Jerome Maury

Enhancing sesquiterpene production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae through in silico driven metabolic engineering

A genome-scale metabolic model was used to identify new target genes for enhanced biosynthesis of sesquiterpenes in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The effect of gene deletions on the flux distributions in the metabolic model of S. cerevisiae was assessed using OptGene as the modeling framework and minimization of metabolic adjustments (MOMA) as objective function. Deletion of NADPH-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase encoded by GDH1 was identified as the best target gene for the improvement of sesquiterpene biosynthesis in yeast. Deletion of this gene enhances the available NADPH in the cytosol for other NADPH requiring enzymes, including HMG-CoA reductase. However, since disruption of GDH1 impairs the ammonia utilization, simultaneous over-expression of the NADH-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase encoded by GDH2 was also considered in this study. Deletion of GDH1 led to an approximately 85% increase in the final cubebol titer. However, deletion of this gene also caused a significant decrease in the maximum specific growth rate. Over-expression of GDH2 did not show a further effect on the final cubebol titer but this alteration significantly improved the growth rate compared to the GDH1 deleted strain.

Characterization of different promoters for designing a new expression vector in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The widely used pESC vector series (Stratagene, La Jolla, CA, USA) with the bidirectional GAL1/GAL10 promoter provides the possibility of simultaneously expressing two different genes from a single vector in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This system can be induced by galactose and is repressed by glucose. Since S. cerevisiae prefers glucose as a carbon source, and since its growth rate is higher in glucose than in galactose‐containing media, we compared and evaluated seven different promoters expressed during growth on glucose (pTEF1, pADH1, pTPI1, pHXT7, pTDH3, pPGK1 and pPYK1) with two strong galactose‐induced promoters (pGAL1 and pGAL10), using lacZ as a reporter gene and measuring LacZ activity in batch and continuous cultivation. TEF1 and PGK1 promoters showed the most constant activity pattern at different glucose concentrations. Based on these results, we designed and constructed two new expression vectors which contain the two constitutive promoters, TEF1 and PGK1, in opposite orientation to each other. These new vectors retain all the features from the pESC–URA plasmid except that gene expression is mediated by constitutive promoters. Copyright

Dynamic control of gene expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae engineered for the production of plant sesquitepene α-santalene in a fed-batch mode

Microbial cells engineered for efficient production of plant sesquiterpenes may allow for sustainable and scalable production of these compounds that can be used as e.g. perfumes and pharmaceuticals. Here, for the first time a Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain capable of producing high levels of α-santalene, the precursor of a commercially interesting compound, was constructed through a rationally designed metabolic engineering approach. Optimal sesquiterpene production was obtained by modulating the expression of one of the key metabolic steps of the mevalonate (MVA) pathway, squalene synthase (Erg9). To couple ERG9 expression to glucose concentration its promoter was replaced by the HXT1 promoter. In a second approach, the HXT2 promoter was used to express an ERG9 antisense construct. Using the HXT1 promoter to control ERG9 expression, it was possible to divert the carbon flux from sterol synthesis towards α-santalene improving the productivity by 3.4 fold. Combining this approach together with the overexpression of a truncated form of 3-hydroxyl-3-methyl-glutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGR) and deletion of lipid phosphate phosphatase encoded by LPP1 led to a strain with a productivity of 0.18mg/gDCWh. The titer was further increased by deleting DPP1 encoding a second FPP consuming pyrophosphate phosphatase yielding a final productivity and titer, respectively, of 0.21mg/gDCWh and 92mg/l of α-santalene.

Diversion of Flux toward Sesquiterpene Production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by Fusion of Host and Heterologous Enzymes

ABSTRACT The ability to transfer metabolic pathways from the natural producer organisms to the well-characterized cell factory Saccharomyces cerevisiae is well documented. However, as many secondary metabolites are produced by collaborating enzymes assembled in complexes, metabolite production in yeast may be limited by the inability of the heterologous enzymes to collaborate with the native yeast enzymes. This may cause loss of intermediates by diffusion or degradation or due to conversion of the intermediate through competitive pathways. To bypass this problem, we have pursued a strategy in which key enzymes in the pathway are expressed as a physical fusion. As a model system, we have constructed several fusion protein variants in which farnesyl diphosphate synthase (FPPS) of yeast has been coupled to patchoulol synthase (PTS) of plant origin (Pogostemon cablin). Expression of the fusion proteins in S. cerevisiae increased the production of patchoulol, the main sesquiterpene produced by PTS, up to 2-fold. Moreover, we have demonstrated that the fusion strategy can be used in combination with traditional metabolic engineering to further increase the production of patchoulol. This simple test case of synthetic biology demonstrates that engineering the spatial organization of metabolic enzymes around a branch point has great potential for diverting flux toward a desired product.

Enhancement of farnesyl diphosphate pool as direct precursor of sesquiterpenes through metabolic engineering of the mevalonate pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The mevalonate pathway in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was deregulated in order to enhance the intracellular pool of farnesyl diphosphate (FPP), the direct precursor for the biosynthesis of sesquiterpenes. Over‐expression of the catalytic domain of HMG1, both from the genome and plasmid, resulted in higher production of cubebol, a plant originating sesquiterpene, and increased squalene accumulation. Down‐regulation of ERG9 by replacing its native promoter with the regulatable MET3 promoter, enhanced cubebol titers but simultaneous over‐expression of tHMG1 and repression of ERG9 did not further improve cubebol production. Furtheremore, the concentrations of squalene and ergosterol were measured in the engineered strains. Unexpectedly, significant accumulation of squalene and restoring the ergosterol biosynthesis were observed in the ERG9 repressed strains transformed with the plasmids harboring cubebol synthase gene. This could be explained by a toxicity effect of cubebol, possibly resulting in higher transcription levels for the genes under control of MET3 promoter, which could lead to accumulation of squalene and ergosterol. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2010; 106: 86–96.

EasyClone: method for iterative chromosomal integration of multiple genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Development of strains for efficient production of chemicals and pharmaceuticals requires multiple rounds of genetic engineering. In this study, we describe construction and characterization of EasyClone vector set for bakers yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which enables simultaneous expression of multiple genes with an option of recycling selection markers. The vectors combine the advantage of efficient uracil excision reaction-based cloning and Cre-LoxP-mediated marker recycling system. The episomal and integrative vector sets were tested by inserting genes encoding cyan, yellow, and red fluorescent proteins into separate vectors and analyzing for co-expression of proteins by flow cytometry. Cells expressing genes encoding for the three fluorescent proteins from three integrations exhibited a much higher level of simultaneous expression than cells producing fluorescent proteins encoded on episomal plasmids, where correspondingly 95% and 6% of the cells were within a fluorescence interval of Log10 mean ± 15% for all three colors. We demonstrate that selective markers can be simultaneously removed using Cre-mediated recombination and all the integrated heterologous genes remain in the chromosome and show unchanged expression levels. Hence, this system is suitable for metabolic engineering in yeast where multiple rounds of gene introduction and marker recycling can be carried out.

Establishing a synthetic pathway for high-level production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid in Saccharomyces cerevisiae via β-alanine.

Microbial fermentation of renewable feedstocks into plastic monomers can decrease our fossil dependence and reduce global CO2 emissions. 3-Hydroxypropionic acid (3HP) is a potential chemical building block for sustainable production of superabsorbent polymers and acrylic plastics. With the objective of developing Saccharomyces cerevisiae as an efficient cell factory for high-level production of 3HP, we identified the β-alanine biosynthetic route as the most economically attractive according to the metabolic modeling. We engineered and optimized a synthetic pathway for de novo biosynthesis of β-alanine and its subsequent conversion into 3HP using a novel β-alanine-pyruvate aminotransferase discovered in Bacillus cereus. The final strain produced 3HP at a titer of 13.7±0.3gL(-1) with a 0.14±0.0C-molC-mol(-1) yield on glucose in 80h in controlled fed-batch fermentation in mineral medium at pH 5, and this work therefore lays the basis for developing a process for biological 3HP production.

Whole genome sequencing of Saccharomyces cerevisiae: from genotype to phenotype for improved metabolic engineering applications

BackgroundThe need for rapid and efficient microbial cell factory design and construction are possible through the enabling technology, metabolic engineering, which is now being facilitated by systems biology approaches. Metabolic engineering is often complimented by directed evolution, where selective pressure is applied to a partially genetically engineered strain to confer a desirable phenotype. The exact genetic modification or resulting genotype that leads to the improved phenotype is often not identified or understood to enable further metabolic engineering.ResultsIn this work we performed whole genome high-throughput sequencing and annotation can be used to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) between Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains S288c and CEN.PK113-7D. The yeast strain S288c was the first eukaryote sequenced, serving as the reference genome for the Saccharomyces Genome Database, while CEN.PK113-7D is a preferred laboratory strain for industrial biotechnology research. A total of 13,787 high-quality SNPs were detected between both strains (reference strain: S288c). Considering only metabolic genes (782 of 5,596 annotated genes), a total of 219 metabolism specific SNPs are distributed across 158 metabolic genes, with 85 of the SNPs being nonsynonymous (e.g., encoding amino acid modifications). Amongst metabolic SNPs detected, there was pathway enrichment in the galactose uptake pathway (GAL1, GAL10) and ergosterol biosynthetic pathway (ERG8, ERG9). Physiological characterization confirmed a strong deficiency in galactose uptake and metabolism in S288c compared to CEN.PK113-7D, and similarly, ergosterol content in CEN.PK113-7D was significantly higher in both glucose and galactose supplemented cultivations compared to S288c. Furthermore, DNA microarray profiling of S288c and CEN.PK113-7D in both glucose and galactose batch cultures did not provide a clear hypothesis for major phenotypes observed, suggesting that genotype to phenotype correlations are manifested post-transcriptionally or post-translationally either through protein concentration and/or function.ConclusionsWith an intensifying need for microbial cell factories that produce a wide array of target compounds, whole genome high-throughput sequencing and annotation for SNP detection can aid in better reducing and defining the metabolic landscape. This work demonstrates direct correlations between genotype and phenotype that provides clear and high-probability of success metabolic engineering targets. The genome sequence, annotation, and a SNP viewer of CEN.PK113-7D are deposited at http://www.sysbio.se/cenpk.

CrEdit: CRISPR mediated multi-loci gene integration in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

BackgroundOne of the bottlenecks in production of biochemicals and pharmaceuticals in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is stable and homogeneous expression of pathway genes. Integration of genes into the genome of the production organism is often a preferred option when compared to expression from episomal vectors. Existing approaches for achieving stable simultaneous genome integrations of multiple DNA fragments often result in relatively low integration efficiencies and furthermore rely on the use of selection markers.ResultsHere, we have developed a novel method, CrEdit (CRISPR/Cas9 mediated genome Editing), which utilizes targeted double strand breaks caused by CRISPR/Cas9 to significantly increase the efficiency of homologous integration in order to edit and manipulate genomic DNA. Using CrEdit, the efficiency and locus specificity of targeted genome integrations reach close to 100% for single gene integration using short homology arms down to 60 base pairs both with and without selection. This enables direct and cost efficient inclusion of homology arms in PCR primers. As a proof of concept, a non-native β-carotene pathway was reconstructed in S. cerevisiae by simultaneous integration of three pathway genes into individual intergenic genomic sites. Using longer homology arms, we demonstrate highly efficient and locus-specific genome integration even without selection with up to 84% correct clones for simultaneous integration of three gene expression cassettes.ConclusionsThe CrEdit approach enables fast and cost effective genome integration for engineering of S. cerevisiae. Since the choice of the targeting sites is flexible, CrEdit is a powerful tool for diverse genome engineering applications.

Novel biosensors based on flavonoid-responsive transcriptional regulators introduced into Escherichia coli.

This study describes the construction of two flavonoid biosensors, which can be applied for metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli strains. The biosensors are based on transcriptional regulators combined with autofluorescent proteins. The transcriptional activator FdeR from Herbaspirillum seropedicae SmR1 responds to naringenin, while the repressor QdoR from Bacillus subtilis is inactivated by quercetin and kaempferol. Both biosensors showed over a 7-fold increase of the fluorescent signal after addition of their specific effectors, and a linear correlation between the fluorescence intensity and externally added flavonoid concentration. The QdoR-biosensor was successfully applied for detection of kaempferol production in vivo at the single cell level by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Furthermore, the amount of kaempferol produced highly correlated with the specific fluorescence of E. coli cells containing a flavonol synthase from Arabidopsis thaliana (fls1). We expect the designed biosensors to be applied for isolation of genes involved in flavonoid biosynthetic pathways.