Deciphering the new mechanism of tolerance to environmental pollutant furfural by adaptive laboratory evolution in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Furfural is a widely used chemical material and intermediate product in food processing. With the development of industrialization and the diversification of food processing, furfural and its derivatives not only pollute the environment, but also threaten human and animal health. Deciphering the tolerant mechanism of organisms to furfural is of great significance to environmental protection and health. In this experiment, the Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain YBA_08 was used as a model organism and the parental strain to obtain furfural-tolerant mutants through adaptive laboratory evolution. Genome sequencing, RNA-seq, and other omics technologies were used to explore the tolerance mechanism of organisms to furfural. The results showed that the adjustment of cell cycle, GSH-mediated ROS scavenging, and the genome-level remodeling of the cell wall promoted the tolerance of strain to furfural. The core of tolerance mechanism in this study is the increased content of GSH caused by the redistribution of NADPH and NADH to accelerate the elimination of ROS. The above findings execute a comprehensive analysis of the toxicity of furfural and tolerance mechanism of organism and provide important guidance for improvement of ecological environment and human health.