Specific features of the transcriptomic response to nitrogen starvation in methylotrophic yeast Komagataella phaffi

Non-conventional methylotrophic yeast Komagataella phaffii is an important production host in biotechnology and an emerging model organism. In this work, we studied K. phaffii response to nitrogen starvation during cultivation in media with methanol as the sole carbon source. The results were compared with well-established model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Some of the observed effects of nitrogen starvation in K. phaffii were similar to those in S. cerevisiae, despite this yeast does not have metabolic pathway for methanol utilization. The effects include activation of autophagy, transport and catabolism of nitrogen-containing compounds, interconversions of amino acids, and biosynthesis of fatty acids. K. phaffii cells also demonstrated specific response to nitrogen starvation including suppression of genes involved in methanol metabolism and other peroxisomal processes and activation of purine catabolism genes. Overall design: To investigate the impact of nitrogen starvation on K. phaffii we analyzed the transcriptome from three control replicates grown on the methanol-containing medium with a nitrogen source (ammonium sulfate) and three experimental replicates grown on the methanol-containing medium without a nitrogen source.