Synthesis of novel lipids in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by heterologous expression of an unspecific bacterial acyltransferase

Acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase: Properties, physiological roles, metabolic engineering and intentional control

Acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT, EC 2.3.1.20) catalyzes the last reaction in the acyl-CoA-dependent biosynthesis of triacylglycerol (TAG). DGAT activity resides mainly in membrane-bound DGAT1 and DGAT2 in eukaryotes and bifunctional wax ester synthase-diacylglycerol acyltransferase (WSD) in bacteria, which are all membrane-bound proteins but exhibit no sequence homology to each other. Recent studies also identified other DGAT enzymes such as the soluble DGAT3 and diacylglycerol acetyltransferase (EaDAcT), as well as enzymes with DGAT activities including defective in cuticular ridges (DCR) and steryl and phytyl ester synthases (PESs). This review comprehensively discusses research advances on DGATs in prokaryotes and eukaryotes with a focus on their biochemical properties, physiological roles, and biotechnological and therapeutic applications. The review begins with a discussion of DGAT assay methods, followed by a systematic discussion of TAG biosynthesis and the properties and physiological role of DGATs. Thereafter, the review discusses the three-dimensional structure and insights into mechanism of action of human DGAT1, and the modeled DGAT1 from Brassica napus. The review then examines metabolic engineering strategies involving manipulation of DGAT, followed by a discussion of its therapeutic applications. DGAT in relation to improvement of livestock traits is also discussed along with DGATs in various other eukaryotic organisms.

Heterologous Expression and Characterization of Plant Wax Ester Producing Enzymes

Wax esters are widely distributed among microbes, plants, and mammals, and they serve protective and energy storage functions. Three classes of enzymes catalyze the reaction between a fatty acyl alcohol and a fatty acyl-CoA, generating wax esters. Multiple isozymes of two of these enzyme classes, the membrane-bound O-acyltransferase class of wax synthase (WS) and the bifunctional wax synthase/diacylglycerol acyl transferase (WSD), co-exist in plants. Although WSD enzymes are known to produce the wax esters of the plant cuticle, the functionality of plant WS enzymes is less well characterized. In this study, we investigated the phylogenetic relationships among the 12 WS and 11 WSD isozymes that occur in Arabidopsis, and established two in vivo heterologous expression systems, in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and in Arabidopsis seeds to investigate the catalytic abilities of the WS enzymes. These two refactored wax assembly chassis were used to demonstrate that WS isozymes show distinct differences in the types of esters that can be assembled. We also determined the cellular and subcellular localization of two Arabidopsis WS isozymes. Additionally, using publicly available Arabidopsis transcriptomics data, we identified the co-expression modules of the 12 Arabidopsis WS coding genes. Collectively, these analyses suggest that WS genes may function in cuticle assembly and in supporting novel photosynthetic function(s).

The production of wax esters in transgenic plants: towards a sustainable source of bio-lubricants

Wax esters are high-value compounds used as feedstocks for the production of lubricants, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. Currently, they are produced mostly from fossil reserves using chemical synthesis, but this cannot meet increasing demand and has a negative environmental impact. Natural wax esters are also obtained from Simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) but comparably in very low amounts and expensively. Therefore, metabolic engineering of plants, especially of the seed storage lipid metabolism of oil crops, represents an attractive strategy for renewable, sustainable, and environmentally friendly production of wax esters tailored to industrial applications. Utilization of wax ester-synthesizing enzymes with defined specificities and modulation of the acyl-CoA pools by various genetic engineering approaches can lead to obtaining wax esters with desired compositions and properties. However, obtaining high amounts of wax esters is still challenging due to their negative impact on seed germination and yield. In this review, we describe recent progress in establishing non-food-plant platforms for wax ester production and discuss their advantages and limitations as well as future prospects.

Metabolic engineering Yarrowia lipolytica for a dual biocatalytic system to produce fatty acid ethyl esters from renewable feedstock in situ and in one pot

Given the grave concerns over increasing consumption of petroleum resources and dramatic environmental changes arising from carbon dioxide emissions worldwide, microbial biosynthesis of fatty acid ethyl ester (FAEE) biofuels as renewable and sustainable replacements for petroleum-based fuels has attracted much attention. As one of the most important microbial chassis, the nonconventional oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica has emerged as a paradigm organism for the production of several advanced biofuels and chemicals. Here, we report the engineering of Y. lipolytica for use as an efficient dual biocatalytic system for in situ and one-pot production of FAEEs from renewable feedstock. Compared to glucose with 5.7% (w/w) conversion rate to FAEEs, sunflower seed oil in the culture medium was efficiently used to generate FAEEs with 84% (w/w) conversion rate to FAEEs by the engineered Y. lipolytica strain GQY20 that demonstrates an optimized intercellular heterologous FAEE synthesis pathway. In particular, the titer of extracellular FAEEs from sunflower seed oil reached 9.9 g/L, 10.9-fold higher than that with glucose as a carbon source. An efficient dual biocatalytic system combining ex vivo and strengthened in vitro FAEE production routes was constructed by overexpression of a lipase (Lip2) variant in the background strain GQY20, which further increased FAEEs levels to 13.5 g/L. Notably, deleting the ethanol metabolism pathway had minimal impact on FAEE production. Finally, waste cooking oil, a low-cost oil-based substance, was used as a carbon source for FAEE production in the Y. lipolytica dual biocatalytic system, resulting in production of 12.5 g/L FAEEs. Thus, the developed system represents a promising green and sustainable process for efficient biodiesel production. KEY POINTS: • FAEEs were produced by engineered Yarrowia lipolytica. • A Lip2 variant was overexpressed in the yeast to create a dual biocatalytic system. • Waste cooking oil as a substrate resulted in a high titer of 12.5 g/L FAEEs.

Microbial synthesis of wax esters

Microbial synthesis of wax esters (WE) from low-cost renewable and sustainable feedstocks is a promising path to achieve cost-effectiveness in biomanufacturing. WE are industrially high-value molecules, which are widely used for applications in chemical, pharmaceutical, and food industries. Since the natural WE resources are limited, the WE production mostly rely on chemical synthesis from rather expensive starting materials, and therefore solution are sought from development of efficient microbial cell factories. Here we report to engineer the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica and bacterium Escherichia coli to produce WE at the highest level up to date. First, the key genes encoding fatty acyl-CoA reductases and wax ester synthase from different sources were investigated, and the expression system for two different Y. lipolytica hosts were compared and optimized for enhanced WE production and the strain stability. To improve the metabolic pathway efficiency, different carbon sources including glucose, free fatty acid, soybean oil, and waste cooking oil (WCO) were compared, and the corresponding pathway engineering strategies were optimized. It was found that using a lipid substrate such as WCO to replace glucose led to a 60-fold increase in WE production. The engineered yeast was able to produce 7.6 g/L WE with a yield of 0.31 (g/g) from WCO within 120 h and the produced WE contributed to 57% of the yeast DCW. After that, E. coli BL21(DE3), with a faster growth rate than the yeast, was engineered to significantly improve the WE production rate. Optimization of the expression system and the substrate feeding strategies led to production of 3.7-4.0 g/L WE within 40 h in a 1-L bioreactor. The predominant intracellular WE produced by both Y. lipolytica and E. coli in the presence of hydrophobic substrates as sole carbon sources were C₃₆, C₃₄ and C₃₂, in an order of decreasing abundance and with a large proportion being unsaturated. This work paved the way for the biomanufacturing of WE at a large scale.

An untargeted metabolomic approach for the putative characterization of metabolites from Scenedesmus obliquus in response to cadmium stress

Cadmium (Cd) is a widespread contaminant in aquatic systems and has a variety of toxicological implications on freshwater microorganisms. In this study, the green algae Scenedesmus obliquus was exposed to increasing Cd concentrations that inhibited growth by 20% (12.6 μmol L^-1), 30% (39.8 μmol L^-1) and 40% (83.2 μmol L^-1) and the metabolite profiles of released and cellular biomolecules were explored using an untargeted direct infusion high resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry approach. In Cd untreated cultures, intrinsic differences in composition existed between released biomolecules and freeze-dried cells. Based on putatively characterized compound groups, a greater proportion of Cys-GSH isomers and carboxyamides were present in exudates whereas sugar isomers and phosphonic acids comprised most cellular metabolites. In cultures exposed to 83.2 μmol L^-1 Cd, an overall shift in metabolomic response across both released biomolecules and cellular components resulted in an increase of lipid-based esters, and Cys-GSH isomers. These two important metabolites are used in antioxidant defense mechanisms and reactive oxygen species prevention during cellular stress. The diversity of metabolites also decreased as Cd concentrations increased when compared to untreated cultures, suggesting that overall metabolites specialize upon metal stress. We show systemic shifts from sugar and carboxylic isomers to specialized proteins and lipid isomers to help S. obliquus cope with stress. These findings highlight the potential use of this green algae as a potential biosorbent and sheds light into the metabolomics of Cd toxicology and insights into microbial metal adaptation.

Identification, isolation, and heterologous expression of Sunflower wax synthase for the synthesis of tailored wax esters

Wax esters (WE) are neutral lipids formed by condensation of fatty alcohol with fatty acyl-CoA by wax synthases. They serve as carbon and energy reserves and are potential substrates for various commercial applications. Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) an edible oil seed is a source of WE, however, the gene responsible for WE formation has hitherto remained unidentified. Using an in silico approach we identified, isolated putative Sunflower wax synthase (HaWS) gene and investigated it's potential for WE production in yeast. Heterologous expression of HaWS in Saccharomyces cerevisiae H1246 exhibited 57 kDa protein which was confirmed by immunoblotting. Recombinant yeast expressing HaWS were fed with combinations of C16, C18 fatty alcohols with 16:0, 18:0 fatty acyl CoA's as potential substrates to validate WE formation in vivo. The yeast cells accumulated C-32 to C-36 WE. Our study reveals identification, isolation, and heterologous functional expression of WS gene from Sunflower for the first time. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Wax synthases (WSs) are critical enzymes for wax ester (WE) biosynthesis. WEs are high value products having several industrial applications. WE serve as substrates for lubricants, food coatings, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. There is a demand for alternate renewable resource of WEs. In this study, we have successfully isolated a putative wax synthase gene from Sunflower and submitted its sequence data to the GenBank (Accession number MH460820). Conserved sequence search analysis showed presence of condensation superfamily motif‒HHXXXDG, critical for WE biosynthesis. Heterologous expression of HaWS in yeast revealed synthesis of C-32 to C-36 WE. Our study demonstrates the efficacy of HaWS to accumulate specific WE of desired lengths in yeast, and thus represents an alternate source of WE for commercial applications and for biotechnological production of tailored WE in eukaryotic expression systems.

Fungi (Mold)-Based Lipid Production

There is an increasing need for the development of alternative energy sources with a focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and striving toward a sustainable economy. Bioethanol and biodiesel are currently the primary choices of alternative transportation fuels. At present, biodiesel is not competitive with conventional fuel due to its high price, and the only way to compete with conventional fuel is to improve the quality, reduce the costs, and coproduce value-added products. With the high demand for lipids in the energy sector and other industrial applications, microbial lipids accumulated from microorganisms, especially oleaginous fungi and yeasts have been the important topic of many recent research studies. This chapter summarizes the current status of knowledge and technology about lipid production by oleaginous fungi and yeasts for biofuel applications and other value-added products. The chapter focuses on several aspects such as the most promising oleaginous strains, strain development, improvement of lipid production, methods and protocols to cultivate oleaginous fungi, substrate utilization, fermentation process design, and downstream processing. The feasibility and challenges during the large-scale commercial production of microbial lipids as fuel sources are also discussed. It provides an overview of microbial lipid production biorefinery and also future development directions.

Characterization and heterologous expression of three DGATs from oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) mesocarp in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) can accumulate up to 88% oil in fruit mesocarp. A previous transcriptome study of oil palm fruits indicated that genes coding for three diacylglycerol acyltransferases (DGATs), designated as EgDGAT1_3, EgDGAT2_2 and EgWS/DGAT_1 (according to Rosli et al., 2018) were highly expressed in mesocarp during oil accumulation. In the present study, the corresponding open reading frames were isolated, and characterized by heterologous expression in the mutant yeast H1246, which is devoid of neutral lipid synthesis. Expression of EgDGAT1_3 or EgDGAT2_2 could restore TAG synthesis, confirming that both proteins are true DGAT. In contrast, expression of EgWS/DGAT_1 resulted in the synthesis of fatty acid isoamyl esters (FAIEs) with saturated long-chain and very-long-chain fatty acids. In the presence of exogenously supplied fatty alcohols, EgWS/DGAT_1 was able to produce wax esters, indicating that EgWS/DGAT_1 codes for an acyltransferase with wax ester synthase but no DGAT activity. Finally, the complete wax ester biosynthetic pathway was reconstituted in yeast by coexpressing EgWS/DGAT_1 with a fatty acyl reductase from Tetrahymena thermophila. Altogether, our results characterized two novel DGATs from oil palm as well as a putative wax ester synthase that preferentially using medium chain fatty alcohols and saturated very-long chain fatty acids as substrates.

Steryl Ester Formation and Accumulation in Steroid-Degrading Bacteria

Steryl esters (SEs) are important storage compounds in many eukaryotes and are often prominent components of intracellular lipid droplets. Here, we demonstrate that selected Actino- and Proteobacteria growing on sterols are also able to synthesize SEs and to sequester them in cytoplasmic lipid droplets. We found cholesteryl ester (CE) formation in members of the actinobacterial genera Rhodococcus, Mycobacterium, and Amycolatopsis, as well as several members of the proteobacterial Cellvibrionales order. CEs maximally accumulated under nitrogen-limiting conditions, suggesting that steryl ester formation plays a crucial role for storing excess energy and carbon under adverse conditions. Rhodococcus jostii RHA1 was able to synthesize phytosteryl and cholesteryl esters, the latter reaching up to 7% of its cellular dry weight and 69% of its lipid droplets. Purified lipid droplets from RHA1 contained CEs, free cholesterol, and triacylglycerols. In addition, we found formation of CEs in Mycobacterium tuberculosis when it was grown with cholesterol plus an additional fatty acid substrate. This study provides a basis for the application of bacterial whole-cell systems in the biotechnological production of SEs for use in functional foods and cosmetics.IMPORTANCE Oleaginous bacteria exhibit great potential for the production of high-value neutral lipids, such as triacylglycerols and wax esters. This study describes the formation of steryl esters (SEs) as neutral lipid storage compounds in sterol-degrading oleaginous bacteria, providing a basis for biotechnological production of SEs using bacterial systems with potential applications in the functional food, nutraceutical, and cosmetic industries. We found cholesteryl ester (CE) formation in several sterol-degrading Actino- and Proteobacteria under nitrogen-limiting conditions, suggesting an important role of this process in storing energy and carbon under adverse conditions. In addition, Mycobacterium tuberculosis grown on cholesterol accumulated CEs in the presence of an additional fatty acid substrate.

Ubiquitous Promoters Direct the Expression of Fatty Acid Delta-6 Desaturase from Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In general, promoters have significant influence on recombinant protein production. Herein, we compared the performance of actin (pACT), phosphoglycerate kinase (pPGK), and translational elongation factor (pTEF) promoters for driving the expression of fatty acid delta-6 (Δ6) desaturase from Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus; Oni-fads2) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Our results showed that by applying real-time RT-PCR, the highest level of Oni-fads2 mRNA was observed in S. cerevisiae carrying the expression vector driven by pTEF promoters. Exogenous substrate C18:2n-6 was used to determine Δ6 activity by quantitatively determining the C18:3n-6 product. The results showed that highest Δ6 desaturation was observed when using pTEF as a promoter. Recombinant S. cerevisiae cells expressing Oni-fads2 driven by pTEF were tested with the substrate C18:3n-3, and Δ6 desaturation efficiently converted C18:3n-3 to C18:4n-3. Furthermore, crude extract of recombinant yeast also exhibited Δ6 activity. Thus, recombinant S. cerevisiae cells expressing Oni-fads2 driven by the pTEF promoter have potential as a yeast factory for the sustainable production of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Structural and Biochemical Studies of a Biocatalyst for the Enzymatic Production of Wax Esters

Wax esters are high-value products whose enzymatic synthesis is of increasing biotechnological interest. The fabrication of cell factories that mass-produce wax esters may provide a facile route towards a sustainable, and environment-friendly approach to a large-scale process for this commodity chemical. An expedient route for wax-ester biocatalysis may be facilitated by the action of enzymes termed wax ester synthases/diacylglycerol acyltransferases (WS/DGAT), which produce wax esters using fatty acids and alcohols as a precursor. In this work, we report the structure for a member of the WS/DGAT superfamily. The structural data in conjunction with bioinformatics and mutational analyses allowed us to identify the substrate binding pockets, and residues that may be important for catalysis. Using this information as a guide, we generated a mutant with preference towards shorter acyl-substrates. This study demonstrates the efficacy of a structure-guided engineering effort towards a WS/DGAT variant with preference towards wax esters of desired lengths.

Overproduction of Fatty Acid Ethyl Esters by the Oleaginous Yeast Yarrowia lipolytica through Metabolic Engineering and Process Optimization

Recent advances in the production of biofuels by microbes have attracted attention due to increasingly limited fossil fuels. Biodiesels, especially fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs), are considered a potentially fully sustainable fuel in the near future due to similarities with petrodiesels and compatibility with existing infrastructure. However, biosynthesis of FAEEs is limited by the supply of precursor lipids and acetyl-CoA. In the present study, we explored the production potential of an engineered biosynthetic pathway coupled to the addition of ethanol in the oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica. This type of yeast is able to supply a greater amount of precursor lipids than species typically used. To construct the FAEEs synthesis pathway, WS genes that encode wax ester synthases (WSs) from different species were codon-optimized and heterologously expressed in Y. lipolytica. The most productive engineered strain was found to express a WS gene from Marinobacter hydrocarbonoclasticus strain DSM 8798. To stepwisely increase FAEEs production, we optimized the promoter of WS overexpression, eliminated β-oxidation by deleting the PEX10 gene in our engineered strains, and redirected metabolic flux toward acetyl-CoA. The new engineered strain, coupled with an optimized ethanol concentration, led to an approximate 5.5-fold increase in extracellular FAEEs levels compared to the wild-type strain and a maximum FAEEs titer of 1.18 g/L in shake flask cultures. In summary, the present study demonstrated that an engineered Y. lipolytica strain possessed a high capacity for FAEEs production and may serve as a platform for more efficient biodiesel production in the future.

Engineering and Evolution of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to Produce Biofuels and Chemicals

To mitigate global climate change caused partly by the use of fossil fuels, the production of fuels and chemicals from renewable biomass has been attempted. The conversion of various sugars from renewable biomass into biofuels by engineered baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is one major direction which has grown dramatically in recent years. As well as shifting away from fossil fuels, the production of commodity chemicals by engineered S. cerevisiae has also increased significantly. The traditional approaches of biochemical and metabolic engineering to develop economic bioconversion processes in laboratory and industrial settings have been accelerated by rapid advancements in the areas of yeast genomics, synthetic biology, and systems biology. Together, these innovations have resulted in rapid and efficient manipulation of S. cerevisiae to expand fermentable substrates and diversify value-added products. Here, we discuss recent and major advances in rational (relying on prior experimentally-derived knowledge) and combinatorial (relying on high-throughput screening and genomics) approaches to engineer S. cerevisiae for producing ethanol, butanol, 2,3-butanediol, fatty acid ethyl esters, isoprenoids, organic acids, rare sugars, antioxidants, and sugar alcohols from glucose, xylose, cellobiose, galactose, acetate, alginate, mannitol, arabinose, and lactose.

Enzymatic Production of Biodiesel: Strategies to Overcome Methanol Inactivation

Lipase-catalyzed transesterification of triglycerides and alcohols to obtain biodiesel is an environmentally friendly and sustainable route for fuels production since, besides proceeding in mild reaction conditions, it allows for the use of low-cost feedstocks that contain water and free fatty acids, for example non-edible oils and waste oils. This review article reports recent advances in the field and focus in particular on a major issue in the enzymatic process, the inactivation of most lipases caused by methanol, the preferred acyl acceptor used for alcoholysis. The recent results about immobilization of enzymes on nano-materials and the use of whole-cell biocatalysts, as well as the use of cell-surface display technologies and metabolic engineering strategies for microbial production of biodiesel are described. It is discussed also insight into the effects of methanol on lipases obtained by modeling approaches and report on studies aimed at mining novel alcohol stable enzymes or at improving robustness in existing ones by protein engineering.

Wax Ester Synthase/Diacylglycerol Acyltransferase Isoenzymes Play a Pivotal Role in Wax Ester Biosynthesis in Euglena gracilis

Wax ester fermentation is a unique energy gaining pathway for a unicellular phytoflagellated protozoan, Euglena gracilis, to survive under anaerobiosis. Wax esters produced in E. gracilis are composed of saturated fatty acids and alcohols, which are the major constituents of myristic acid and myristyl alcohol. Thus, wax esters can be promising alternative biofuels. Here, we report the identification and characterization of wax ester synthase/diacylglycerol acyltrasferase (WSD) isoenzymes as the terminal enzymes of wax ester production in E. gracilis. Among six possible Euglena WSD orthologs predicted by BLASTX search, gene expression analysis and in vivo evaluation for enzyme activity with yeast expressing individual recombinant WSDs indicated that two of them (EgWSD2 and EgWSD5) predominantly function as wax ester synthase. Furthermore, experiments with gene silencing demonstrated a pivotal role of both EgWSD2 and EgWSD5 in wax ester synthesis, as evidenced by remarkably reduced wax ester contents in EgWSD2/5-double knockdown E. gracilis cells treated with anaerobic conditions. Interestingly, the decreased ability to produce wax ester did not affect adaptation of E. gracilis to anaerobiosis. Lipid profile analysis suggested allocation of metabolites to other compounds including triacylglycerol instead of wax esters.

Rapid characterization of chemical constituents of Platycodon grandiflorum and its adulterant Adenophora stricta by UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS

Platycodon grandiflorum (PG) is extensively used for treating cough, excessive phlegm, sore throat, bronchitis and asthma, whereas Adenophora stricta (AS) is commonly used to reduce phlegm, clear lung and tonify stomach. Due to similar appearances, PG is sometimes adulterated with cheap AS so as to gain profits. And this will inevitably result in different pharmacological property. In order to further clarify the differences in the chemical composition of these two Chinese herbs, the ultra-high performance liquid chromatography combined with quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry coupled with UNIFI platform was used to establish a reliable, simple, sensitive and rapid analytical method. Seventy-five compounds, including triterpenoid saponins, organic acids, flavonoids, steroids, phenols, etc., were identified from PG based on MS^E data and retention time under the optimized conditions. Meanwhile, 57 compounds including triterpenoid saponins, organic acids, steroids, phenols, alkaloids, etc. were identified from AS. Among all the identified compounds, there were only 14 common components (mainly organic acids) existing in two herbs, and most of the other chemical compositions are totally different between the two herbs. Based on the results, AS cannot substitute for PG. In addition, PG adulterated with AS will lead a poor efficacy in clinical application. In addition, the systematic comparison of similarities and differences between two Chinese herbs will provide reliable characterization profiles to clarify the pharmacological fundamental substances.

Two bifunctional enzymes from the marine protist Thraustochytrium roseum: biochemical characterization of wax ester synthase/acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase activity catalyzing wax ester and triacylglycerol synthesis

BACKGROUND

Triacylglycerols (TAGs) and wax esters (WEs) are important neutral lipids which serve as energy reservoir in some plants and microorganisms. In recent years, these biologically produced neutral lipids have been regarded as potential alternative energy sources for biofuel production because of the increased interest on developing renewable and environmentally benign alternatives for fossil fuels. In bacteria, the final step in TAG and WE biosynthetic pathway is catalyzed by wax ester synthase/acyl coenzyme A (acyl-CoA):diacylglycerol acyltransferase (WS/DGAT). This bifunctional WS/DGAT enzyme is also a key enzyme in biotechnological production of liquid WE via engineering of plants and microorganisms. To date, knowledge about this class of biologically and biotechnologically important enzymes is mainly from biochemical characterization of WS/DGATs from Arabidopsis, jojoba and some bacteria that can synthesize both TAGs and WEs intracellularly, whereas little is known about WS/DGATs from eukaryotic microorganisms.

RESULTS

Here, we report the identification and characterization of two bifunctional WS/DGAT enzymes (designated TrWSD4 and TrWSD5) from the marine protist Thraustochytrium roseum. Both TrWSD4 and TrWSD5 comprise a WS-like acyl-CoA acyltransferase domain and the recombinant proteins purified from Escherichia coli Rosetta (DE3) have substantial WS and lower DGAT activity. They exhibit WS activity towards various-chain-length saturated and polyunsaturated acyl-CoAs and fatty alcohols ranging from C₁₀ to C₁₈. TrWSD4 displays WS activity with the lowest K_m value of 0.14 μM and the highest k_cat/K_m value of 1.46 × 10⁵ M^-1 s^-1 for lauroyl-CoA (C_12:0) in the presence of 100 μM hexadecanol, while TrWSD5 exhibits WS activity with the lowest K_m value of 0.96 μM and the highest k_cat/K_m value of 9.83 × 10⁴ M^-1 s^-1 for decanoyl-CoA (C_10:0) under the same reaction condition. Both WS/DGAT enzymes have the highest WS activity at 37 and 47 °C, and WS activity was greatly decreased when temperature exceeds 47 °C. TrWSD4 and TrWSD5 are insensitive to ionic strength and reduced WS activity was observed when salt concentration exceeded 800 mM. The potential of T. roseum WS/DGATs to establish novel process for biotechnological production of WEs was demonstrated by heterologous expression in recombinant yeast. Expression of either TrWSD4 or TrWSD5 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae quadruple mutant H1246, which is devoid of storage lipids, resulted in the accumulation of WEs, but not any detectable TAGs, indicating a predominant WS activity in yeast.

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrates both in vitro WS and DGAT activity of two T. roseum WS/DGATs, which were characterized as unspecific acyltransferases accepting a broad range of acyl-CoAs and fatty alcohols as substrates for WS activity but displaying substrate preference for medium-chain acyl-CoAs. In vivo characterization shows that these two WS/DGATs predominantly function as wax synthase and presents the feasibility for production of WEs by heterologous hosts.

In vitro reconstitution guide for targeted synthetic metabolism of chemicals, nutraceuticals and drug precursors

With the developments in metabolic engineering and the emergence of synthetic biology, many breakthroughs in medicinal, biological and chemical products as well as biofuels have been achieved in recent decades. As an important barrier to traditional metabolic engineering, however, the identification of rate-limiting step(s) for the improvement of specific cellular functions is often difficult. Meanwhile, in the case of synthetic biology, more and more BioBricks could be constructed for targeted purposes, but the optimized assembly or engineering of these components for high-efficiency cell factories is still a challenge. Owing to the lack of steady-state kinetic data for overall flux, balancing many multistep biosynthetic pathways is time-consuming and needs vast resources of labor and materials. A strategy called targeted engineering is proposed in an effort to solve this problem. Briefly, a targeted biosynthetic pathway is to be reconstituted in vitro and then the contribution of cofactors, substrates and each enzyme will be analyzed systematically. Next is in vivo engineering or de novo pathway assembly with the guidance of information gained from in vitro assays. To demonstrate its practical application, biosynthesis pathways for the production of important products, e.g. chemicals, nutraceuticals and drug precursors, have been engineered in Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These cases can be regarded as concept proofs indicating targeted engineering might help to create high-efficiency cell factories based upon constructed biological components.

Natural products as biofuels and bio-based chemicals: fatty acids and isoprenoids

Although natural products are best known for their use in medicine and agriculture, a number of fatty acid-derived and isoprenoid natural products are being developed for use as renewable biofuels and bio-based chemicals. This review summarizes recent work on fatty acid-derived compounds (fatty acid alkyl esters, fatty alcohols, medium- and short-chain methyl ketones, alkanes, α-olefins, and long-chain internal alkenes) and isoprenoids, including hemiterpenes (e.g., isoprene and isopentanol), monoterpenes (e.g., limonene), and sesquiterpenes (e.g., farnesene and bisabolene).

Physiological and transcriptional characterization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae engineered for production of fatty acid ethyl esters

Saccharomyces cerevisiae has previously been engineered to become a cell factory for the production of fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs), molecules suitable for crude diesel replacement. To find new metabolic engineering targets for the improvement of FAEE cell factories, three different FAEE-producing strains of S. cerevisiae, constructed previously, were compared and characterized by quantification of key fluxes and genome-wide transcription analysis. From both the physiological and the transcriptional data, it was indicated that strain CB2I20, with high expression of a heterologous wax ester synthase gene (ws2) and strain BdJ15, containing disruptions of genes DGA1, LRO1, ARE1, ARE2 and POX1, which prevent the conversion of acyl-CoA to sterol esters, triacylglycerides and the degradation to acetyl-CoA, triggered oxidative stress that consequently influenced cellular growth. In the latter strain, stress was possibly triggered by disabling the buffering capacity of lipid droplets in encapsulating toxic fatty acids such as oleic acid. Additionally, it was indicated that there was an increased demand for NADPH required for the reduction steps in fatty acid biosynthesis. In conclusion, our analysis clearly shows that engineering of fatty acid biosynthesis results in transcriptional reprogramming and has a significant effect on overall cellular metabolism.

Metabolic engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for production of fatty acid short- and branched-chain alkyl esters biodiesel

BACKGROUND

Biodiesel is a mixture of fatty acid short-chain alkyl esters of different fatty acid carbon chain lengths. However, while fatty acid methyl or ethyl esters are useful biodiesel produced commercially, fatty acid esters with branched-chain alcohol moieties have superior fuel properties. Crucially, this includes improved cold flow characteristics, as one of the major problems associated with biodiesel use is poor low-temperature flow properties. Hence, microbial production as a renewable, nontoxic and scalable method to produce fatty acid esters with branched-chain alcohol moieties from biomass is critical.

RESULTS

We engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae to produce fatty acid short- and branched-chain alkyl esters, including ethyl, isobutyl, isoamyl and active amyl esters using endogenously synthesized fatty acids and alcohols. Two wax ester synthase genes (ws2 and Maqu_0168 from Marinobacter sp.) were cloned and expressed. Both enzymes were found to catalyze the formation of fatty acid esters, with different alcohol preferences. To boost the ability of S. cerevisiae to produce the aforementioned esters, negative regulators of the INO1 gene in phospholipid metabolism, Rpd3 and Opi1, were deleted to increase flux towards fatty acyl-CoAs. In addition, five isobutanol pathway enzymes (Ilv2, Ilv5, Ilv3, Aro10, and Adh7) targeted into the mitochondria were overexpressed to enhance production of alcohol precursors. By combining these engineering strategies with high-cell-density fermentation, over 230 mg/L fatty acid short- and branched-chain alkyl esters were produced, which is the highest titer reported in yeast to date.

CONCLUSIONS

In this work, we engineered the metabolism of S. cerevisiae to produce biodiesels in the form of fatty acid short- and branched-chain alkyl esters, including ethyl, isobutyl, isoamyl and active amyl esters. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the production of fatty acid isobutyl and active amyl esters in S. cerevisiae. Our findings will be useful for engineering S. cerevisiae strains toward high-level and sustainable biodiesel production.

Assessment of bacterial acyltransferases for an efficient lipid production in metabolically engineered strains of E. coli

Microbially produced lipids like triacylglycerols or fatty acid ethyl esters are currently of great interest as fuel replacements or other industrially relevant compounds. They can even be produced by non-oleaginous microbes, like Escherichia coli, upon metabolic engineering. However, there is still much room for improvement regarding the yield for a competitive microbial production of lipids or biofuels. We genetically engineered E. coli by expressing fadD, fadR, pgpB, plsB and 'tesA in combination with atfA from Acinetobacter baylyi. A total fatty acid contents of up to 16% (w/w) was obtained on complex media, corresponding to approximately 9% (w/w) triacylglycerols and representing the highest titers of fatty acids and triacylglycerols obtained in E. coli under comparable cultivation conditions, so far. To evaluate further possibilities for an optimization of lipid production, ten promising bacterial wax ester synthase/acyl-Coenzyme A:diacylglycerol acyltransferases were tested and compared. While highest triacylglycerol storage was achieved with AtfA, the mutated variant AtfA-G355I turned out to be most suitable for fatty acid ethyl ester biosynthesis and enabled an accumulation of approx. 500 mg/L without external ethanol supplementation.

Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for production of biodiesel from fatty alcohols and acetyl-CoA

Microbial production of biodiesel from renewable feedstock has attracted intensive attention. Biodiesel is known to be produced from short-chain alcohols and fatty acyl-CoAs through the expression of wax ester synthase/fatty acyl-CoA: diacylglycerol acyltransferase that catalyzes the esterification of short-chain alcohols and fatty acyl-CoAs. Here, we engineered Escherichia coli to produce various fatty alcohol acetate esters, which depend on the expression of Saccharomyces cerevisiae alcohol acetyltransferase ATF1 that catalyzes the esterification of fatty alcohols and acetyl-CoA. The fatty acid biosynthetic pathways generate fatty acyl-ACPs, fatty acyl-CoAs, or fatty acids, which can be converted to fatty alcohols by fatty acyl-CoA reductase, fatty acyl-ACP reductase, or carboxylic acid reductase, respectively. This study showed the biosynthesis of biodiesel from three fatty acid biosynthetic pathway intermediates.

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.

Engineering the fatty acid metabolic pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae for advanced biofuel production

Fatty acid-derived fuels and chemicals have attracted a great deal of attention in recent decades, due to their following properties of high compatibility to gasoline-based fuels and existing infrastructure for their direct utilization, storage and distribution. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the ideal biofuel producing candidate, based on the wealth of available genetic information and versatile tools designed to manipulate its metabolic pathways. Engineering the fatty acid metabolic pathways in S. cerevisiae is an effective strategy to increase its fatty acid biosynthesis and provide more pathway precursors for production of targeted products. This review summarizes the recent progress in metabolic engineering of yeast cells for fatty acids and fatty acid derivatives production, including the regulation of acetyl-CoA biosynthesis, NADPH production, fatty acid elongation, and the accumulation of activated precursors of fatty acids for converting enzymes. By introducing specific enzymes in the engineered strains, a powerful platform with a scalable, controllable and economic route for advanced biofuel production has been established.

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Recent progress in metabolic engineering for enhanced fatty acid production.

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Regulation of acetyl-CoA, NADPH pathway for fatty acid synthesis.

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Regulation of elongation and catabolic pathway to strength fatty acid synthesis.

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Enhanced production of activated precursors for fatty acid derivatives production.

Phosphatidic acid phosphatase and diacylglycerol acyltransferase: potential targets for metabolic engineering of microorganism oil

Oleaginous microorganism is becoming one of the most promising oil feedstocks for biodiesel production due to its great advantages in triglyceride (TAG) accumulation. Previous studies have shown that de novo TAG biosynthesis can be divided into two parts: the fatty acid biosynthesis pathway (the upstream part which generates acyl-CoAs) and the glycerol-3-phosphate acylation pathway (the downstream part in which three acyl groups are sequentially added onto a glycerol backbone). This review mainly focuses on two enzymes in the G3P pathway, phosphatidic acid phosphatase (PAP) and diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT). The former catalyzes a dephosphorylation reaction, and the latter catalyzes a subsequent acylation reaction. Genes, functional motifs, transmembrane domains, action mechanism, and new studies of the two enzymes are discussed in detail. Furthermore, this review also covers diacylglycerol kinase, an enzyme that catalyzes the reverse reaction of diacylglycerol formation. In addition, PAP and DGAT are the conjunction points of the G3P pathway, the Kennedy pathway, and the CDP-diacylglycerol pathway (CDP-DAG pathway), and the mutual transformation between TAGs and phospholipids is discussed as well. Given that both the Kennedy and CDP-diacylglycerol pathways are in metabolic interlock (MI) with the G3P pathway, it is suggested that, via metabolic engineering, TAG accumulation can be improved by the two pathways based on the pivotal function of PAP and DGAT.

Metabolic pathway engineering for fatty acid ethyl ester production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae using stable chromosomal integration

Fatty acid ethyl esters are fatty acid derived molecules similar to first generation biodiesel (fatty acid methyl esters; FAMEs) which can be produced in a microbial cell factory. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a suitable candidate for microbial large scale and long term cultivations, which is the typical industrial production setting for biofuels. It is crucial to conserve the metabolic design of the cell factory during industrial cultivation conditions that require extensive propagation. Genetic modifications therefore have to be introduced in a stable manner. Here, several metabolic engineering strategies for improved production of fatty acid ethyl esters in S. cerevisiae were combined and the genes were stably expressed from the organisms' chromosomes. A wax ester synthase (ws2) was expressed in different yeast strains with an engineered acetyl-CoA and fatty acid metabolism. Thus, we compared expression of ws2 with and without overexpression of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH2), acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALD6) and acetyl-CoA synthetase (acs SE (L641P) ) and further evaluated additional overexpression of a mutant version of acetyl-CoA decarboxylase (ACC1 (S1157A,S659A) ) and the acyl-CoA binding protein (ACB1). The combined engineering efforts of the implementation of ws2, ADH2, ALD6 and acs SE (L641P) , ACC1 (S1157A,S659A) and ACB1 in a S. cerevisiae strain lacking storage lipid formation (are1Δ, are2Δ, dga1Δ and lro1Δ) and β-oxidation (pox1Δ) resulted in a 4.1-fold improvement compared with sole expression of ws2 in S. cerevisiae.

Improving industrial yeast strains: exploiting natural and artificial diversity

Yeasts have been used for thousands of years to make fermented foods and beverages, such as beer, wine, sake, and bread. However, the choice for a particular yeast strain or species for a specific industrial application is often based on historical, rather than scientific grounds. Moreover, new biotechnological yeast applications, such as the production of second-generation biofuels, confront yeast with environments and challenges that differ from those encountered in traditional food fermentations. Together, this implies that there are interesting opportunities to isolate or generate yeast variants that perform better than the currently used strains. Here, we discuss the different strategies of strain selection and improvement available for both conventional and nonconventional yeasts. Exploiting the existing natural diversity and using techniques such as mutagenesis, protoplast fusion, breeding, genome shuffling and directed evolution to generate artificial diversity, or the use of genetic modification strategies to alter traits in a more targeted way, have led to the selection of superior industrial yeasts. Furthermore, recent technological advances allowed the development of high-throughput techniques, such as 'global transcription machinery engineering' (gTME), to induce genetic variation, providing a new source of yeast genetic diversity.

Fatty Acid-Derived Biofuels and Chemicals Production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Volatile energy costs and environmental concerns have spurred interest in the development of alternative, renewable, sustainable, and cost-effective energy resources. Environment-friendly processes involving microbes can be used to synthesize advanced biofuels. These fuels have the potential to replace fossil fuels in supporting high-power demanding machinery such as aircrafts and trucks. From an engineering perspective, the pathway for fatty acid biosynthesis is an attractive route for the production of advanced fuels such as fatty acid ethyl esters, fatty alcohols, and alkanes. The robustness and excellent accessibility to molecular genetics make the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae a suitable host for the purpose of bio-manufacturing. Recent advances in metabolic engineering, as well as systems and synthetic biology, have now provided the opportunity to engineer yeast metabolism for the production of fatty acid-derived fuels and chemicals.

Engineering of chromosomal wax ester synthase integrated Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutants for improved biosynthesis of fatty acid ethyl esters

In recent years, significant advances have been made to engineer robust microbes for overproducing biochemical products from renewable resources. These accomplishments have to a large extend been based on plasmid based methods. However, plasmid maintenance may cause a metabolic burden on the host cell and plasmid-based overexpression of genes can result in genetically unstable strains, which contributes to loss in productivity. Here, a chromosome engineering method based on delta integration was applied in Saccharomyces cerevisiae for the production of fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs), which can be directly used as biodiesel and would be a possible substitute for conventional petroleum-based diesel. An integration construct was designed and integrated into chromosomal delta sequences by repetitive transformation, which resulted in 1-6 copies of the integration construct per genome. The corresponding FAEE production increased up to 34 mg/L, which is an about sixfold increase compared to the equivalent plasmid-based producer. The integrated cassette in the yeast genome was stably maintained in nonselective medium after deletion of RAD52 which is essential for efficient homologous recombination. To obtain a further increase of FAEE production, genes encoding endogenous acyl-CoA binding protein (ACB1) and a bacterial NADP(+)-dependent glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gapN) were overexpressed in the final integration strain, which resulted in another 40% percent increase in FAEE production. Our integration strategy enables easy engineering of strains with adjustable gene copy numbers integrated into the genome and this allows for an easy evaluation of the effect of the gene copy number on pathway flux. It therefore represents a valuable tool for introducing and expressing a heterologous pathway in yeast.

Improved production of fatty acid ethyl esters in Saccharomyces cerevisiae through up-regulation of the ethanol degradation pathway and expression of the heterologous phosphoketolase pathway

BACKGROUND

Due to an increasing demand of transportation fuels, a lower availability of cheap crude oil and a lack of sustainability of fossil fuels, a gradual shift from petroleum based fuels towards alternative and renewable fuel resources will be required in the near future. Fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) have properties similar to current crude diesel and could therefore form an important contribution to the development of sustainable transportation fuels in future. It is important to develop novel cell factories for efficient production of FAEEs and their precursors.

RESULTS

Here, a Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell factory expressing a heterologous wax ester synthase (ws2) from Marinobacter hydrocarbonoclasticus was used to produce FAEEs from ethanol and acyl-coenzyme A (acyl-CoA). The production of acyl-CoA requires large amounts of NADPH and acetyl-CoA. Therefore, two metabolic engineering strategies for improved provision of NADPH and acetyl-CoA were evaluated. First, the ethanol degradation pathway was employed to re-channel carbon flow towards the synthesis of acetyl-CoA. Therefore, ADH2 and ALD6 encoding, respectively, alcohol dehydrogenase and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase were overexpressed together with the heterologous gene acsSEL641P encoding acetyl-CoA synthetase. The co-overexpression of ADH2, ALD6 and acsSEL641P with ws2 resulted in 408 ± 270 μg FAEE gCDW-1, a 3-fold improvement. Secondly, for the expression of the PHK pathway two genes, xpkA and ack, both descending from Aspergillus nidulans, were co-expressed together with ws2 to catalyze, respectively, the conversion of xylulose-5-phosphate to acetyl phosphate and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate and acetyl phosphate to acetate. Alternatively, ack was substituted with pta from Bacillus subtilis, encoding phosphotransacetylase for the conversion of acetyl phosphate to acetyl-CoA. Both PHK pathways were additionally expressed in a strain with multiple chromosomally integrated ws2 gene, which resulted in respectively 5100 ± 509 and 4670 ± 379 μg FAEE gCDW-1, an up to 1.7-fold improvement.

CONCLUSION

Two different strategies for engineering of the central carbon metabolism for efficient provision of acetyl-CoA and NADPH required for fatty acid biosynthesis and hence FAEE production were evaluated and it was found that both the ethanol degradation pathway as well as the phosphoketolase pathway improve the yield of FAEEs.

Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for production of fatty acid short-chain esters through combination of the fatty acid and 2-keto acid pathways

Fatty acid short-chain esters (FASEs) are biodiesels that are renewable, nontoxic, and biodegradable biofuels. A novel approach for the biosynthesis of FASEs has been developed using metabolically-engineered E. coli through combination of the fatty acid and 2-keto acid pathways. Several genetic engineering strategies were also developed to increase fatty acyl-CoA availability to improve FASEs production. Fed-batch cultivation of the engineered E. coli resulted in a titer of 1008 mg/L FASEs. Since the fatty acid and 2-keto acid pathways are native microbial synthesis pathways, this strategy can be implemented in a variety of microorganisms to produce various FASEs from cheap and readily-available, renewable, raw materials such as sugars and cellulose in the future.

Use of limited proteolysis and mutagenesis to identify folding domains and sequence motifs critical for wax ester synthase/acyl coenzyme A:diacylglycerol acyltransferase activity

Triacylglycerols and wax esters are synthesized as energy storage molecules by some proteobacteria and actinobacteria under stress. The enzyme responsible for neutral lipid accumulation is the bifunctional wax ester synthase/acyl-coenzyme A (CoA):diacylglycerol acyltransferase (WS/DGAT). Structural modeling of WS/DGAT suggests that it can adopt an acyl-CoA-dependent acyltransferase fold with the N-terminal and C-terminal domains connected by a helical linker, an architecture demonstrated experimentally by limited proteolysis. Moreover, we found that both domains form an active complex when coexpressed as independent polypeptides. The structural prediction and sequence alignment of different WS/DGAT proteins indicated catalytically important motifs in the enzyme. Their role was probed by measuring the activities of a series of alanine scanning mutants. Our study underscores the structural understanding of this protein family and paves the way for their modification to improve the production of neutral lipids.

A comparative perspective on lipid storage in animals

Lipid storage is an evolutionary conserved process that exists in all organisms from simple prokaryotes to humans. In Metazoa, long-term lipid accumulation is restricted to specialized cell types, while a dedicated tissue for lipid storage (adipose tissue) exists only in vertebrates. Excessive lipid accumulation is associated with serious health complications including insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Thus, significant advances have been made over the last decades to dissect out the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in adipose tissue formation and maintenance. Our current understanding of adipose tissue development comes from in vitro cell culture and mouse models, as well as recent approaches to study lipid storage in genetically tractable lower organisms. This Commentary gives a comparative insight into lipid storage in uni- and multi-cellular organisms with a particular emphasis on vertebrate adipose tissue. We also highlight the molecular mechanisms and nutritional signals that regulate the formation of mammalian adipose tissue.

Metabolic engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for production of fatty acid-derived biofuels and chemicals

As the serious effects of global climate change become apparent and access to fossil fuels becomes more limited, metabolic engineers and synthetic biologists are looking towards greener sources for transportation fuels. In recent years, microbial production of high-energy fuels by economically efficient bioprocesses has emerged as an attractive alternative to the traditional production of transportation fuels. Here, we engineered the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to produce fatty acid-derived biofuels and chemicals from simple sugars. Specifically, we overexpressed all three fatty acid biosynthesis genes, namely acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC1), fatty acid synthase 1 (FAS1) and fatty acid synthase 2 (FAS2), in S. cerevisiae. When coupled to triacylglycerol (TAG) production, the engineered strain accumulated lipid to more than 17% of its dry cell weight, a four-fold improvement over the control strain. Understanding that TAG cannot be used directly as fuels, we also engineered S. cerevisiae to produce drop-in fuels and chemicals. Altering the terminal "converting enzyme" in the engineered strain led to the production of free fatty acids at a titer of approximately 400 mg/L, fatty alcohols at approximately 100mg/L and fatty acid ethyl esters (biodiesel) at approximately 5 mg/L directly from simple sugars. We envision that our approach will provide a scalable, controllable and economic route to this important class of chemicals.

Acyltransferases in bacteria

Long-chain-length hydrophobic acyl residues play a vital role in a multitude of essential biological structures and processes. They build the inner hydrophobic layers of biological membranes, are converted to intracellular storage compounds, and are used to modify protein properties or function as membrane anchors, to name only a few functions. Acyl thioesters are transferred by acyltransferases or transacylases to a variety of different substrates or are polymerized to lipophilic storage compounds. Lipases represent another important enzyme class dealing with fatty acyl chains; however, they cannot be regarded as acyltransferases in the strict sense. This review provides a detailed survey of the wide spectrum of bacterial acyltransferases and compares different enzyme families in regard to their catalytic mechanisms. On the basis of their studied or assumed mechanisms, most of the acyl-transferring enzymes can be divided into two groups. The majority of enzymes discussed in this review employ a conserved acyltransferase motif with an invariant histidine residue, followed by an acidic amino acid residue, and their catalytic mechanism is characterized by a noncovalent transition state. In contrast to that, lipases rely on completely different mechanism which employs a catalytic triad and functions via the formation of covalent intermediates. This is, for example, similar to the mechanism which has been suggested for polyester synthases. Consequently, although the presented enzyme types neither share homology nor have a common three-dimensional structure, and although they deal with greatly varying molecule structures, this variety is not reflected in their mechanisms, all of which rely on a catalytically active histidine residue.

Transporter engineering for improved tolerance against alkane biofuels in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

BACKGROUND

Hydrocarbon alkanes, components of major fossil fuels, are considered as next-generation biofuels because their biological production has recently been shown to be possible. However, high-yield alkane production requires robust host cells that are tolerant against alkanes, which exhibit cytotoxicity. In this study, we aimed to improve alkane tolerance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a key industrial microbial host, by harnessing heterologous transporters that potentially pump out alkanes.

RESULTS

To this end, we attempted to exploit ABC transporters in Yarrowia lipolytica based on the observation that it utilizes alkanes as a carbon source. We confirmed the increased transcription of ABC2 and ABC3 transporters upon exposure to a range of alkanes in Y. lipolytica. We then showed that the heterologous expression of ABC2 and ABC3 transporters significantly increased tolerance against decane and undecane in S. cerevisiae through maintaining lower intracellular alkane level. In particular, ABC2 transporter increased the tolerance limit of S. cerevisiae about 80-fold against decane. Furthermore, through site-directed mutagenesis for glutamate (E988 for ABC2, and E989 for ABC3) and histidine (H1020 for ABC2, and H1021 for ABC3), we provided the evidence that glutamate was essential for the activity of ABC2 and ABC3 transporters, with ATP most likely to be hydrolyzed by a catalytic carboxylate mechanism.

CONCLUSIONS

Here, we demonstrated that transporter engineering through expression of heterologous efflux pumps led to significantly improved tolerance against alkane biofuels in S. cerevisiae. We believe that our results laid the groundwork for developing robust alkane-producing yeast cells through transporter engineering, which will greatly aid in next-generation alkane biofuel production and recovery.

Altered lipid composition and enhanced nutritional value of Arabidopsis leaves following introduction of an algal diacylglycerol acyltransferase 2

Enhancement of acyl-CoA-dependent triacylglycerol (TAG) synthesis in vegetative tissues is widely discussed as a potential avenue to increase the energy density of crops. Here, we report the identification and characterization of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii diacylglycerol acyltransferase type two (DGTT) enzymes and use DGTT2 to alter acyl carbon partitioning in plant vegetative tissues. This enzyme can accept a broad range of acyl-CoA substrates, allowing us to interrogate different acyl pools in transgenic plants. Expression of DGTT2 in Arabidopsis thaliana increased leaf TAG content, with some molecular species containing very-long-chain fatty acids. The acyl compositions of sphingolipids and surface waxes were altered, and cutin was decreased. The increased carbon partitioning into TAGs in the leaves of DGTT2-expressing lines had little effect on transcripts of the sphingolipid/wax/cutin pathway, suggesting that the supply of acyl groups for the assembly of these lipids is not transcriptionally adjusted. Caterpillars of the generalist herbivore Spodoptera exigua reared on transgenic plants gained more weight. Thus, the nutritional value and/or energy density of the transgenic lines was increased by ectopic expression of DGTT2 and acyl groups were diverted from different pools into TAGs, demonstrating the interconnectivity of acyl metabolism in leaves.