Overexpression of Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase Gene of Mucor rouxii Enhanced Fatty Acid Content in Hansenula polymorpha

Dissecting Holistic Metabolic Acclimatization of Mucor circinelloides WJ11 Defective in Carotenoid Biosynthesis

Mucor circinelloides WJ11 is a lipid-producing strain with industrial potential. A holistic approach using gene manipulation and bioprocessing development has improved lipid production and the strain's economic viability. However, the systematic regulation of lipid accumulation and carotenoid biosynthesis in M. circinelloides remains unknown. To dissect the metabolic mechanism underlying lipid and carotenoid biosynthesis, transcriptome analysis and reporter metabolites identification were implemented between the wild-type (WJ11) and ΔcarRP WJ11 strains of M. circinelloides. As a result, transcriptome analysis revealed 10,287 expressed genes, with 657 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) primarily involved in amino acid, carbohydrate, and energy metabolism. Integration with a genome-scale metabolic model (GSMM) identified reporter metabolites in the ΔcarRP WJ11 strain, highlighting metabolic pathways crucial for amino acid, energy, and nitrogen metabolism. Notably, the downregulation of genes associated with carotenoid biosynthesis and acetyl-CoA generation suggests a coordinated relationship between the carotenoid and fatty acid biosynthesis pathways. Despite disruptions in the carotenoid pathway, lipid production remains stagnant due to reduced acetyl-CoA availability, emphasizing the intricate metabolic interplay. These findings provide insights into the coordinated relationship between carotenoid and fatty acid biosynthesis in M. circinelloides that are valuable in applied research to design optimized strains for producing desired bioproducts through emerging technology.

The role of areA in lipid accumulation in high lipid-producing fungus Mucor circinelloides WJ11

In the oleaginous fungus Mucor circinelloides, lipid accumulation is regulated by nitrogen metabolism, which is regulated by the areA gene, a member of the GATA zinc finger transporter family and a major regulator for nitrogen metabolism. However, the role of areA in lipid accumulation in this fungus has not been reported. In order to explore the regulatory effect of areA gene on nitrogen metabolism and lipid accumulation in M. circinelloides, we constructed areA gene knockout and overexpression strains. Then, the recombinant strains were cultured and their biochemical indexes were measured. Simultaneously, transcriptomic studies on the recombinant strains were conducted to infer the regulatory mechanism of areA. The results showed that the areA knockout strain accumulated more lipid, which is 42 % higher than the control. While the areA overexpressing strain obtained the higher biomass accumulation (23 g/L) and used up the nitrogen source in the medium earlier than the control strain and knockout strain. Transcriptome data analysis showed that nr and nit-6 genes related to nitrogen metabolism were up-regulated. And the expression levels of key genes acc and aclY were higher in the areA knockout strain than others, which was positively correlated with the increased lipid accumulation. In addition, in knockout strains, protein catabolism tended to provide substrates for the lipid production, and the expression levels of the related genes were also higher than others. These results indicated that the areA gene not only controls the transcription level of genes related to nitrogen metabolism but also affects lipid accumulation.

AMP deaminase: A crucial regulator in nitrogen stress and lipid metabolism in Mucor circinelloides

Lipid biosynthesis is a significant metabolic response to nitrogen starvation in oleaginous fungi. The oleaginous fungus Mucor circinelloides copes with nitrogen stress by degrading AMP through AMP deaminase (AMPD). However, the mechanism of AMPD in regulating lipogenesis remains largely unclear. To elucidate the mechanism of AMPD in lipid synthesis in this M. circinelloides, we identified two genes (ampd1 and ampd2) encoding AMPD and constructed an ampd double knockout mutant. The engineered M. circinelloides strain elevated cell growth and lipid accumulation, as well as the content of oleic acid (OA) and gamma-linolenic acid (GLA). In addition to the expected increase in transcription levels of genes associated with lipid and TAG synthesis, we observed suppression of lipid degradation and reduced amino acid biosynthesis. This suggested that the deletion of AMPD genes induces the redirection of carbon towards lipid synthesis pathways. Moreover, the pathways related to nitrogen metabolism, including nitrogen assimilation and purine metabolism (especially energy level), were also affected in order to maintain homeostasis. Further analysis discovered that the transcription factors (TFs) related to lipid accumulation were also regulated. This study provides new insights into lipid biosynthesis in M. circinelloides, indicating that the trigger for lipid accumulation is not entirely AMPD-dependent and suggest that there may be additional mechanisms involved in the initiation of lipogenesis.

Metabolomics analysis of the metabolic effects of citric acid on Issatchenkia terricola WJL-G4

In current research, yeast species Issatchenkia terricola WJL-G4 was shown to be capable of degrading citric acid, especially in the processing of fruit juice and wine. I. terricola WJL-G4 was able to use citric acid as a carbon source, but the metabolic effects of citric acid on yeast remained unclear. In this study, the metabolic effects of citric acid on I. terricola WJL-G4 were studied using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry metabolomics technology, with glucose treatment as the control. Results showed that organic acid contents related to the extracellular tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA) varied greatly. The metabolomics results indicated that I. terricola WJL-G4 might metabolize citric acid through the TCA pathway, and the glycolysis pathway might be inhibited; however, gluconeogenesis proceeded normally during citric acid treatment. Some fatty acids and phospholipids, along with the metabolic pathways of amino acids, vitamins, purines and nicotinamide in I. terricola WJL-G4 were also affected by the citric acid treatment. This work provided a theoretical basis for further study of the mechanism of yeast metabolism of citric acid.

Identification and Functional Characterization of Adenosine Deaminase in Mucor circinelloides: A Novel Potential Regulator of Nitrogen Utilization and Lipid Biosynthesis

Adenosine deaminase (ADA) is an enzyme distributed in a wide variety of organisms that cleaves adenosine into inosine. Since inosine plays an important role in nitrogen metabolism, ADA may have a critical function in the regulation of fatty acid synthesis. However, the role of ADA in oleaginous fungi has not been reported so far. Therefore, in this study, we identified one ada gene encoding ADA (with ID scaffold0027.9) in the high lipid-producing fungus, Mucor circinelloides WJ11, and investigated its role in cell growth, lipid production, and nitrogen metabolism by overexpressing and knockout of this gene. The results showed that knockout of the ada altered the efficiency of nitrogen consumption, which led to a 20% increment in the lipid content (25% of cell dry weight) of the engineered strain, while overexpression of the ada showed no significant differences compared with the control strain at the final growth stage; however, interestingly, it increased lipid accumulation at the early growth stage. Additionally, transcriptional analysis was conducted by RT-qPCR and our findings indicated that the deletion of ada activated the committed steps of lipid biosynthesis involved in acetyl-CoA carboxylase (acc1 gene), cytosolic malic acid enzyme (cme1 gene), and fatty acid synthases (fas1 gene), while it suppressed the expression of AMP-activated protein kinase (ampk α1 and ampk β genes), which plays a role in lipolysis, whereas the ada-overexpressed strain displayed reverse trends. Conclusively, this work unraveled a novel role of ADA in governing lipid biosynthesis and nitrogen metabolism in the oleaginous fungus, M. circinelloides.

Fatty Acid Production by Enhanced Malonyl-CoA Supply in Escherichia coli

The expression of exogenous genes encoding acetyl-CoA carboxylase (Acc) and pantothenate kinase (CoaA) in Escherichia coli enable highly effective fatty acid production. Acc-only strains grown at 37 °C or 23 °C produced an approximately twofold increase in fatty acid content, and additional expression of CoaA achieved a further twofold accumulation. In the presence of pantothenate, which is the starting material for the CoA biosynthetic pathway, the size of the intracellular CoA pool at 23 °C was comparable to that at 30 °C during cultivation, and more than 500 mg/L of culture containing cellular fatty acids was produced, even at 23 °C. However, the highest yield of cellular fatty acids (1100 mg/L of culture) was produced in cells possessing the gene encoding type I bacterial fatty acid synthase (FasA) along with the acc and coaA, when the transformant was cultivated at 30 °C in M9 minimal salt medium without pantothenate or IPTG. This E. coli transformant contained 141 mg/L of oleic acid attributed to FasA under noninducible conditions. The increased fatty acid content was brought about by a greatly improved specific productivity of 289 mg/g of dry cell weight. Thus, the effectiveness of the foreign acc and coaA in fatty acid production was unambiguously confirmed at culture temperatures of 23 °C to 37 °C. Cofactor engineering in E. coli using the exogenous coaA and acc genes resulted in fatty acid production over 1 g/L of culture and could effectively function at 23 °C.

Production, Biosynthesis, and Commercial Applications of Fatty Acids From Oleaginous Fungi

Oleaginous fungi (including fungus-like protists) are attractive in lipid production due to their short growth cycle, large biomass and high yield of lipids. Some typical oleaginous fungi including Galactomyces geotrichum, Thraustochytrids, Mortierella isabellina, and Mucor circinelloides, have been well studied for the ability to accumulate fatty acids with commercial application. Here, we review recent progress toward fermentation, extraction, of fungal fatty acids. To reduce cost of the fatty acids, fatty acid productions from raw materials were also summarized. Then, the synthesis mechanism of fatty acids was introduced. We also review recent studies of the metabolic engineering strategies have been developed as efficient tools in oleaginous fungi to overcome the biochemical limit and to improve production efficiency of the special fatty acids. It also can be predictable that metabolic engineering can further enhance biosynthesis of fatty acids and change the storage mode of fatty acids.

Key media microsupplements for boosting de novo lipogenesis in an oleaginic yeast isolate

Present work reports a simple approach of microsupplementing nitrogen starved production media with potential activators of lipogenic enzymes for boosting de novo lipogenesis and demonstrated a 70-117 % rise in lipid content (LC) of yeast isolate Geotrichum candidum NBT-1. A hypothesis was proposed to increase the LC in the isolate at fixed minimum C/N ratio and small molecular activators for 3 key enzymes of lipogenic pathways. ATP citrate lyase, malic enzyme and acetyl CoA-carboxylase were screened in silico. Screened molecules were microsupplemented in nitrogen-starved media for examining the actual influence of their individual and synergistic combination on boosting LC of the isolate, which revealed sodium acetate as a major effector. Acetate in 4 mM concentration, independently and in combination with citric acid and sucrose resulted in a 2-2.2-fold increase in G. candidum LC from 24.8% in control to 49.27% and 53.96%, respectively. A volumetric lipid productivity of 0.0288 g/L/h with appreciable lipid coefficient of 9.77 was achieved in acetate supplemented media. Extracted lipids were 70-90% concentrated in a medium chain fatty acid (MCFA)-caprylic acid (C8:0), which has upsurging nutritional and nutraceutical importance.

Mucor circinelloides: a model organism for oleaginous fungi and its potential applications in bioactive lipid production

Microbial oils have gained massive attention because of their significant role in industrial applications. Currently plants and animals are the chief sources of medically and nutritionally important fatty acids. However, the ever-increasing global demand for polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) cannot be met by the existing sources. Therefore microbes, especially fungi, represent an important alternative source of microbial oils being investigated. Mucor circinelloides—an oleaginous filamentous fungus, came to the forefront because of its high efficiency in synthesizing and accumulating lipids, like γ-linolenic acid (GLA) in high quantity. Recently, mycelium of M. circinelloides has acquired substantial attraction towards it as it has been suggested as a convenient raw material source for the generation of biodiesel via lipid transformation. Although M. circinelloides accumulates lipids naturally, metabolic engineering is found to be important for substantial increase in their yields. Both modifications of existing pathways and re-formation of biosynthetic pathways in M. circinelloides have shown the potential to improve lipid levels. In this review, recent advances in various important metabolic aspects of M. circinelloides have been discussed. Furthermore, the potential applications of M. circinelloides in the fields of antioxidants, nutraceuticals, bioremediation, ethanol production, and carotenoids like beta carotene and astaxanthin having significant nutritional value are also deliberated.

Expression of Yarrowia lipolytica acetyl-CoA carboxylase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and its effect on in-vivo accumulation of Malonyl-CoA

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Novel S. cerevisiae strain with tetracycline repressible ACC1 promoter.

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Functional expression of Y. lipolytica ACC1 in S. cerevisiae.

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Higher malonyl-CoA concentration achieved with Y. lipolytica ACC1 gene.

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S. cerevisiae Acc1p seems to interact with the heterologous Y. lipolytica Acc1p.

Malonyl-CoA is an energy-rich molecule formed by the ATP-dependent carboxylation of acetyl coenzyme A catalyzed by acetyl-CoA carboxylase. This molecule is an important precursor for many biotechnologically interesting compounds such as flavonoids, polyketides, and fatty acids. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae remains one of the preferred cell factories, but has a limited capacity to produce malonyl-CoA compared to oleaginous organisms. We developed a new S. cerevisiae strain with a conditional allele of ACC1, the essential acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) gene, as a tool to test heterologous genes for complementation. Yarrowia lipolytica is an oleaginous yeast with a higher capacity for lipid production than S. cerevisiae, possibly due to a higher capacity to produce malonyl-CoA. Measuring relative intracellular malonyl-CoA levels with an in-vivo biosensor confirmed that expression of Y. lipolytica ACC in S. cerevisiae leads to a higher accumulation of malonyl-CoA compared with overexpression of the native gene from an otherwise identical vector. The higher accumulation was generally accompanied by a decreased growth rate. Concomitant expression of both the homologous and heterologous ACC1 genes eliminated the growth defect, with a marginal reduction of malonyl-CoA accumulation.

Increased Lipid Production in Yarrowia lipolytica from Acetate through Metabolic Engineering and Cosubstrate Fermentation

Bioconversion of acetate, a byproduct generated in industrial processes, into microbial lipids using oleaginous yeasts offers a promising alternative for the economic utilization of acetate-containing waste streams. However, high acetate concentrations will inhibit microbial growth and metabolism. In this study, the acetate utilization capability of Yarrowia lipolytica PO1f was successively improved by overexpressing the key enzyme of acetyl-CoA synthetase (ACS), which resulted in an accumulation of 9.2% microbial lipids from acetate in shake flask fermentation. By further overexpressing the second key enzymes of acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC1) and fatty acid synthase (FAS) in Y. lipolytica, the lipid content was increased to 25.7% from acetate. Finally, the maximum OD₆₀₀ of 29.2 and a lipid content of 41.7% were obtained with the engineered strain by the adoption of cosubstrate (glycerol and acetate) fed-batch fermentation, which corresponded to an increase of 68 and 95%, respectively. These results presented a promising strategy for economic and efficient microbial lipid production from the waste acetate.

Effects of Nitrogen and Phosphorus Limitation on Fatty Acid Contents in Aspergillus oryzae

Aspergillus oryzae, commonly known as koji mold, has been widely used for the large-scale production of food products (sake, makgeolli, and soy sauce) and can accumulate a high level of lipids. In the present study, we showed the dynamic changes in A. oryzae mycelium growth and conidia formation under nitrogen and phosphorus nutrient stress. The fatty acid profile of A. oryzae was determined and the content of unsaturated fatty acid was found increased under nitrogen and phosphorus limitation. Oleic acid (C18:1), linoleic acid (C18:2), and γ-linolenic acid (C18:3) production were increased on five nitrogen and phosphorus limitation media, especially on nitrogen deep limitation and phosphorus limitation group, showing a 1. 2-, 1. 6-, and 2.4-fold increment, respectively, compared with the control. Transcriptomic analysis showed the expression profile of genes related to nitrogen metabolism, citrate cycle, and linoleic acid synthesis, resulting in the accumulation of unsaturated fatty acid. qRT-PCR results further confirmed the reliability and availability of the differentially expressed genes obtained from the transcriptome analysis. Our study provides a global transcriptome characterization of the nitrogen and phosphorus nutrient stress adaptation process in A. oryzae. It also revealed that the molecular mechanisms of A. oryzae respond to nitrogen and phosphorus stress. Our finding facilitates the construction of industrial strains with a nutrient-limited tolerance.

Role of Snf-β in lipid accumulation in the high lipid-producing fungus Mucor circinelloides WJ11

Background

Mucor circinelloides WJ11 is a high-lipid producing strain and an excellent producer of γ-linolenic acid (GLA) which is crucial for human health. We have previously identified genes that encode for AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) complex in M. circinelloides which is an important regulator for lipid accumulation. Comparative transcriptional analysis between the high and low lipid-producing strains of M. circinelloides showed a direct correlation in the transcriptional level of AMPK genes with lipid metabolism. Thus, the role of Snf-β, which encodes for β subunit of AMPK complex, in lipid accumulation of the WJ11 strain was evaluated in the present study.

Results

The results showed that lipid content of cell dry weight in Snf-β knockout strain was increased by 32 % (from 19 to 25 %). However, in Snf-β overexpressing strain, lipid content of cell dry weight was decreased about 25 % (from 19 to 14.2 %) compared to the control strain. Total fatty acid analysis revealed that the expression of the Snf-β gene did not significantly affect the fatty acid composition of the strains. However, GLA content in biomass was increased from 2.5 % in control strain to 3.3 % in Snf-β knockout strain due to increased lipid accumulation and decreased to 1.83 % in Snf-β overexpressing strain. AMPK is known to inactivate acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) which catalyzes the rate-limiting step in lipid synthesis. Snf-β manipulation also altered the expression level of the ACC1 gene which may indicate that Snf-β control lipid metabolism by regulating ACC1 gene.

Conclusions

Our results suggested that Snf-β gene plays an important role in regulating lipid accumulation in M. circinelloides WJ11. Moreover, it will be interesting to evaluate the potential of other key subunits of AMPK related to lipid metabolism. Better insight can show us the way to manipulate these subunits effectively for upscaling the lipid production. Up to our knowledge, it is the first study to investigate the role of Snf-β in lipid accumulation in M. circinelloides.

Overexpression and repression of key rate-limiting enzymes (acetyl CoA carboxylase and HMG reductase) to enhance fatty acid production from Rhodotorula mucilaginosa

Implementing two-way strategies to enhance the lipid production in Rhodotorula mucilaginosa with the help of metabolic engineering was focused on the overexpression of acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase (ACC1 carboxylase) gene and repression of 3-hydroxy 3-methylglutaryl reductase (HMG-CoA reductase). Using an inducer (sodium citrate) and inhibitor (rosuvastatin), the amounts of biomass, lipid, and carotenoid were estimated. In the presence of inhibitor (200 mM), 62% higher lipid concentration was observed, while 44% enhancement was recorded when inducer (3 mM) was used. A combination of both inhibitor and inducer resulted in a 57% increase in lipid concentration by the oleaginous yeast. These results were again confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction by targeting the expression of the genes coding for ACC1 carboxylase and 13-fold increase was recorded in the presence of inducer as compared with control. This combined strategy (inducer and inhibitor use) has been reported for the first time as far as the best of our knowledge. The metabolic engineering strategies reported here will be a powerful approach for the enhanced commercial production of lipids.

Increased Accumulation of Medium-Chain Fatty Acids by Dynamic Degradation of Long-Chain Fatty Acids in Mucor circinelloides

Concerns about global warming, fossil-fuel depletion, food security, and human health have promoted metabolic engineers to develop tools/strategies to overproduce microbial functional oils directly from renewable resources. Medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs, C8–C12) have been shown to be important sources due to their diverse biotechnological importance, providing benefits ranging from functional lipids to uses in bio-fuel production. However, oleaginous microbes do not carry native pathways for the production of MCFAs, and therefore, diverse approaches have been adapted to compensate for the requirements of industrial demand. Mucor circinelloides is a promising organism for lipid production (15–36% cell dry weight; CDW) and the investigation of mechanisms of lipid accumulation; however, it mostly produces long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs). To address this challenge, we genetically modified strain M. circinelloides MU758, first by integrating heterologous acyl-ACP thioesterase (TE) into fatty acid synthase (FAS) complex and subsequently by modifying the β-oxidation pathway by disrupting the acyl-CoA oxidase (ACOX) and/or acyl-CoA thioesterase (ACOT) genes with a preference for medium-chain acyl-CoAs, to elevate the yield of MCFAs. The resultant mutant strains (M-1, M-2, and M-3, respectively) showed a significant increase in lipid production in comparison to the wild-type strain (WT). MCFAs in M-1 (47.45%) was sharply increased compared to the wild type strain (2.25%), and it was further increased in M-2 (60.09%) suggesting a negative role of ACOX in MCFAs production. However, MCFAs in M-3 were much decreased compared to M-1,suggesting a positive role of ACOT in MCFAs production. The M-2 strain showed maximum lipid productivity (~1800 milligram per liter per day or mg/L.d) and MCFAs productivity (~1100 mg/L.d). Taken together, this study elaborates on how the combination of two multidimensional approaches, TE gene over-expression and modification of the β-oxidation pathway via substantial knockout of specific ACOX gene, significantly increased the production of MCFAs. This synergistic approach ultimately offers a novel opportunity for synthetic/industrial biologists to increase the content of MCFAs.

Overexpression of acetyl-CoA carboxylase in Aspergillus terreus to increase lovastatin production

The present work describes the application of homologous recombination techniques in a wild-type Aspergillus terreus (ATCC 20542) strain to increase the flow of precursors towards the lovastatin biosynthesis pathway. A new strain was generated to overexpress acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase) by replacing the native ACCase promoter with a strong constitutive PadhA promoter from Aspergillus nidulans. Glycerol and a mixture of lactose and glycerol were used independently as the carbon feedstock to determine the degree of response by the A. terreus strains towards the production of acetyl-CoA, and malonyl-CoA. The new strain increased the levels of malonyl-CoA and acetyl-CoA by 240% and 14%, respectively, compared to the wild-type strain. As a result, lovastatin production was increased by 40% and (+)-geodin was decreased by 31% using the new strain. This study shows for the first time that the metabolism of Aspergillus terreus can be manipulated to attain higher levels of precursors and valuable secondary metabolites.

Single cell assessment of yeast metabolic engineering for enhanced lipid production using Raman and AFM-IR imaging

BACKGROUND

Biodiesel is a valuable renewable fuel made from derivatized fatty acids produced in plants, animals, and oleaginous microbes. Of the latter, yeasts are of special interest due to their wide use in biotechnology, ability to synthesize fatty acids and store large amounts of triacylglycerols while utilizing non-food carbon sources. While yeast efficiently produce lipids, genetic modification and indeed, lipid pathway metabolic engineering, is usually required for cost-effective production. Traditionally, gas chromatography (GC) is used to measure fatty acid production and to track the success of a metabolic engineering strategy in a microbial culture; here we have employed vibrational spectroscopy approaches at population and single cell level of engineered yeast while simultaneously investigating metabolite levels in subcellular structures.

RESULTS

Firstly, a strong correlation (r² > 0.99) was established between Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) lipid in intact cells and GC analysis of fatty acid methyl esters in the differently engineered strains. Confocal Raman spectroscopy of individual cells carrying genetic modifications to enhance fatty acid synthesis and lipid accumulation revealed changes to the lipid body (LB), the storage organelle for lipids in yeast, with their number increasing markedly (up to tenfold higher); LB size was almost double in the strain that also expressed a LB stabilizing gene but considerable variation was also noted between cells. Raman spectroscopy revealed a clear trend toward reduced unsaturated fatty acid content in lipids of cells carrying more complex metabolic engineering. Atomic force microscopy-infrared spectroscopy (AFM-IR) analysis of individual cells indicated large differences in subcellular constituents between strains: cells of the most highly engineered strain had elevated lipid and much reduced carbohydrate in their cytoplasm compared with unmodified cells.

CONCLUSIONS

Vibrational spectroscopy analysis allowed the simultaneous measurement of strain variability in metabolite production and impact on cellular structures as a result of different gene introductions or knockouts, within a lipid metabolic engineering strategy and these inform the next steps in comprehensive lipid engineering. Additionally, single cell spectroscopic analysis measures heterogeneity in metabolite production across microbial cultures under genetic modification, an emerging issue for efficient biotechnological production.

Comparative genome analysis of the oleaginous yeast Trichosporon fermentans reveals its potential applications in lipid accumulation

In this work, Trichosporon fermentans CICC 1368, which has been shown to accumulate cellular lipids efficiently using industry-agricultural wastes, was subjected to preliminary genome analysis, yielding a genome size of 31.3 million bases and 12,702 predicted protein-coding genes. Our analysis also showed a high degree of gene duplications and unique genes compared with those observed in other oleaginous yeasts, with 3-4-fold more genes related to fatty acid elongation and degradation compared with those in Rhodosporidium toruloides NP11 and Yarrowia lipolytica CLIB122. Phylogenetic analysis with other oleaginous microbes suggested that the lipogenic capacity of T. fermentans was obtained during evolution after the divergence of genera. Thus, our study provided the first draft genome and comparative analysis of T. fermentans, laying the foundation for its genetic improvement to facilitate cost-effective lipid production.

Overexpression of ACC gene from oleaginous yeast Lipomyces starkeyi enhanced the lipid accumulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae with increased levels of glycerol 3-phosphate substrates

The conversion of acetyl-CoA to malonyl-CoA by acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) is the rate-limiting step in fatty acid biosynthesis. In this study, a gene coding for ACC was isolated and characterized from an oleaginous yeast, Lipomyces starkeyi. Real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) analysis of L. starkeyi acetyl-CoA carboxylase gene (LsACC1) showed that the expression levels were upregulated with the fast accumulation of lipids. The LsACC1 was co-overexpressed with the glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene (GPD1), which regulates lipids biosynthesis by supplying another substrates glycerol 3-phosphate for storage lipid assembly, in the non-oleaginous yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Further, the S. cerevisiae acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ScACC1) was transferred with GPD1 and its function was analyzed in comparison with LsACC1. The results showed that overexpressed LsACC1 and GPD1 resulted in a 63% increase in S. cerevisiae. This study gives new data in understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of fatty acids and lipid biosynthesis in yeasts.

Comparative proteomic analysis of engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae with enhanced free fatty acid accumulation

The engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain △faa1△faa4 [Acot5s] was demonstrated to accumulate more free fatty acids (FFA) previously. Here, comparative proteomic analysis was performed to get a global overview of metabolic regulation in the strain. Over 500 proteins were identified, and 82 of those proteins were found to change significantly in the engineered strains. Proteins involved in glycolysis, acetate metabolism, fatty acid synthesis, TCA cycle, glyoxylate cycle, the pentose phosphate pathway, respiration, transportation, and stress response were found to be upregulated in △faa1△faa4 [Acot5s] as compared to the wild type. On the other hand, proteins involved in glycerol, ethanol, ergosterol, and cell wall synthesis were downregulated. Taken together with our metabolite analysis, our results showed that the disruption of Faa1 and Faa4 and expression of Acot5s in the engineered strain △faa1△faa4 [Acot5s] not only relieved the feedback inhibition of fatty acyl-CoAs on fatty acid synthesis, but also caused a major metabolic rearrangement. The rearrangement redirected carbon flux toward the pathways which generate the essential substrates and cofactors for fatty acid synthesis, such as acetyl-CoA, ATP, and NADPH. Therefore, our results help shed light on the mechanism for the increased production of fatty acids in the engineered strains, which is useful in providing information for future studies in biofuel production.

Combinatorial metabolic engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for terminal alkene production

Biological production of terminal alkenes has garnered a significant interest due to their industrial applications such as lubricants, detergents and fuels. Here, we engineered the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to produce terminal alkenes via a one-step fatty acid decarboxylation pathway and improved the alkene production using combinatorial engineering strategies. In brief, we first characterized eight fatty acid decarboxylases to enable and enhance alkene production. We then increased the production titer 7-fold by improving the availability of the precursor fatty acids. We additionally increased the titer about 5-fold through genetic cofactor engineering and gene expression tuning in rich medium. Lastly, we further improved the titer 1.8-fold to 3.7 mg/L by optimizing the culturing conditions in bioreactors. This study represents the first report of terminal alkene biosynthesis in S. cerevisiae, and the abovementioned combinatorial engineering approaches collectively increased the titer 67.4-fold. We envision that these approaches could provide insights into devising engineering strategies to improve the production of fatty acid-derived biochemicals in S. cerevisiae.

A plant malonyl-CoA synthetase enhances lipid content and polyketide yield in yeast cells

Malonyl-CoA is the essential building block of natural products such as fatty acids, polyketides, and flavonoids. Engineering the biosynthesis of fatty acids is important for biofuel production while that of polyketides provides precursors of medicines and nutritional supplements. However, microorganisms maintain a small amount of cellular malonyl-CoA, which could limit production of lipid and polyketides under certain conditions. Malonyl-CoA concentration is regulated by multiple pathways and signals, and changes in intracellular malonyl-CoA often lead to complex alterations in metabolism. In the present work, overexpression of a plant malonyl-CoA synthetase gene (AAE13) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae resulted in 1.6- and 2.4-fold increases in lipid and resveratrol accumulation simultaneously. We also demonstrated that AAE13 partially complemented the temperature-sensitive acc1 mutant, replacing this key enzyme in central metabolism. Mechanistic analysis by CoA quantification and transcriptomic measurement suggested that increases in malonyl-CoA concentration were coupled with drastic reductions in other major CoA compounds and clear suppression of tricarboxylic acid cycle-related genes. These results suggest that malonyl-CoA is a critical target for fatty acid and polyketide engineering and that overexpression of malonyl-CoA synthetic enzymes needs to be combined with upregulation of CoA synthesis to maintain metastasis of central metabolism.

De novo production of the flavonoid naringenin in engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae

BACKGROUND

Flavonoids comprise a large family of secondary plant metabolic intermediates that exhibit a wide variety of antioxidant and human health-related properties. Plant production of flavonoids is limited by the low productivity and the complexity of the recovered flavonoids. Thus to overcome these limitations, metabolic engineering of specific pathway in microbial systems have been envisaged to produce high quantity of a single molecules.

RESULT

Saccharomyces cerevisiae was engineered to produce the key intermediate flavonoid, naringenin, solely from glucose. For this, specific naringenin biosynthesis genes from Arabidopsis thaliana were selected by comparative expression profiling and introduced in S. cerevisiae. The sole expression of these A. thaliana genes yielded low extracellular naringenin concentrations (<5.5 μM). To optimize naringenin titers, a yeast chassis strain was developed. Synthesis of aromatic amino acids was deregulated by alleviating feedback inhibition of 3-deoxy-d-arabinose-heptulosonate-7-phosphate synthase (Aro3, Aro4) and byproduct formation was reduced by eliminating phenylpyruvate decarboxylase (Aro10, Pdc5, Pdc6). Together with an increased copy number of the chalcone synthase gene and expression of a heterologous tyrosine ammonia lyase, these modifications resulted in a 40-fold increase of extracellular naringenin titers (to approximately 200 μM) in glucose-grown shake-flask cultures. In aerated, pH controlled batch reactors, extracellular naringenin concentrations of over 400 μM were reached.

CONCLUSION

The results reported in this study demonstrate that S. cerevisiae is capable of de novo production of naringenin by coexpressing the naringenin production genes from A. thaliana and optimization of the flux towards the naringenin pathway. The engineered yeast naringenin production host provides a metabolic chassis for production of a wide range of flavonoids and exploration of their biological functions.

Genetic engineering of microorganisms for biodiesel production

Biodiesel, as one type of renewable energy, is an ideal substitute for petroleum-based diesel fuel and is usually made from triacylglycerides by transesterification with alcohols. Biodiesel production based on microbial fermentation aiming to establish more efficient, less-cost and sustainable biodiesel production strategies is under current investigation by various start-up biotechnology companies and research centers. Genetic engineering plays a key role in the transformation of microbes into the desired cell factories with high efficiency of biodiesel production. Here, we present an overview of principal microorganisms used in the microbial biodiesel production and recent advances in metabolic engineering for the modification required. Overexpression or deletion of the related enzymes for de novo synthesis of biodiesel is highlighted with relevant examples.

Overexpression of malic enzyme (ME) of Mucor circinelloides improved lipid accumulation in engineered Rhodotorula glutinis

The oleaginous yeast Rhodotorula glutinis has been known to be a potential feedstock for lipid production. In the present study, we investigated the enhancement of expression of malic enzyme (ME; NADP(+) dependent; EC 1.1.1.40) from Mucor circinelloides as a strategy to improve lipid content inside the yeast cells. The 26S rDNA and 5.8S rDNA gene fragments isolated from Rhodotorula glutinis were used for homologous integration of ME gene into R. glutinis chromosome under the control of the constitutively highly expressed gene phosphoglycerate kinase 1 to achieve stable expression. We demonstrated that by increasing the expression of the foreign ME gene in R. glutinis, we successfully improved the lipid content by more than twofold. At the end of lipid accumulation phrase (96 h) in the transformants, activity of ME was increased by twofold and lipid content of the yeast cells was increased from 18.74 % of the biomass to 39.35 %. Simultaneously, there were no significant differences in fatty acid profiles between the wild-type strain and the recombinant strain. Over 94 % of total fatty acids were C16:0, C18:0, C16:1, C18:1, and C18:2. Our results indicated that heterologous expression of NADP(+)-dependent ME involved in fatty acid biosynthesis indeed increased the lipid accumulation in the oleaginous yeast R. glutinis.

Alternative routes of acetyl-CoA synthesis identified by comparative genomic analysis: involvement in the lipid production of oleaginous yeast and fungi

For a bio-based economy, microbial lipids offer a potential solution as alternative feedstocks in the oleochemical industry. The existing genome data for the promising strains, oleaginous yeasts and fungi, allowed us to investigate candidate orthologous sequences that participate in their oleaginicity. Comparative genome analysis of the non-oleaginous (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida albicans and Ashbya gossypii) and oleaginous strains (Yarrowia lipolytica, Rhizopus oryzae, Aspergillus oryzae and Mucor circinelloides) showed that 209 orthologous protein sequences of the oleaginous microbes were distributed over several processes of the cells. Based on the 41 sequences categorized by metabolism, putative routes potentially involved in the generation of precursors for fatty acid and lipid synthesis, particularly acetyl-CoA, were then identified that were not present in the non-oleaginous strains. We found a set of the orthologous oleaginous proteins that was responsible for the biosynthesis of this key two-carbon metabolite through citrate catabolism, fatty acid β-oxidation, leucine metabolism and lysine degradation. Our findings suggest a relationship between carbohydrate, lipid and amino acid metabolism in the biosynthesis of acetyl-CoA, which contributes to the lipid production of oleaginous microbes.

An overview of lipid metabolism in yeasts and its impact on biotechnological processes

High energy prices, depletion of crude oil supplies, and price imbalance created by the increasing demand of plant oils or animal fat for biodiesel and specific lipid derivatives such as lubricants, adhesives, and plastics have given rise to heated debates on land-use practices and to environmental concerns about oil production strategies. However, commercialization of microbial oils with similar composition and energy value to plant and animal oils could have many advantages, such as being non-competitive with food, having shorter process cycle and being independent of season and climate factors. This review focuses on the ongoing research on different oleaginous yeasts producing high added value lipids and on the prospects of such microbial oils to be used in different biotechnological processes and applications. It covers the basic biochemical mechanisms of lipid synthesis and accumulation in these organisms, along with the latest insights on the metabolic processes involved. The key elements of lipid accumulation, the mechanisms suspected to confer the oleaginous character of the cell, and the potential metabolic routes enhancing lipid production are also extensively discussed.