Project description:Previously, it has been demonstrated that formate can be utilized by Saccharomyces cerevisiae as additional energy source using cells grown in a glucose-limited chemostat. Here, we investigated utilization of formaldehyde as co-substrate. Since endogenous formaldehyde dehydrogenase activities were insufficient to allow co-feeding of formaldehyde, the Hansenula polymorpha FLD1, encoding formaldehyde dehydrogenase, was introduced in S. cerevisiae. Chemostat cultivations revealed that formaldehyde was co-utilized with glucose, but the yield was lower than predicted. Moreover, formate was secreted by the cells. Upon co-expression of the H. polymorpha gene encoding formate dehydrogenase, FMD, the levels of secreted formate decreased, but the biomass yield was still lower than anticipated. Transcriptome comparisons of cells of the engineered FLD1/FMD-expressing S. cerevisiae strain grown with or without formaldehyde feed, suggested that the cells experienced biotin limitation, possibly due to inactivation of biotin by formaldehyde in the feed. When separate feeds were used for formaldehyde and biotin, the engineered S. cerevisiae strain was able to efficiently utilize formaldehyde as additional energy source. Experiment Overall Design: In industrial biotechnology, the cost of feedstocks (often sugars) are crucial for production of both biomass related products, such as proteins, or for the production of commodity chemicals. In many such processes a large fraction of the sugars is dissimilated to either provide free-energy (in the form of ATP) or to provide electrons (in the form of NADH). Co-consumption of methanol, which can be derived from fossil sources (via natural gas) or from biomass (via syngas) , via the above mentioned route can provide NADH and/or ATP, thereby creating the possibility to utilise the sugars more efficiently. It would therefore be advantageous to co-feed S. cerevisiae with methanol during fermentations since it is a cheap alternative to sugars as energy source. Experiment Overall Design: Efficient dissimilation of the intermediate formaldehyde is a crucial first step for utilisation of methanol by S. cerevisiae. Therefore, his study analyses the effect of co-expression of H. polymorpha FLD1 encoding NAD+-dependent formaldehyde and FMD encoding formate dehydrogenases, on tolerance to formaldehyde and co-consumption of formaldehyde by S. cerevisiae.

Project description:Saccharomyces cerevisiae has become a popular host for production of non-native compounds. The metabolic pathways involved generally require a net input of energy. To maximize the ATP yield on sugar in S. cerevisiae, industrial cultivation is typically performed in aerobic, sugar-limited fed-batch reactors which, due to constraints in oxygen transfer and cooling capacities, have to be operated at low specific growth rates. Because intracellular levels of key metabolites and cellular energy status are growth-rate dependent, slow growth can significantly affect biomass-specific productivity. Using an engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain expressing a heterologous pathway for resveratrol production as a model energy-requiring product, the impact of specific growth rate on yeast physiology and productivity was investigated in aerobic, glucose-limited chemostat cultures. Stoichiometric analysis revealed that de novo resveratrol production from glucose requires a net input of 2 moles of ATP per mole of produced resveratrol. The biomass-specific production rate of resveratrol showed a strong positive correlation with the specific growth rate. At low growth rates, a substantial fraction of the carbon source was invested in cellular maintenance-energy requirements (e.g., 27% at 0.03 h-1). This distribution of resources was unaffected by resveratrol production. Formation of the by-products coumaric, phloretic and cinnamic acid had no detectable effect on maintenance energy requirement and yeast physiology in the chemostats. Expression of the heterologous pathway led to marked differences in transcript levels in the resveratrol-producing strain, including increased expression levels of genes involved in pathways for precursor supply (e.g., ARO7 and ARO9 involved in phenylalanine biosynthesis). The observed strong differential expression of many glucose-responsive genes in the resveratrol producer as compared to a congenic reference strain could be explained from higher residual glucose concentrations and higher relative growth rates in cultures of the resveratrol producer. De novo resveratrol production by engineered S. cerevisiae is an energy demanding process. Resveratrol production by an engineered strain exhibited a strong correlation with specific growth rate. Since industrial production in fed-batch reactors typically involves low specific growth rates, this study emphasizes the need for uncoupling growth and product formation via energy-requiring pathways. The goal of the present study is to investigate the impact of specific growth rate on biomass-specific productivity, product yield, by-product formation and host strain physiology of an S. cerevisiae strain that was previously engineered for de novo production of resveratrol from glucose. To this end, (by)product formation, physiology and transcriptome were analysed in steady-state, glucose-limited chemostat cultures grown at different dilution rates.

Project description:Saccharomyces cerevisiae has become a popular host for production of non-native compounds. The metabolic pathways involved generally require a net input of energy. To maximize the ATP yield on sugar in S. cerevisiae, industrial cultivation is typically performed in aerobic, sugar-limited fed-batch reactors which, due to constraints in oxygen transfer and cooling capacities, have to be operated at low specific growth rates. Because intracellular levels of key metabolites and cellular energy status are growth-rate dependent, slow growth can significantly affect biomass-specific productivity. Using an engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain expressing a heterologous pathway for resveratrol production as a model energy-requiring product, the impact of specific growth rate on yeast physiology and productivity was investigated in aerobic, glucose-limited chemostat cultures. Stoichiometric analysis revealed that de novo resveratrol production from glucose requires a net input of 2 moles of ATP per mole of produced resveratrol. The biomass-specific production rate of resveratrol showed a strong positive correlation with the specific growth rate. At low growth rates, a substantial fraction of the carbon source was invested in cellular maintenance-energy requirements (e.g., 27% at 0.03 h-1). This distribution of resources was unaffected by resveratrol production. Formation of the by-products coumaric, phloretic and cinnamic acid had no detectable effect on maintenance energy requirement and yeast physiology in the chemostats. Expression of the heterologous pathway led to marked differences in transcript levels in the resveratrol-producing strain, including increased expression levels of genes involved in pathways for precursor supply (e.g., ARO7 and ARO9 involved in phenylalanine biosynthesis). The observed strong differential expression of many glucose-responsive genes in the resveratrol producer as compared to a congenic reference strain could be explained from higher residual glucose concentrations and higher relative growth rates in cultures of the resveratrol producer. De novo resveratrol production by engineered S. cerevisiae is an energy demanding process. Resveratrol production by an engineered strain exhibited a strong correlation with specific growth rate. Since industrial production in fed-batch reactors typically involves low specific growth rates, this study emphasizes the need for uncoupling growth and product formation via energy-requiring pathways.

Project description:Xylose induced effects on metabolism and gene expression during anaerobic growth of an engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae on mixed glucose-xylose medium were quantified. Gene expression of S. cerevisiae harbouring an XR-XDH pathway for xylose utilisation was analysed from early cultivation when mainly glucose was metabolised, to times when xylose was co-consumed in the presence of low glucose concentrations, and finally, to glucose depletion and solely xylose being consumed. Cultivations on glucose as a sole carbon source were used as a control. Genome-scale dynamic flux balance analysis models were developed and simulated to analyse the metabolic dynamics of S. cerevisiae in the cultivations. Model simulations quantitatively estimated xylose dependent dynamics of fluxes and challenges to the metabolic network utilisation. Increased relative xylose utilisation was predicted to induce two-directionality of glycolytic flux and a redox challenge already at low glucose concentrations. Xylose effects on gene expression were observed also when glucose was still abundant. Remarkably, xylose was observed to specifically delay the glucose-dependent repression of particular genes in mixed glucose-xylose cultures compared to glucose cultures. The delay occurred during similar metabolic flux activities in the both cultures. Xylose is abundantly present together with glucose in lignocellulosic streams that would be available for the valorisation to biochemicals or biofuels. Yeast S. cerevisiae has superior characteristics for a host of the bioconversion except that it strongly prefers glucose and the co-consumption of xylose is yet a challenge. Further, since xylose is not a natural substrate of S. cerevisiae, the regulatory response it induces in an engineered yeast strain cannot be expected to have evolved for its utilisation. Dynamic cultivation experiments on mixed glucose-xylose medium having glucose cultures as control integrated with mathematical modelling allowed to resolve specific effects of xylose on the gene expression and metabolism of engineered S. cerevisiae in the presence of varying amounts of glucose.

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Saccharomyces cerevisiae

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