Class 2019
PhD Grant: PD/BD/150339/2019
PhD thesis
Response and tolerance of yeasts to multiple stresses of industrial relevance
Supervisor
• Isabel Sá-Correia, Professor @ IST/ULisboa, PT
PhD Thesis Plan
The PhD thesis plan envisages the understanding of the mechanisms of response and tolerance of yeasts to multiple stresses of industrial relevance. This work plan was started by examining the coordinate time course of the alterations occurring at the level of the cell wall during adaptation of a yeast cell population to sudden exposure to a sub-lethal stress induced by acetic acid. Acetic acid is a major inhibitory compound in industrial bioprocesses and a widely used preservative in foods and beverages. The role of the cell wall to the global response and tolerance of yeasts to environmental stresses, although considered important is still very poorly understood. The work involves the biochemical and biophysical characterization of the cell wall and of the regulation of genes of the cell wall biosynthetic pathway. The objective of the PhD plan was to extend these studies on the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to less conventional yeasts of current biotechnological relevance and to enlighten the role of the transcription factor Haa1, a major determinant of yeast tolerance to acetic acid and the major regulator of yeast response to this stress in the referred context.
PUBLICATIONS
Papers
Ribeiro Ribeiro, R.A., Vitorino, M.V., Godinho, C.P. Nuno Bourbon-Melo, N., Tiago T. Robalo, T.T. Fernandes, F., Rodrigues M.S., Sá-Correia I., Fábio Fernandes, Yeast adaptive response to acetic acid stress involves structural alterations and increased stiffness of the cell wall, Scientific Reports, 11, 12652 (2021), www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-92069-3
Bourbon-Melo, N., Palma, M., Rocha, M. P., Ferreira, A., Bronze, M. R., Elias, H., Sá-Correia, I., Use of Hanseniaspora guilliermondii and Hanseniaspora opuntiae to enhance the aromatic profile of beer in mixed-culture fermentation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Food Microbiology, 103678, 2020. DOI: 10.1016/j.fm.2020.103678
Monteiro, P. T., Oliveira, J., Pais, P., Antunes, M., Palma, M., Cavalheiro, M., Galocha, M., Godinho, C. P., Martins., L. C., Bourbon, N., Mota, M. N., Ribeiro, R. A., Viana, R., Sá-Correia, I., Teixeira, M. C., YEASTRACT+: a portal for cross-species comparative genomics of transcription regulation in yeasts. Nucleic Acids Research, 48(D1), D642-D649, 2020.
Oral Communications
Bourbon-Melo, N., Palma, M., Rocha, M. P., Ferreira, A., Bronze, M. R., Elias, H., Sá-Correia, I., Use of Hanseniaspora guilliermondii and Hanseniaspora opuntiae in co-fermentation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae to enhance the aromatic profile of craft beer. Microbiotec’19, 5-7 December, 2019, Coimbra, Portugal
DOCTORAL PROGRAM (36 ECTS)
• General Doctoral Training (6 ECTS)
• Advanced Experimental Techniques and methodologies (6 ECTS)
• Bioentrepreneurship (6 ECTS)
• Outreach and Teaching Skills (6 ECTS)
• Molecular and Cellular Biophysics (6 ECTS)
• Microbiomes and Metagenomics (6 ECTS)