Differences in physiological parameters under glucose, xylose or acetate as a sole carbon source

Here we present production profile, specific growth rate, lipidomics and total protein measurements of batch cultivation of R. toruloides strain CCT 7815 growing in a chemically defined medium on three substrates as a sole carbon source—glucose (63 g/L), xylose (70 g/L) or acetate (20 g/L). R. toruloides CCT 7815 is a tolerant strain developed during a short-term adaptation of strain CCT 0783 (Coleção de Culturas Tropicais, Fundação André Tosello, Campinas, Brazil) in sugarcane bagasse hemicellulosic hydrolyzate, demonstrating an increased lipid production without impacting growth and substrate consumption as a result of induction of hydrolysate-tolerance- and lipid accumulation-related genes [21]. Cultures were grown at a starting molar C/N ratio of 69 (glucose/urea) and 80 (xylose- or acetate/ammonium sulfate), which will result in nitrogen limitation that is known to induce lipid accumulation [12]. Cell growth was monitored by online biomass measurements and CO₂ production data. Experiments were run until complete substrate depletion. Regardless of the carbon source, the results demonstrated two distinct growth phases: (i) exponential growth (exp) phase where all substrates were in excess, and (ii) nitrogen-limited (Nlim) phase, associated with nitrogen depletion (Fig 1A). For lipidomics, the first sample was analyzed at the end of exp phase and the second sample was analyzed at the end of Nlim phase (Fig 1A). For intracellular protein content analysis, biomass samples were analyzed at the late or end exp and mid-Nlim phases (Fig 1A). Physiological parameters are available in S1 Table.

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Fig 1. Growth characterization on three carbon sources–glucose (G), xylose (X) and acetate (A)—during exponential growth (exp) and nitrogen limitation (Nlim) phases.

(A) Batch cultivation growth curve and sampling timepoints for lipidomics and proteomics on all tested carbon sources. (B) Lipid yield, Ylip (g/gDCW). (C) Average specific growth rate, μ_average (h^-1). (D) Substrate uptake rate, r_substrate (mmol/gDCW/h). (E) Protein content, Yp (g/gDCW). (F) Fatty acid profiles (% of total lipid). (G) Carbon balance (% of total substrate uptake). SFAs: saturated fatty acids; MUFAs: monounsaturated fatty acids; PUFAs: polyunsaturated fatty acids. Average of duplicate experiments with SD is illustrated.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011009.g001

The highest amount of intracellular lipids was accumulated while cells were growing on glucose, resulting in 0.48±0.04 g/gDCW, while the lipid yield was approximately 15% and 20% lower on acetate and xylose, respectively (Fig 1B). On glucose, lipid accumulation started later than on xylose and acetate, where up to 20% and 18% lipid yield, respectively, was reached already during the late exp phase (S1 Fig). In a similar study using a different R. toruloides strain NP11 [8], less lipids were quantified in xylose at the late exp phase, while a higher final lipid yield was reached compared to our study. On glucose, the final lipid yield was comparable with previous studies [8]. In acetate condition, the final lipid content was 0.34±0.01 g/gDCW, which was in line with previous experiments by our group measured in continuous cultivation experiments [7].

Maximum specific growth rate was the highest on glucose, 0.19±0.025 h^-1, while it was at least 2-fold lower on acetate and xylose (Fig 1C). Two-fold difference in maximum growth rate on xylose and glucose conditions has been reported previously [8]. Nlim growth phase, where most of the lipid accumulation occurred in all studied conditions, was characterized by significantly lower specific growth rate (Fig 1C), specific substrate uptake rate (Fig 1D) and total protein content (Fig 1E).

Lipid composition was similar in all studied conditions, with oleate (C18:1) as the dominant fatty acid (Fig 1F). During the Nlim phase, the relative amount of oleate (monounsaturated fatty acids, MUFAs) further increased, while polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs)—linoleate (C18:2) and linolenate (C18:3)—decreased. Interestingly, on glucose at late exp phase the amount of PUFAs was higher than MUFAs, but it significantly changed during the Nlim phase when total lipid amount increased almost 10-fold (Fig 1B). Our results demonstrated that the degree of fatty acid saturation for C18 dynamically increased throughout cultivation. The distribution of different types of fatty acids was in agreement with the previous data reported on glucose and xylose [8], whereby oleate and palmitate where the most abundant at the end of batch cultivation. Notwithstanding the general agreement between both studies, in our study the PUFAs, mainly linoleate (C18:2) increased more during Nlim, while in the previous study [8] palmitate (C16:0) increased more during lipid accumulation. It might possibly reflect the fact that different R. toruloides strains were used in these studies.

Final biomass titers were similar on xylose and glucose, respectively 18 g/L and 22 g/L (S1 Fig), but the highest biomass yield, 0.32 gDCW/g_substrate, was reached on xylose during Nlim phase (S1 Table). On xylose, 32% of substrate was excreted as byproducts xylitol and D-arabinitol during the exp growth phase (Fig 1G). For arabinitol, a stereoselective analysis was done using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) separation with a chiral column (Chiralpak, Daicel Technologies, Japan), similarly as described in Lopes and Gaspar 2008 [22] (S2 Fig). Although Jagtap and Rao [23] already assumed the production of D-arabinitol, we were able to validate it. At low growth rates (during the Nlim phase), xylitol and D-arabinitol were not excreted but rather co-consumed. All byproducts were consumed at the end of the experiment at 168 h. On acetate, the amount of byproducts other than CO₂ increased during the Nlim phase to 31% (Fig 1G). These byproducts remain to be identified. On glucose, no byproduct other than CO₂ was detected. However, we were able to measure only 68.5% of carbon during the Nlim phase (Fig 1G and S1 Table). Likely, it was because R. toruloides strain CCT 7815 was making cell aggregates when grown in the chemically defined glucose-based medium. Mass balance calculation took into account glucose uptake, carbon dioxide production and biomass (in C-mol). As our biomass measurements were based on optical density, which relies on the assumption that cells are evenly distributed and of equal size [24,25], it may underestimate the actual cell concentration in liquid culture when aggregates are formed. To solve aggregation problem, we switched the nitrogen source from ammonium sulfate to urea in glucose condition. It helped to reduce aggregate formation but did not eliminate it. Based on the comparison of growth curves when using ammonium sulfate or urea, the results were highly similar (S1A Fig). Further analysis with glucose was carried out using urea as the nitrogen source. Therefore, results exclusively in the glucose condition (both exp and Nlim growth phases), including the proteomics and metabolic flux data presented in Figs 1–5 and S1–S13 and S1–S6 Tables and S1–S6 Datasets, belong to experiments in which we used urea as a nitrogen source.

Proteomics data shows a significant allocation into ribosomes

We also present a high quality dataset with absolute proteome abundances of R. toruloides measured at the late exp and mid-Nlim phases during growth on xylose, glucose and acetate. Proteins were measured and quantified with mass spectrometry-based TPA (total protein amount) quantification method [26], and we were able to determine the absolute abundances of 3160 proteins across 6 conditions (S1 Dataset). Principal component (PC) analysis showed coherency in our proteome data (Fig 2A). High similarity between acetate exp and Nlim data was detected, while showing significant differences with other studied conditions (separated on the PC1, describing 49% variation in the data). PC analysis has previously been done for R. toruloides strain IFO 0880 comparing gene expression during the exponential growth phase on rich medium containing sole carbon substrate, similarly as in our study [3]. PC1 using transcriptomics revealed distinct expression patterns on acetate-grown as compared to glucose- and xylose-grown cells, agreeing with the proteomics results obtained our study. The only noticeable difference was that PC2 in [3] separated exp phase from glucose to xylose. In our study, PC2, describing 34% of the variation in our data, separated mainly exp and Nlim conditions in the same way on glucose and xylose (Fig 2A).

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Fig 2. Absolute proteomics data.

(A) Principal component analysis (μg/g_protein). (B) Proteome allocation (% of μg/g total protein) to metabolic pathways associated with amino acid (AA) biosynthesis, electron transport chain (ETC), fatty acid (FA) metabolism, glycolysis, pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), pyruvate metabolism, ribosome, tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, and uncharacterized proteins. (C) Ribosomal translation rate (s^-1) and ribosome allocation (g/g_protein). Average of duplicate experiments with SD is illustrated. Proteins in each GO group are shown in S2 Table.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011009.g002

Significant variation in proteome between the two growth phases, exp and Nlim, was also observed by differential expression analysis. We found 204 differentially expressed proteins in Nlim (lipid accumulation) versus exp growth phase on glucose, 37 on xylose and none on acetate using a cut-off of |log2FC| > 1 and Benjamini-Hochberg corrected p-value < 0.05 (S3 Fig and S2 Dataset). Proteome profiles on xylose and glucose were more similar in comparison to the growth on acetate. Comparison of protein levels between carbon sources revealed the largest difference between xylose and acetate at exp growth phase, resulting in 159 differentially expressed proteins (S3 Fig and S2 Dataset). We then analyzed protein levels based on Gene Ontology (GO) group relations that represent different metabolic pathways present in R. toruloides. GO groups were obtained from the Uniprot database (R. toruloides NP11) and genome-scale model, rhto-GEM [15] (for a full list see S2 Table). GO relations from both sources were combined to provide possibly the most accurate information on different metabolic pathways present in R. toruloides.

We discovered that ribosomes formed the largest GO group of the proteome (data were represented per gram of total proteome, μg/g_protein) (Fig 2B). Interestingly, the ribosomal abundance in R. toruloides up to 46% of proteome was higher than observed previously in S. cerevisiae (around 37%) [27]. Expression levels in glycolytic pathways were largely unchanged during the lipid accumulation in xylose and acetate conditions, while upregulation was observed on glucose (Fig 2B). On glucose- and xylose-grown cells, proteome allocation to TCA cycle was considerably lower compared to glycolytic metabolic pathways (Fig 2B). On acetate, protein levels of the TCA cycle were almost 3-fold higher than on glucose and xylose (Fig 2B). Higher TCA cycle activity was expected as acetate assimilation directly produces TCA cycle-related metabolites. The electron transfer chain (ETC) was the only metabolic pathway, in which protein levels increased significantly during lipid production in all the studied carbon substrates (Fig 2B).

During lipid accumulation, the amounts of uncharacterised proteins, especially in xylose condition, increased (Fig 2B), indicating the importance of discovering unknown protein functions for future research. Interestingly, on glucose the least amount of proteins were allocated to FA metabolism, while the highest total lipid content was measured experimentally. The highest expression levels of proteins in the fatty acid metabolic pathways were detected on acetate (Fig 2B). It was mostly due to high expression levels of beta-oxidation proteins (S1 Dataset).

Relation between ribosomal content, growth rate and translation

We used absolute quantification of the proteome and the ribosomal content to calculate the rate of protein synthesis per ribosome, also known as ribosome efficiency or protein translation rate (for instructions see S3 Table). The ribosome of R. toruloides strain NP11 was characterized by 178 structurally distinct proteins reported in Uniprot.org, from which 147 were identified in CCT 7815 strain and quantified (S2 Table). The calculated translation rates varied from 0.8 to 6.6 aa/s (Fig 2C), which was very similar as observed in S. cerevisiae (between 2.8 and 10 aa/s) [28]. Among the 6 conditions analyzed, we observed a linear correlation between the translation rate and specific growth rate μ (R² = 0.99, p-value < 0.001). The mass-wise ribosome content of proteome (g/g_protein) (Fig 2C) had no such distinct correlation with the μ (R² = 0.68, p-value = 0.043). Interestingly, the lowest ribosome content in proteome was detected during growth on acetate as compared to other substrates.

Integrating fluxomic and proteomic analysis using an enzyme-constrained genome-scale model

Genome-scale models allow an in silico simulation of intracellular flux patterns in accordance with exchange fluxes obtained from cultivation experiments. To improve the predictive power and consider the capacity constraints imposed by enzymatic catalytic capacities and their protein levels, we developed an enzyme-constrained GEM using the GECKO Toolbox [17]. In lieu of a strain-specific model, we used the NP11-based GEM [15] to represent the CCT 7815 strain used in this study. The genome of its parental strain CCT 0783 possesses two versions of the same gene, one presenting >90% identity and the other version presenting >70% identity to the genome of haploid strain NP11 [29]. We integrated individual protein concentrations with their corresponding catalytic activities (k_cat) in the model to constrain individual metabolic fluxes. We created separate models for exp and Nlim phases on xylose (X), glucose (G) and acetate (A), respectively. Hence, 6 different versions of the proteome constrained model with modified biomass composition, fatty acid profiles and flux bounds from the experimental data were constructed. Proteome constraints included the concentrations of 773 different enzymes across all conditions (S4A Fig and S4 Table), which were applied to 1515 metabolic reactions (30% of all reactions) (S5 Table). The coverage of these constraints was greatly improved by manually assigning EC numbers to 461 R. toruloides enzymes (S4 Table), which enabled GECKO Toolbox to assign their k_cat values. At first, BRENDA was queried for exact matching reaction, substrate and organism. But as kinetic parameter data for non-model organisms such as R. toruloides were not readily available, GECKO Toolbox step-wise relaxes the stringency when matching EC number, organism and substrate, to assign reasonable estimates of k_cat values [30]. Mass-wise, the proteome constraints of the measured fraction of enzymes covered between 14% (Gexp) to 25% (ANlim) of the quantified proteome (S4B Fig). Aside from enzyme concentrations, proteome constraints contained 535 unique k_cat values automatically queried from the BRENDA database (S3 Dataset). Models, data sets and scripts are hosted on a dedicated Github repository ecRhtoGEM (www.github.com/alinarekena/ecRhtoGEM).

Next we used Flux Balance Analysis [31] to simulate intracellular flux patterns and random sampling of the solution space [32] with 2000 sampling iterations to evaluate flux variability (S4 Dataset). To constrain the set of feasible solutions during sampling, we fixed the upper bound and lower bounds on the observed exchange fluxes, ATP hydrolysis (non-growth related maintenance) and protein pool exchange (see Methods). The average flux variability, estimated as a percentage of SD divided by the flux values, was 19% (median value of all conditions) (S4 Dataset).

From the simulated flux values, we calculated apparent enzyme catalytic activities (k_app) as ratio of model-predicted fluxes and measured protein concentration. k_app represents the apparent in vivo enzyme turnover which drives the biological processes in the environment, in contrast to k_cat representing maximum enzyme capacity. As we used model-predicted fluxes that were constrained by k_cat values in the ec-model, the k_app values that we obtained cannot be higher than the k_cat value, which means that we cannot capture any potential in vivo enzyme activity enhancement effect. Regardless, in case of high k_app values, high reaction rates are catalyzed by low protein concentration, and vice versa. This study is the first report on the in silico k_app values in R. toruloides. Calculated k_app values in all growth conditions are available in S3 Dataset. Vast majority of k_app values were in the range from 0.1 to 100 (s^-1) (S5 Fig), which is in the range of “average enzyme” k_cat of 10 s^-1 reported by Bar-Even et al. [33]. Some of the lowest k_app values in acetate condition were associated with fatty acid degradation and beta oxidation metabolic pathways. We found that during the Nlim phase, when lipid accumulation occurs, the number of enzymes with relatively low k_app values (0.1 to 1 s^-1) was increased (S5 Fig). This reflects the fact that absolute fluxes decreased more than protein concentrations during the Nlim phase in comparison to exp growth phase, suggesting that for many reactions downregulation of the enzyme did not affect its reaction rate directly.

Growth on glucose

In our analysis of integrated flux and proteomics data, we focused on the major carbon fluxes and corresponding enzymes in the central carbon and lipid metabolism where acetyl-CoA, ATP and NADPH, the main precursors for lipid biosynthesis, are generated (Fig 3). For a better comparison, fluxes were normalized to the substrate uptake rate of the respective condition, providing percentage values of carbon distribution in the metabolic pathways (S6 Fig, for a full list see S4 Dataset). During the exponential growth phase on glucose, 72% of the carbon was directed via the PPP, while only 20% went through the Embden-Meyerhoff glycolytic pathway. When comparing fluxes at exp versus Nlim phase, we did not observe any significant changes in normalized fluxes through the oxPPP in glucose condition (Fig 4A), which was also the main source of NADPH regeneration (S7 Fig) (reaching 76% glucose-derived carbon). During the exp phase, the majority of NADPH was consumed by glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) which converts ammonium and oxoglutarate (AKG) to glutamate, while during the Nlim phase majority of NADPH was consumed in lipid biosynthesis by FAS1-2 (S7 Fig).

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Fig 3. Main metabolic pathways present in R. toruloides.

Blue arrows are used to denote mitochondrial carrier proteins and enzymes in shuttling pathways. Pink arrows are used to denote the alternative xylose assimilation pathway. Names, protein names and corresponding metabolic reaction IDs of genes are shown in S2 Table.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011009.g003

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Fig 4. Heatmap of Z-scores for enzymes in central carbon metabolism.

(A) Fluxes (mmol/gDCW/h) calculated as median from 2000 iterations of random sampling of the solution space [Bordel et al. 2010] [32], normalized by substrate uptake rate. (B) Proteomics data (μg/g of total protein) calculated as the average of duplicate experiments. (C) Apparent catalytic activities, k_apps (s^-1), calculated as fluxes divided by protein concentrations. Gray color is used to denote missing values. Asterisks (*) are used to denote isoenzymes. PPP: pentose phosphate pathway. Names, protein names and corresponding metabolic reaction IDs of genes are shown in S2 Table.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011009.g004

The flux via phosphoketolase pathway, which converts D-xylulose 5-phosphate to glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate and acetyl-CoA, increased more than 4-fold from 14% to 60% during the transition from exp growth to Nlim phase, consistent with a significant upregulation of phosphoketolase (XPK) on proteome level (apval. 0.043, S2 Dataset). While it is not known, which route of XPK enzyme in combination with a phosphotransacetylase (PTA) or an acetate kinase (ACK) is used in R. toruloides strain CCT 7815, we compared the fluxes of both possible scenarios (S4 and S5 Datasets). As the results were highly similar, further flux analysis was carried out based on a metabolic route where PTA is active. XPK pathway was also the main source of cytosolic acetyl-CoA during lipogenesis, which activity has never been reported on glucose, but is in line with previous findings in xylose condition [1,7]. The pyruvate decarboxylase and ACL, which exist as alternative pathways for producing cytosolic acetyl-CoA during lipid accumulation, were activated only when we blocked the XPK pathway (S6 Dataset). During the exp phase, cytosolic acetyl-CoA was not fully used for fatty acid biosynthesis, but 3% of carbon from glucose was transferred to TCA cycle via carnitine carrier (CRC) via acetylation reaction and in exchange of carnitine. The transfer of acetyl-CoA to mitochondria likely reflects that there was sufficient availability of cytoplasmic acetyl-CoA during the exp phase on glucose. At Nlim phase, majority of cytoplasmic acetyl-CoA was consumed by acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC), the first step in lipid biosynthesis, as more than 5-fold increase between 9% to 58% of carbon was observed via ACC during the transition from exp phase.

The main flux from the pyruvate branching point was channeled to the TCA cycle via pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH), reaching 69% of carbon from glucose during exp phase. During exp phase, 37–46% of glucose-derived carbon was channeled from aconitase (ACO1-2) to fumarase (FUM1), while the flux through malate dehydrogenase (MDH1) appeared to correspond to 218% of glucose-derived carbon, indicating that an internal cycling of carbon was taking place. Similar recycling has been noticed also before in R. toruloides genome-scale models [1,7,11], however we assume this cycling to be artificial caused by a high demand of mitochondrial NADH. During the Nlim phase, ATP yield increased (S8B Fig), consistent with a significant upregulation of ETC on proteome level (Fig 2B). Since the TCA cycle and the respiratory chain are metabolically connected, cells require mitochondrial NADH to drive respiration. Ultimately, the yield of NADH during the Nlim phase slightly increased (S9B Fig). Fluxes through the TCA cycle significantly increased (Fig 4A), reaching 83% of carbon from glucose (S6 Fig), while the biomass yield decreased (S1 Table).

With respect to intracellular protein levels, the concentration of ACL was also high (1010±75 μg/g_protein) at exp phase and was 2.6-fold upregulated (apval. 0.039) during the Nlim phase (Fig 4B and S2 Dataset), which was consistent with results from previous proteomics studies suggesting PDH-CIT1-ACL path for producing cytosolic acetyl-CoA [8,10], but not supported by the model flux results. The concentrations of PDH (2304±11 μg/g_protein) and CIT1 (2573±6 μg/g_protein) (S10 Fig) at exp phase were higher than on average for the TCA cycle enzymes (coinciding with high k_cat values of 486 s^-1 and 540 s^-1 for PDH and CIT1, S3 Dataset), which was also consistent with their role in the PDH-CIT1-ACL route, suggested by previous omics studies. However, the expression levels of mitochondrial membrane carrier proteins at both growth phases were low. At relatively low protein levels, high flux through these transporter proteins resulted in higher k_app values (S11 Fig).

Growth on xylose

Next, we explored R. toruloides metabolism during growth on xylose. Xylose is metabolized by xylose reductase (XR, NADPH-dependent), which reduces xylose to xylitol, xylitol dehydrogenase (XDH) and xylulokinase (XK), and further assimilated into central carbon metabolism via transketolase (TKT1-2) or XPK pathway. The expression of XK was not detected on proteome level in any of the conditions studied, suggesting an alternative pathway to the known fungal xylose assimilation pathway (Fig 3). The experimental detection of D-arabinitol isoform suggested the conversion of D-xylulose to D-arabinitol. This mechanism was supported by the presence of two genes in the R. toruloides genome encoding D-arabinitol dehydrogenase, RHTO_07844 and RHTO_07702. Only protein RHTO_07844 was detected in our proteomics analysis (1913 μg/g_protein) (S10 Fig), suggesting its role as D-arabinitol 4-dehydrogenase (DAD-4), converting D-xylulose to D-arabinitol. Arabinitol dehydrogenase could also convert arabinitol to ribulose (D-arabinitol 2-dehydrogenase) [34]. L-xylulose reductase (LXR) of fungal A. monospora has been reported to reversibly convert D-ribulose to D-arabinitol [35]. In support of this mechanism, protein levels of L-xylulose reductase (EC 1.1.1.10, RHTO_00373) were 10-fold upregulated during growth on xylose versus other substrates. Therefore, RHTO_00373 was selected as D-arabinitol 2-dehydrogenase (DAD-2) (converting D-arabinitol to D-ribulose). Arabinitol dehydrogenase is known to use NADH as cofactor [34]. LXR is mostly known for NADP(+)/NADPH specificity [35]. D-ribulose can enter the non-oxidative part of PPP via phosphorylation by D-ribulokinase (RK). An equivalent pathway was recently reported by Kim et al. 2021 [9]. One gene in R. toruloides IFO 0880 GEM (version 4.0) was annotated as D-ribulokinase (ID 14368) and we used it to identify potential RK in NP11 strain, which is more similar to the strain CCT 7815 used in this study [29]. Gene RHTO_00950 was identified as an ortholog of protein ID 14368 by a BLAST search, which found a match with 98.5% identity. Interestingly, in strain IFO 0880 orthologs of both genes RHTO_07844 and RHTO_07702 were identified as DAD-2 and DAD-4, respectively, and both were using NAD/NADH as the cofactor [9]. While it is not known, which cofactor of DAD-2/LXR enzyme is operational in R. toruloides strain CCT 7815, we analyzed the fluxes of both possible scenarios. Both simulation results were highly similar, with a difference in where NADPH was regenerated. The alternative pathway through DAD was preferred even when XK was not constrained with proteome.

In a scenario when DAD-2/LXR was NADP-dependent, during both exp and Nlim growth phases between 46–49% of carbon derived from xylose was directed via glucose 6-phosphate isomerase (GPI) in a reverse direction to the glycolytic flux. In a combination with that, 42% of carbon was directed via the oxPPP and returned to the Ru5P branching point, indicating that a loop associated with NADPH recycling is taking place. Alternatively, up to 88% of xylose-derived carbon was directed via oxPPP (S7 Dataset). In the first scenario, ZWF and GND provided more NADPH than LXR/DAD-2 during the exp phase (S12 Fig). During the Nlim phase, when the yield of NADPH slightly increased (S13 Fig), the flux of ZWF and GND remained unchanged, while the flux of LXR/DAD-2 increased (Fig 4A). XR consumed at least 2-fold more NADPH than any other NADP(+)-dependent enzyme during both growth phases. However during Nlim, more NADPH consumed by FAS1-2 was spent on lipid biosynthesis (S12 Fig).

From the proteomics analysis, the concentrations of enzymes involved in the xylose pathway were 1.1 to 1.6-fold downregulated during Nlim phase versus exp phase (Fig 4B), consistent with the decrease in xylose uptake rate (S1 Table). Lower concentration of RK (644±8 μg/g_protein) compared to other enzymes involved in xylose assimilation was measured (S10 Fig), suggesting enzyme limitation in the XK bypass pathway. At relatively low protein levels, high flux through RK resulted in relatively higher k_app values (S11 Fig).

Aside from enzymes directly involved in xylose assimilation, the intracellular flux patterns on xylose were the closest to growth on glucose, in comparison to growth on acetate. The flux of XPK was upregulated 1.7-fold between 13% to 22% during the Nlim phase (Fig 4A), which was also the main source of acetyl-CoA during lipogenesis. At the Nlim phase, the yields of ATP and NADH significantly increased (S8 and S9 Figs). The additional mitochondrial NADH during the Nlim phase was provided via internal cycling of MDH1 (S14 Fig).

Growth on acetate

Lastly, we explored R. toruloides metabolism during growth on acetate. Acetate can cross the plasma membrane to enter the cells via simple or facilitated diffusion, but at pH below neutral (< pH6) the diffusion of the undissociated form of the acid induces the stress response or causes negative effect on metabolic activity [36]. In R. toruloides, two permeases have been found upregulated during growth on acetate-based rich medium in comparison to glucose-based rich medium [3], suggesting that facilitated diffusion is taking place. Once inside the cells, acetate is assimilated via ACS that directly provides acetyl-CoA (Fig 3), one of the main precursors for lipid biosynthesis. From acetyl-CoA branching point, the flux is channeled into the central metabolic pathways via isocitrate lyase (ICL1-2) and malate synthase (MLS), which are predicted to be located in cytosol, but no experimental evidence is available. Metabolic model predicted that at acetyl-CoA branching point, 18% of carbon from acetate during exp growth phase was directed to lipid biosynthesis via ACC, while the majority of carbon (51%) entered glyoxylate shunt. In addition, a significant amount of carbon from acetyl-CoA (29%) was channeled via CRC carrier, which was predicted to have a minor activity on glucose condition. The CRC route was preferred over the PDH pathway towards mitochondrial acetyl-CoA (MLS-ME-PDH), which channeled only 18% of carbon from acetate at exp phase. Metabolic model predicted 5% of carbon from acetate excreted as succinate from the glyoxylate shunt, in addition to 2% of carbon excreted as citrate, which was confirmed by HPLC. During the Nlim phase, the main fluxes demonstrated different regulation (Fig 4A). The increase in flux via CRC (1.4-fold) reflects that more carbon entered the TCA cycle during the Nlim phase. Interestingly, the flux of ACC was downregulated 3.1-fold at Nlim compared to the exp growth phase. Using the rate of lipid production, which decreased during Nlim phase, it can be explained that the lipid production in absolute amounts was higher during the exp phase to sustain the growth together with moderate lipid production (S1 Table).

On acetate, fluxes of the TCA cycle were the lowest, while measured protein levels were the highest among all conditions analyzed (Fig 4A and 4B). At Nlim phase, 28% of carbon from acetate was predicted to be excreted as OAA, while the biomass yield decreased (S1 Table). Flux levels of the TCA cycle indicated that an internal cycling of carbon similar as in other conditions was taking place (S6 Fig). It involved different transporter proteins,—the citrate-oxoglutarate (CTP) and succinate-fumarate (SFC) transport -, which allow channeling of the flux from the TCA cycle to glyoxylate shunt (Fig 3). During the Nlim phase, ATP turnover, produced entirely via ETC (S15 Fig), and NADH turnover, produced almost entirely via the TCA cycle (S16 Fig), both decreased (S8 and S9 Figs), unlike observed in glucose or xylose conditions, where ca 80% of the ATP originated from ETC, while the rest came mainly from glycolysis.

Aside from enzymes directly involved in the TCA cycle, cytosolic ME was the sole supplier of NADPH during the Nlim phase only in acetate condition (S17 Fig). This is supported also by the measured protein levels of ME, which were significantly higher under acetate conditions, although the absolute levels of ME were relatively low under all studied conditions (189±3 μg/g_protein) (Figs 4B and S6). Only during the growth on acetate the NADPH yield decreased during the Nlim phase (S13 Fig). During the Nlim phase, more NADPH was consumed by FAS and spent on lipid biosynthesis (S17 Fig).

We also observed few significant changes in fluxes of enzymes involved in gluconeogenesis, which is an important pathway during growth on acetate to provide xylose phosphate-based precursors for ribonucleotide synthesis. The normalized flux towards gluconeogenesis, channeled via MDH2, carried 11% of carbon exp growth phase. It may reflect the fact that PEPCK, the first enzyme in the gluconeogenesis pathway, consumed ATP, but we found that PEPCK was consuming only 2.4% of ATP during exp phase (S15 Fig). The concentration of PEPCK (627 μg/g_protein) (S10 Fig) and its k_cat value (38 s^-1) (S2 Dataset) were low, suggesting that PEPCK could have been a rate-limiting step of gluconeogenesis during the exp phase.

From proteomics analysis, the concentration of enzymes involved in fatty acid beta oxidation (RHTO_04957, RHTO_00300, RHTO_02848, RHTO_07118, RHTO_00476) at higher concentrations (from 163±9 to 531±7 μg/g_protein) as compared to cells grown on other substrates at exp phase (S2 Dataset), suggesting this pathway might be more active in R. toruloides during growth on acetate.

Intracellular flux patterns point to metabolic trade-offs associated with lipid production

Multi-layer data provided in this study allows us to analyze metabolic trade-offs and compare the resource allocation between different metabolic pathways present in R. toruloides. From the metabolic modeling results, we analyzed the NADPH allocation between nitrogen assimilation and fatty acid biosynthetic pathways in glucose- and xylose-grown cells (Fig 5). When the yeast had an abundant source of nitrogen, either by conversion of urea to ammonia (glucose condition) or by growth on ammonia itself, NADP-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH1) converted ammonia with the TCA cycle intermediate AKG into glutamate, which was then used for the amino acid biosynthesis. Thus, during the exp phase on glucose-grown cells 46% of NADPH turnover was channeled via GDH1, while 13% was consumed via FAS1-2. On the contrary, during the Nlim phase 12% of NADPH was channeled via GDH1, while 75% was consumed via FAS1-2. This was supported also by the measured protein levels of GDH1, which were significantly higher during exp growth phase (4294±183 μg/g_protein), as compared to Nlim phase (2948±135 μg/g_protein) (S2 Dataset). In this metabolic trade-off, less (almost 4-fold) cytosolic NADPH was consumed by GDH1 during the Nlim phase (S7 Fig) when the protein content reduced 2.8-fold (S1 Table). And vice versa, more NADPH (almost 6-fold) was consumed by FAS1-2 when total lipids increased 8.5-fold.

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Fig 5. The trade-off between NADPH expenditure in R. toruloides.

Blue circles represent nitrogen assimilation and orange circles represent lipid biosynthetic pathways of R. toruloides cultivated on glucose during exponential growth (exp) and nitrogen limitation phase (Nlim). Circle size (blue and orange) represents the % of NADPH turnover. GDH1, glutamate dehydrogenase (NADP+); FAS1-2, fatty acid synthase (ɑ and β).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011009.g005

In acetate condition, the metabolism during lipogenesis at Nlim phase might be influenced by the beta-oxidation, a metabolic process of lipid degradation that can return carbon back into central metabolism, which was detected on proteome level in acetate condition. But the activity of this pathway could not be simulated with our current model.

Strain, media and growth conditions

R. toruloides CCT 7815 (Coleção de Culturas Tropicais, Fundação André Tosello, Campinas, Brazil) from a previous study [21] was used in the cultivation experiments. The same study identified increased lipid production, induction of hydrolysate-tolerance and lipid accumulation genes without physiological changes regarding growth and substrate consumption in R. toruloides strain CCT 7815 after a short-term adaptation in sugarcane bagasse hemicellulosic hydrolyzate. Seed cultures were grown on chemically defined medium according to Verduyn (3.0 g/L KH2PO4, 0.5 g/L MgSO4·7H2O, 15 mg/L EDTA, 4.5 mg/L ZnSO₄⋅7H₂O, 0.3 mg/L CoCl₂⋅6H₂O, 1 mg/L MnCl₂⋅4H₂O, 0.3 mg/L CuSO₄⋅5H₂O, 4.5 mg/L CaCl₂⋅2H₂O, 3 mg/L FeSO₄⋅7H₂O, 0.4 mg/L Na₂MoO₄⋅2H₂O, 1 mg/L H₃BO₃, 0.1 mg/L KI, 0.05 mg/L biotin, 1 mg/L calcium pantothenate, 1 mg/L nicotinic acid, 25 mg/L inositol, 1 mg/L thiamine HCl, 1 mg/L pyridoxine HCl, 0.2 mg/L para-aminobenzoic acid [53]) supplemented with a sole carbon source of 18.2 g/L glucose, 20 g/L xylose or 20.0 g/L acetic acid and 5 g/L (NH₄)₂SO₄ in duplicate shake flasks at 200 rpm and 30°C for 24 h. The carbon/nitrogen (C/N) molar ratio of the medium in seed cultures was 8.8. To obtain seed cultures, cells were pre-cultured in YPD media, and pelleted and washed twice with 0.9% (m/v) NaCl solution before inoculation. Seed cultures were used to inoculate 900 mL of chemically defined medium supplemented with either 63.6 g/L glucose and 0.9 g/L urea, or 70 g/L xylose and 2 g/L (NH₄)₂SO₄ or 20.0 g/L acetic acid and 0.6 g/L (NH₄)₂SO₄, and 0.1 mL/L antifoam 204 (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, United States) in duplicate bioreactors with a starting OD600 of 0.4 at 400–600 rpm, 30°C, pH 6.0. At the start of cultivation, the (C/N) molar ratio of the media in bioreactors was set to 69 (glucose/urea) and 80 (xylose- or acetate/(NH₄)₂SO₄). Note, that xylose condition was carried out in Pinheiro et al. 2020, [1].

Cells were grown in 1-L bioreactors (Applikon Biotechnology, Delft, the Netherlands) in a batch cultivation regime. pH was controlled by the addition of 2 mol/L KOH. Dissolved oxygen was maintained not lower than 25% at 1-vvm airflow by regulating the stirring speed. CO2 and O2 outflow gas composition were measured using an online gas analyzer (BlueSens gas sensor GmbH, Herten, Germany). Cell turbidity was monitored on-line using Bug Lab BE3000 Biomass Monitor (Bug Lab, Concord, CA, United States) at 1300 nm and off-line using UV/Vis spectrophotometer at 600 nm (U-1800, Hitachi High-Tech Science, Tokyo, Japan). Data collection and processing was performed with BioXpert V2 software v2.95 (Applikon Biotechnology, Delft, the Netherlands).

For dry cell weight measurement, samples were collected every 6 hours during the exponential growth phase and every 24 hours during the nitrogen limitation phase. For other analyses, samples were collected every 3 hours during the exponential growth phase and every 24 or 48 hours during the nitrogen limitation phase.

For extracellular metabolites, lipidomics and protein content analyses, samples were taken from bioreactors to 2-mL tubes, centrifuged for 30 s at 4°C and 18000×g. The supernatant was stored at -20°C for extracellular metabolite analyses. Cell pellets were snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80°C for further analyses.

Analytical methods

For dry cell weight (DCW) measurement, culture samples were taken from bioreactors to 2-mL tubes, passed through a 0.3 μm filter, dried and analyzed by gravimetric method. Biomass optical density data were calibrated by gravimetric cell mass measurements. For extracellular metabolites measurements, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) separations were performed with Shimadzu instruments (LC-2030C Plus, Shimadzu, Kyoto, Japan) equipped with a refractive index detector (RID-20A, Shimadzu, Kyoto, Japan). Glucose, xylose, organic acids and glycerol concentrations were measured using a Rezex ROA Organic Acid column (Phenomenex, Torrance, United States). Separations were performed at 45°C and the mobile phase for isocratic elution was 5 mmol/L H₂SO₄. The flow rate was 0.6 mL/min. Stereoselective HPLC analysis of arabinitol isomers was done using a Chiralpak column (Daicel Technologies, Japan) and the mobile phase for isocratic elution was a mixture of hexane and ethanol (70:30, v/v) at 20°C; the flow was 0.3 mL/min. Chiralpak column of arabinitol standards gave different retention times for each enantiomer (D and L) (S18 Fig). Yields and specific consumption and production rates represent exp and Nlim phases separately, not cumulatively.

For intracellular total protein quantification, cell pellets were thawed on ice and resuspended in 0.9% (m/v) NaCl solution to a concentration of 1 g/L. Then 600 μg of biomass was mixed with a commercially available protein extraction solution (Y-PER, Thermo Fisher) in a 2-mL tube and incubated at 30°C for 45 minutes. After incubation, samples were transferred to screw cap 2-mL tubes with glass beads. Cell lysis was performed using a FastPrep-24 device for 4 cycles (4 m/s for 20 s) with a 5 min interval after each cycle. After cell lysis, the tubes were centrifuged at 14800 rpm for 10 min at 4°C. Supernatant was collected to a new 2-mL tube and the leftover biomass sample was subjected to a repeated extraction cycle (without 45 min incubation interval) until no proteome was detected in supernatant. Before quantification, all fractions of supernatant were combined. Proteome was quantified using a commercially available colorimetric assay kit (Micro BCA Protein Assay Kit, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, United States). Protein concentration was determined using the calibration curve of bovine serum albumin (BSA) standard of linear range dilutions from 0.5 to 200 μg/mL. Assay was performed in triplicate for each sample. Samples chosen for analysis corresponded to 17 and 57 h in glucose, 48 and 72 h in xylose, and 26 and 44 h in acetate. Assay results represent cumulative proteome during each growth phase of yeast.

Lipidomics

To quantify lipids and determine their fatty acid composition, quantitative gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis with the internal standard method was used, similar as described in Tammekivi et al. 2019, [54]. Before analysis, cell pellets were lyophilized and derivatized by using acid-catalyzed methylation. This derivatization procedure produces methylated fatty acids from both free and bonded fatty acids. The quantitative analysis and derivatization procedure of the TAGs and free fatty acids was based on Tammekivi et al. 2021, [55]. From the lyophilized cells, 10–12 mg of was weighed into a 15 mL glass vial. An analytical balance (Precisa, Dietikon, Switzerland, resolution of 0.01 mg) was used to weigh all components that influence the quantitative analysis (samples, solvents, internal standard). To the cells, 2 mL of MeOH (≥99.9%, Honeywell, Charlotte, NC, USA) was added and the vial was sonicated for 15 min. Then, 0.4 mL of conc. H₂SO₄ (98%, VWR Chemicals, Radnor, PA, USA) was carefully added to the solution and the derivatization mixture was heated for 3 h at 80°C. After, the mixture was extracted 3 x 2 mL with hexane (≥97.0%, Honeywell) and the extracts were pipetted through a layer of K₂CO₃ (99.5%, Reakhim) on top of a glass wool (Supelco, Bellefonte, PA, United States) layer. The combined extracts were evaporated to dryness and the residue was redissolved in 2 mL of toluene (≥99.9%, Honeywell). Depending on the expected fatty acid concentration, toluene and internal standard (hexadecane, ≥99%, Honeywell) were added so that the results would stay in the range of the calibration curve.

The solutions containing the fatty acid methyl esters and internal standard were analyzed with an Agilent (Santa Clara, CA, USA) 7890A GC connected to an Agilent 5975C inert XL mass spectrometric detector (MSD) with a triple-axis detector and an Agilent G4513A autosampler. The column was an Agilent DB-225MS capillary column (30 m x 0.25 mm diameter, 0.25 μm film thickness) with a (50%-cyanopropylphenyl)-methylpolysiloxane stationary phase. The temperatures of the mass spectrometer transfer line and ion source were 280°C and 230°C, respectively. The temperature of the inlet was 300°C, injection volume 0.5 μL, and splitless mode was used, where the split was opened after 2 min. The oven’s temperature program was the following: isothermal for 2 min at 80°C, increased 20°C/min to 200°C, isothermal for 4 min, increased 5°C/min to 220°C, isothermal for 5 min, increased 10°C/min to 230°C, isothermal for 12 min. The total run time was 34 min. Electron ionization (EI) with 70 eV was used and the solvent delay was 5.6 min. Helium 6.0 was used as the carrier gas (flow rate 1.5 mL/min). Qualitative analysis was performed in the scan mode (mass range of 27–400 m/z) and quantitative analysis was performed in the selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode, which were both measured during the same GC-MS run. For data analysis, Agilent MSD ChemStation and NIST Mass Spectral Library Search 2.0 were used.

Commercial standard mixture of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME, C8–C24, Supelco) was used to confirm the identity (based on retention times, in addition to the mass spectral comparison) and to quantify the fatty acids. Seven calibration solutions were made from the FAME mixture in toluene and the same internal standard (hexadecane) was added. All calibration solutions were measured in random order in the same GC-MS sequence with the derivatized sample solutions. For each methylated fatty acid, a calibration curve was constructed based on the data obtained from the GC-MS analysis of the calibration solutions–S_AD/S_IS vs. C_AD/C_IS−where S represents the peak area, C the concentration, AD the derivatized fatty acid, and IS the internal standard. Knowing the S_AD/S_IS and C_IS for the sample solution, if was possible the calculate the derivatized fatty acid concentration (C_AD). Finally, the obtained value was recalculated to represent the concentrations of particular fatty acids or homotriglycerides. Also the derivatization efficiency (for more information see Tammekivi et al. 2019, [51]) was taken into account by applying the same derivatization procedure and quantitative analysis for the analysis of five fatty acid standards (C16:0, C18:0, C18:1, C18:2 and C18:3) and their corresponding TAG standards. The obtained yield (% from the weighed quantity of the corresponding standard) was used to correct the result of the sample analysis. The sum of the quantified TAGs was presented as the total lipid content. Samples chosen for analysis corresponded to 24, 52 and 100 h in glucose, 48 and 96 h in xylose, and 39 and 84 h in acetate. Analysis results represent cumulative lipidome during each growth phase of the yeast.

Experimental procedure for absolute proteomics

Absolute proteome quantification was performed using a nanoscale liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (Nano-LC/MS/MS), similar as described in Sanchez et al. 2021, [26]. Experimental procedure for cell lysis and sample preparation was done as described in the same study. Briefly, cell pellets were lysed using a pH 8.0 buffer (6 M guanidine HCl, 100 mM Tris-HCl, 20 mM dithiothreitol) and homogenized using the FastPrep-24 device (2x at 4 m/s for 30 s). After centrifugation and overnight precipitation (10% trichloroacetic acid, at 4°C), protein concentration was measured as described above in the total protein content section. For absolute quantification, proteome samples were mixed heavy-labeled R. toruloides grown in previously described minimal medium supplemented with heavy 15N, 13C-lysine (Silantes, Munich, Germany), which was used as an internal standard [1]. Further sample preparation and Nano-LC/MS/MS analysis was similar to previous descriptions [26]. Samples chosen for analysis corresponded to 17 and 57 h in glucose, 48 and 72 h in xylose, and 26 and 44 h in acetate, same as in the total proteome analysis.

Proteomics data analysis

The raw data obtained from the Nano-LC/MS/MS analysis was processed using MaxQuant v1.6.1.0 software package [56] with similar settings as described in Sanchez et al. 2021, [26]. Data search was performed against the Uniprot (www.uniprot.org) R. toruloides NP11 reference proteome database [10]. Raw data quantification was similar to previous descriptions, except that the MS intensities were normalized with the average internal standard abundance (reverse Ratio H/L normalized). MS intensities were calculated from the internal standard abundance using the number of theoretically observable peptides (iBAQ, intensity Based Absolute Quantification; iBAQ H) feature in MaxQuant, the reverse Ratio H/L normalized of the sample, and reverse Ratio H/L. The resulting MS intensities were adjusted for 80% recovery of the sample injected. Finally, absolute protein concentrations were derived from the normalized sum of MS intensities assuming its proportionality to the measured total protein content, also known as the total protein approach [26].

LC-MS/MS data have been deposited to the ProteomeXchange Consortium (http://proteomecentral.proteomexchange.org) via the PRIDE partner repository [57] with the dataset identifier PXD037281. Processed quantitative data are presented in S1 Dataset. Duplicate experiments were used in differential expression analysis. p-values were adjusted for multiple comparisons using Benjamini-Hochberg (1995) method [58].

Enzyme-constrained model reconstruction

Enzyme-constrained genome-scale metabolic model of R. toruloides was generated using the metabolic network rhto-GEM version 1.3.0 [15]. The workflow was based on a semi-automatic algorithm of the GECKO toolbox version 2.0.2 [17] operating on MATLAB (The MathWorks Inc., Natick, MA, United States). Model development was tracked on a dedicated Github repository: https://github.com/alinarekena/ecRhtoGEM/.

Firstly, functions addMets, addGenesRaven and addRxns from RAVEN [59] were used to add the alternative xylose assimilation pathway to rhto-GEM, as provided in ecRhtoGEM/edit_rhtoGEM. Next, pipelines enhanceGEM and generate_protModels from the GECKO Toolbox were used to generate ec-models, as provided in ecRhtoGEM/reconstruct_ecRhtoGEM.

During the enhanceGEM pipeline, enzyme kinetic parameters were relaxed to overcome model over constraint using the manualModifications function from the GECKO Toolbox. The enzymes subject to manual k_cat value curation were identified by running enhanceGEM pipeline initially with the physiology data of the xylose condition, as provided in ecRhtoGEM/customGECKO/getModelParameters. The relative_proteomics.txt and uniprot.tab input data were used to match enzymes with the model and retrieve their k_cat values from the BRENDA database. The data for uniprot.tab were downloaded from Uniprot.org with R. toruloides strain NP11 as query, while relative_proteomics.txt contained average protein abundances of enzymes detected in our proteomics analysis (in mmol/gDCW). The getModelParameters function was used to ensure that the newly generated ec-model was constrained with experimental data. The GECKO Toolbox automatically performed the initial sensitivity analysis on the objective function (ie. maximize cell growth) with respect to the individual k_cat values by identifying the top limiting value and by iteratively replacing it with the maximum value available in BRENDA. According to the reported information, we adjusted k_cat values identified as limiting to reasonably higher values found in literature (for a detailed description see ecRhtoGEM/manualModifications). In the next step, we used the topUsedEnzymes function from GECKO Toolbox to calculate the top ten enzyme usages in a mass-wise way (data not provided). Similarly as in the previous step, k_cat values of enzymes identified among top used in each condition were increased to reasonably higher values referenced in the literature. In the script the procedure was named round A. Later, in so called round B, the topUsedEnzymes function was applied to the same conditions again and k_cat values were modified until enzyme usage represented less than 1% of total protein pool, as provided in ecRhtoGEM/manualModifications. The final list of modified k_cat values included 27 enzymes, as summarized in S6 Table. As automatic k_cat values were derived from studies that involved not the same organism and substrate, their values were often very low. For example, the k_cat value of fructose-bisphosphatase was increased from 0.002 s^-1 to 127 s^-1, on the basis of specific enzyme activity for the same EC number.

During the generate_protModels pipeline, growth- and non-growth-associated energy requirements were fit using measured substrate uptake and gas rates from batch cultivations of R. toruloides obtained in this study, as provided in ecRhtoGEM/customGECKO/fermentationData. They were set from 124.4 to 140.0 mmol/gDCW and from 0 to 3.65 mmol/(gDCW/h). Coefficients in oxidative phosphorylation from rhto-GEM were not changed. Polymerization costs from the study in S. cerevisiae [60] were used, similarly as in rhto-GEM. Average enzyme saturation factor (sigma) was fit to physiological parameters (ecRhtoGEM/results/enhanceGEM_pipeline/sigma), and set at 0.35 in ecRhtoGEM/customGECKO/getModelParameters. Biomass composition was modified from rhto-GEM to include R. toruloides CCT 7815 protein content, lipid content and acyl chain profiles, as provided in ecRhtoGEM/customGECKO and ecRhtoGEM/data, respectively. The scaleLipidProtein and scaleLipidsRhto functions from GECKO Toolbox and SLIMEr [61] were modified for the generate_protModels pipeline. To avoid the model to over constrain, automatic flexibilization was performed on concentrations of 7 (XNlim) to 25 (Gexp) enzymes, as listed in S6 Table (the old and new values are available at ecRhtoGEM/results/generate_prot_Models_pipeline/modifiedEnzymes.txt). An alternative approach to calculate the abundance of those enzymes for which no enzyme level had been measured was used as additional modification in addition to previously described modifications in the pipeline to handle the ow protein levels observed in Nlim conditions. In this approach, we directly subtracted the measured enzyme concentration (Pmeasured) from the total enzyme concentration (enzymeConc) to obtain the unmeasured enzyme concentration (PpoolMass). Modifications to original approach, by which GECKO adjusts for the unmeasured enzyme concentration, are available from generate_protModels and constrainEnzymes functions at ‘customGECKO’ folder. These included sample specific f-factor calculation was moved before filtering proteomics data (generate_protModels). This ensured higher coverage, while not largely affecting f calculation. Total protein content (Ptot) calculation was rescaled by adding standard deviation and flexibilization because of too low measurement. Then f, which was calculated in the beginning of generate_protModels, and rescaled updated Ptot were used to calculate expected total enzyme concentration (enzymeConc), as provided in constrainEnzymes. This ensured higher coverage, likely critical in low total protein content biomass (in case of all Nlim phases). Other updates included rescaling of enzyme usage to prevent very low fluxes, as provided in generate_protModels.

Model calculations

Flux balance analysis was performed with the RAVEN toolbox using Gurobi solver (Gurobi Optimization Inc., Houston, Texas, United States). Flux variability was estimated with random sampling of the solution space with 2000 sampling iterations for each condition (ie., ec-model). For each sample, a random set of three reactions was given random weights and the sum of these were parsimoniously maximized to explore the constraint solution space [32], considering 1% variability from maximal growth rate and substrate uptake rate, 10% variability from predicted carbon dioxide production and oxygen consumption rate, 10% variability from measured by-product rates, 10% variability from protein pool, and 1% variability from NGAM, as specified in analyze_ecRhtoGEM. In glucose condition, simulated values were used to constrain gas exchange (carbon dioxide and oxygen) due to measurement problems in experimental values. In xylose condition, measured values were used to constrain the production of by-products xylitol and D-arabinitol. To allow the model to use either traditional or alternative xylose assimilation pathway, xylulokinase (XK) was not blocked, but eventually constrained with enzyme constraints from the protein pool. In acetate condition, measured values were used to constrain the production of citrate. Flux value was calculated as a median of 2000 sampling iterations. Flux variability was represented as SD divided by flux, multiplied by 100. Finally, fluxes were converted to base GEM formalism using mapRxnsToOriginal function from Domenzain et al. 2022 [30]. For the analysis, fluxes were normalized by dividing absolute flux with the specific substrate uptake rate to ensure the comparability among different conditions. Additional data analysis was performed on ATP, NADPH and NADH turnover extracted using the getMetProduction function from [7]. Yield was calculated as turnover (sum of fluxes) divided by the specific rate of substrate uptake. Apparent catalytic activities (k_app, s^-1) were calculated according to Eq (2).

(2)

Where flux refers to median flux, mmol/gDCW/h, obtained from 2000 iterations of random sampling of the solution space [32] and E refers to mean protein concentration (n = 2), mmol/gDCW.