to Europe, where everyone eats bread. For both the foreign student and the yeast, adjustment takes place within the body. How then does yeast decide that it needs certain types of enzymes?
Mariela Serrano, an MSc student from Ecuador, is hoping to answer this question. Her research focuses on analyzing the smallest part of this organism: genomes, or DNA. Serrano: “Amino acid is the basic compound of enzymes. These are produced from the genome level via message proteins. What I’m doing is growing yeast in certain conditions. The yeast is grown in chemo stats, where I vary the limited carbon source and control all other factors. Afterwards, I take samples from these chemo stats and measure the DNA’s message protein levels and the enzyme activity in the cell.”
The experiment results are not the end, however, because Serrano must continue her analysis in order to “find the possible connection between the enzyme activity and the message proteins from DNA.”
Most researchers in this field believe that higher message protein levels lead to a higher enzyme level. “It’s probably not like this at all, but we don’t know for sure,” Serrano says. How important is it to understand this connection? Serrano: “As Professor Jack Pronk says, our main interest is understandingwhat’s going on. This is really scientific research. However, the knowledge helps us to better control the processes using yeast.”
Technology
Although yeast research is not new, the technique Serrano uses to characterize the functions of genes is a real breakthrough. The technique is DNA chip-arrays, which uses a chip to place specific fragments of DNA at various spots. Special computer software is available for analyzing that DNA.
Serrano: “Because the complete DNA sequence of yeast is known, this technique can be applied. It uses computer programs to measure and analyze levels of message proteins. This is what makes our research different from previous research.”
Despite using such technology, Serrano doesn’t have great expectations: “It’s difficult to figure out the exact answer. There are more than 6,000 genes in the yeast genome, from which I will just compare the genes that have changed in expression at the given conditions, which is between 150 to 900 genes. From this analysis I hope to understand the main metabolism of yeast; however, there’s much more to do in this field.”
Clone
This research gives Serrano more inside knowledge of DNA and cloning. “Cloning is an advanced technology we have now in laboratory,” she says. “At this level, it’s very handy.” However, human cloning is not only about technology: “It’s scary to know how much you can actually do by cloning DNA. But, I think, creating and putting a human clone into society is more an ethical issue.” Serrano would never want to clone a human, despite her experiences with yeast, because “a human being is more than just genome.”
Comments are closed.