High-throughput screening of Saccharomyces cerevisiae efficiently producing tyrosine / 生物工程学报

Tyrosine is an important aromatic amino acid. Besides its nutritional value, tyrosine is also an important precursor for the synthesis of coumarins and flavonoids. Previously, our laboratory constructed a Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain LTH0 (ARO4K229L, ARO7G141S, Δaro10, Δzwf1, Δura3) where tyrosine feedback inhibition was released. In the present study, heterologous expression of betaxanthins synthesis genes DOD (from Mirabilis jalapa) and CYP76AD1 (from sugar beet B. vulgaris) in strain LTH0 enabled production of yellow fluorescence. The engineered strain LTH0-DOD-CYP76AD1 was subjected to UV combined with ARTP mutagenesis, followed by flow cytometry screening. Among the mutants screened, the fluorescence intensity of the mutant strain LTH2-5-DOD-CYP76AD1 at the excitation wavelength of 485 nm and emission wavelength of 505 nm was (5 941±435) AU/OD, which was 8.37 times higher than that of strain LTH0-DOD-CYP76AD1. Fourteen mutant strains were subjected to fermentation to evaluate their tyrosine producing ability. The highest extracellular tyrosine titer reached 26.8 mg/L, which was 3.96 times higher than that of strain LTH0-DOD-CYP76AD1. Heterologous expression of the tyrosine ammonia lyase FjTAL derived from Flavobacterium johnsoniae further increased the titer of coumaric acid to 119.8 mg/L, which was 1.02 times higher than that of the original strain LTH0-FjTAL.

Construction of a highly efficient synthetic lycopene engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae / 生物工程学报

Lycopene, as a high value-added terpene compound, has been widely concerned by researchers at home and abroad. Firstly, the ability of lycopene synthesis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae model strains S288c and YPH499 was analyzed and compared. The results showed that YPH499 was more suitable for lycopene synthesis as yeast chassis. Subsequently, the effects of constitutive promoters GPDpr, TEF1pr and inducible promoters GAL1pr, GAL10pr on Lycopene synthesis were compared. The results showed that when GPDpr and TEF1pr were used as promoters of crtE, crtB and crtI in lycopene synthesis pathway, the production of lycopene was 15.31 mg/L after 60 h fermentation in shaking flask. When GAL1pr and GAL10pr were used as promoters, the production was 123.89 mg/L, which was 8.09 times higher. In addition, the methylvaleric acid (MVA) pathway was further modified to overexpress the key enzyme gene of N-terminal truncation, tHMG1 (3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase). The lycopene production was 265.68 mg/L, and the yield per cell was 72.79 mg/g. The Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain designed and constructed in this study can express lycopene in high yield per cell, thus could be used in the industrial production of lycopene after further construction and optimization.

Development and verification of an FLP/FRT system for gene editing in Bacillus licheniformis / 生物工程学报

Few tools of gene editing have been developed in Bacillus licheniformis at present. In order to enrich the tools, an FLP/FRT gene editing system that can repeatedly use a single selectable marker was constructed in Bacillus licheniformis, and the system was verified by knocking out an alpha amylase gene (amyL), an protease gene (aprE) and knocking in an exogenous Vitreoscilla hemoglobin gene (vgb). First, knock-out plasmids pNZTT-AFKF of amyL and pNZTT-EFKF of aprE were constructed using thermosensitive plasmid pNZT1 as a carrier. The two knock-out plasmids contained respective homology arms, resistance genes and FRT sites. Then the knock-out plasmids were transformed into Bacillus licheniformis and the target genes were replaced by respective deletion cassette via twice homologous exchange. Finally, an expression plasmid containing FLP recombinase reading frane was introduced and mediated the excision of resistance marker. In order to expand the practicability of the system, knock-in plasmid pNZTK-PFTF-vgb was constructed, with which knock-in of vgb at pflB site was carried out successfully. The results showed that amyL and aprE were successfully knocked out and the marker kanamycin cassette exactly excised. The activities of amylase and protease of deletion mutants were reduced by 95.3% and 80.4% respectively. vgb was successfully knocked in at pflB site and the marker tetracycline cassette excised. The expression of integrated vgb was verified via real-time PCR. It is the first time to construct an FLP/FRT system for gene editing in Bacillus licheniformis, which could provide an effective technical means for genetic modification.

Effects of overexpression of NADH kinase gene on ethanol fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae / 生物工程学报

Glycerol is the main byproduct in ethanol production by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In order to improve ethanol yield and the substrate conversion, a cassette about 4.5 kb for gene homologous recombination, gpd2Δ::PGK1(PT)-POS5-HyBR, was constructed and transformed into the haploid strain S. cerevisiae S1 (MATa) to replace the GPD2 gene by POS5 gene. The NADH kinase gene POS5 was successfully over expressed in the recombinant strain S. cerevisiae S3. Comparing with the parent strain, the recombinant strain S. cerevisiae S3 exhibited an 8% increase in ethanol production and a 33.64% decrease in glycerol production in the conical flask fermentation with an initiatory glucose concentration of 150 g/L. Overexpression of NADH kinase gene seems effective in reducing glycerol production and increasing ethanol yield.

Transformation of phosphotransferase system in Escherichia coli / 生物工程学报

We constructed several recombinant Escherichia coli strains to transform phosphoenolpyruvate: carbohydrate phosphotransferase system (PTS system) and compared the characteristics of growth and metabolism of the mutants. We knocked-out the key genes ptsI and ptsG in PTS system by using Red homologous recombination in E. coli and meanwhile we also knocked-in the glucose facilitator gene glf from Zymomonas mobilis in the E. coli chromosome. Recombinant E. coli strains were constructed and the effects of cell growth, glucose consumption and acetic acid accumulation were also evaluated in all recombinant strains. The deletion of gene ptsG and ptsI inactivated some PTS system functions and inhibited the growth ability of the cell. Expressing the gene glf can help recombinant E. coli strains re-absorb the glucose through Glf-Glk (glucose facilitator-glucokinase) pathway as it can use ATP to phosphorylate glucose and transport into cell. This pathway can improve the availability of glucose and also reduce the accumulation of acetic acid; it can also broaden the carbon flux in the metabolism pathway.

Temperature-switched high-efficiency D-lactate production from glycerol / 生物工程学报

Glycerol from oil hydrolysis industry is being considered as one of the abundent raw materials for fermentation industry. In present study, the aerobic and anaerobic metabolism and growth properties on glycerol by Esherichia coli CICIM B0013-070, a D-lactate over-producing strain constructed previously, at different temperatures were investigated, followed by a novel fermentation process, named temperature-switched process, was established for D-lactate production from glycerol. Under the optimal condition, lactate yield was increased from 64.0% to 82.6%. Subsequently, the yield of D-lactate from glycerol was reached up to 88.9% while a thermo-inducible promoter was used to regulate D-lactate dehydrogenase transcription.

Cloning, expression of phospholipase A1 from Serratia liquefaciens and auto-induction fermentation by lactose / 生物工程学报

To produce recombinant phospholipase A(1) (PLA(1)) by Escherichian coli, the pla gene encoding PLA(1) was amplified from Serratia liquefaciens by PCR and cloned into two vectors pET20-b(+) and pET28-a(+). The two recombinant plasmids were then transformed into E. coli BL21 (DE3) individually to express PLA(1). E. coli BL21(DE3)/pET28a-pla yielded extracellular PLA(1) with an activity of 40.8 U/mL in batch cultivations of shaken flasks by auto-induction, which was accounted for 91% of total enzyme activity. On the basis of primal auto-induction medium, the optimized fermentation medium of PLA(1) contained tryptone 10 g/L, yeast extract 5 g/L, glucose 0.8 g/L, lactose 5 g/L, Na2HPO4 25 mmol/L, KH2PO4 25 mmol/L and 1 mmol/L MgSO4 (final concentration). Glycine (7.5 g/L) was added 6 h after inoculated. After incubated at 37 degrees C for 24 h, extracellular enzyme activity reached 128.7 U/mL.

High-efficiency L-lactate production from glycerol by metabolically engineered Escherichia coli / 生物工程学报

High-efficient conversion of glycerol to L-lactate is beneficial for the development of both oil hydrolysis industry and biodegradable materials manufacturing industry. In order to construct an L-lactate producer, we first cloned a coding region of gene BcoaLDH encoding an L-lactate dehydrogenase from Bacillus coagulans CICIM B1821 and the promoter sequence (P(ldhA)) of the D-lactate dehydrogenase (LdhA) from Escherichia coli CICIM B0013. Then we assembled these two DNA fragments in vitro and yielded an expression cassette, P(ldhA)-BcoaLDH. Then, the cassette was chromosomally integrated into an ldhA mutant strain, Escherichia coli CICIM B0013-080C, by replacing lldD encoding an FMN-dependent L-lactate dehydrogenase. An L-lactate higher-producer strain, designated as E. coli B0013-090B, possessing genotype of lldD::P(ldhA)-BcoaLDH, deltaack-pta deltapps deltapflB deltadld deltapoxB deltaadhE deltafrdA and deltaldhA, was generated. Under the optimal condition, 132.4 g/L L-lactate was accumulated by B0013-090B with the lactate productivity of 4.90 g/Lh and the yield of 93.7% in 27 h from glycerol. The optical purity of L-lactate in broth is above 99.95%.

Relationship between mycelium morphology and laccase production of Pleurotus ferulae in submerged cultivation / 生物工程学报

In this study, the relationship between mycelium morphology and laccase production was studied. The results indicated that the morphology of P. ferulae pellets was changed when glass beads were added. Laccase production showed higher with spherical mycelium than with filamentous or flocculent mycelium. In addition, the spherical mycelium with a diameter of 0.2-0.4 mm highly affected laccase production. Effect of the composition of culture medium on pellets was investigated and results indicated that various concentrations of glucose, corn meal and wheat bran were important to the formation of pellets in diameter of 0.2-0.4 mm. Besides nutrients, the addition of non-nutritional substrates influenced the distribution of P. ferulae pellets. However, the production of laccase was not promoted by non-nutritional substrates.

Elimination of succinate and acetate synthesis in recombinant Escherichia coli for D-lactate production / 生物工程学报

When Escherichia coli CICIM B0013-030 (B0013, ack-pta, pps, pflB) was used for D-lactate production, succinate and acetate were the main byproducts (as much as 11.9 and 7.1% the amount of lactate respectively). In order to decrease the byproduct levels, we inactivated succinate and acetate synthesis in B0013-030. Two recombinant plasmids containing mutation cassettes of frdA::difGm and tdcDE::difGm respectively were constructed first. The mutation cassettes were used to delete the target genes on the chromosomal by Red recombination. Subsequently, the antibiotic resistance gene was excised from the chromosomal by Xer recombination. Thereby, mutants B0013-040B (B0013-030, frdA) and B0013-050B (B0013-040B, tdcDE) were produced. D-lactate producing abilities of the engineered strains were tested both in shake flasks and in bioreactors using two-phase fermentation (aerobic growth and anaerobic fermentation) with glucose as the sole carbon source. When fermentation was carried out in shake flasks, inactivation of frdA in B0013-030 to produce B0013-040B reduced succinate accumulation by 80.8%. When tested in a 7-liter bioreactor, B0013-040B accumulated 114.5 g/L D-lactate of over 99.9% optical purity. However, 1.0 g/L succinate and 5.4 g/L acetate still remained in the broth. Further inactivation of tdcD and tdcE genes in B0013-040B to produce B0013-050B decreased acetate and succinate accumulation to 0.4 g/L and 0.4 g/L respectively, and lactate titer was as much as 111.9 g/L (tested in the 7-liter bioreactor). In lightof the lower byproduct levels and high lactate production, strain B00 13-050B may prove useful for D-lactate production.

Metabolic engineering of wild acid-resistant yeast for L-lactic acid production / 生物工程学报

In order to obtain a yeast strain able to produce L-lactic acid under the condition of low pH and high lactate content, one wild acid-resistant yeast strain isolated from natural samples, was found to be able to grow well in YEPD medium (20 g/L glucose, 20 g/L tryptone, 10 g/L yeast extract, adjusted pH 2.5 with lactic acid) without consuming lactic acid. Based on further molecular biological tests, the strain was identified as Candida magnolia. Then, the gene ldhA, encoding a lactate dehydrogenase from Rhizopus oryzae, was cloned into a yeast shuttle vector containing G418 resistance gene. The resultant plasmid pYX212-kanMX-ldhA was introduced into C. magnolia by electroporation method. Subsequently, a recombinant L-lactic acid producing yeast C. magnolia-2 was obtained. The optimum pH of the recombinant yeast is 3.5 for lactic acid production. Moreover, the recombinant strain could grow well and produce lactic acid at pH 2.5. This recombinant yeast strain could be useful for producing L-lactic acid.

Asymmetric biosynthesis of d-pseudoephedrine by recombinant Bacillus subtilis / 生物工程学报

In order to successfully express the carbonyl reductase gene mldh in Bacillus subtilis and complete coenzyme regeneration by B. subtilis glucose dehydrogenase, the promoter PrpsD and the terminator TrpsD from B. subtilis rpsD gene were used as the expression cassette to be a recombinant plasmid pHY300plk-PrpsD-TrpsD. After that, the carbonyl reductase gene mldh was inserted into the previous plasmid and a plasmid pHY300plk-PrpsD-mldh-TrpsD was achieved, followed by transformed into B. subtilis Wb600 to obtain a recombinant B. subtilis Wb600 (pHY300plk-PrpsD-mldh-TrpsD). Subsequently, the results for whole-cell biotransformation from recombinant B. subtilis showed that it could be used to catalyze MAK (1-phenyl- 1-keto-2-methylaminopropane) to d-pseudoephedrine in the presence of glucose. The yield of d-pseudoephedrine could be up to 97.5 mg/L and the conversion rate of MAK was 24.1%. This study indicates the possibility of biotransformation production of d-pseudoephedrine from recombinant B. subtilis.

Genetic improvement of alpha-amylase producing Bacillus licheniformis by homolog-mediated alpha-amylase gene amplification / 生物工程学报

Bacillus licheniformis alpha-amylase (BLA) is one of the most important enzymes involved in starch hydrolysis and many biotechnological processes. To improve the BLA productivity, an integrative plasmid pBL-amyL carrying amyL gene encoding a thermophilic alpha-amylase of B. licheniformis was constructed and transformed into B. licheniformis B0204, an industrial alpha-amylase producer. The transformants harboring different copies of amyL were developed on kanamycin by using homolog-mediated chromosomal amplification of alpha-amylase gene. The recombinants with different multiple copies of amyL integrated in the chromosome were identified by real-time PCR and evaluated by shake-flask fermentation. Recombinants harboring 2-5 multiple copies of amyL produced more alpha-amylase comparison to the parental strain B0204.

Metabolic engineering for improving ethanol fermentation of xylose by wild yeast / 生物工程学报

One yeast strain, which was isolated from 256 natural samples, was found to be able to utilize D-xylose effectively. On the basis of assimilation physiological and molecular biological tests, the yeast strain was identified as a strain of Candida tropicalis. Furthermore, metabolic engineering breeding strategy was applied to change the metabolic flux in order to increase ethanol productivity. In this study, the C. tropicalis was used as the host strain and the plasmid pYX212-XYL2, which was formerly constructed for over expression of XYL2 gene encoding xylitol dehydrogenase (XDH) from Pichia stipitis, was used as the backbone of the recombinant vector. A hygro gene was inserted into downstream position of XYL2 gene, meanwhile, the result plasmid pXY212-XYL2-Hygro transformed into C. tropicalis by electroporation. Thus, a recombinant yeast C. tropicalis XYL2-7 was obtained through hygromycin B resistance screening and its specific XDH activity was 0.5 u/mg protein, which was 3 times more than that of the parent strain. Additionally, the recombinant yeast was applied in the fermentation of xylose. Compared with the parent yeast, it was concluded that the xylitol yield in the broth decreased by 3 times, however, the ethanol yield increased by 5 times. The feasibility of ethanol production from xylose by C. tropicalis was firstly studied in this paper. These research results are helpful to advance the bioconversion of renewable resources (e. g. straw, wheat bran, and husk) to fuel ethanol.

Improvement of Ethanol Fermentation by Expression of Schizosaccharomyces pombe mel Gene and Disruption of GPD1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae / 微生物学通报

Based on homologous recombination,?-galactosidase gene mel from S.pombe was integrated to the chromosomal DNA of industrial S.cerevisiae and the key enzyme gene GPD1 of the glycerol anabolic pathway was disrupted contemporaneously,and recombinants were screened through increasing G418 concentration.It was shown that melibiose utility capability of recombinant S.cerevisiae MG1 was increased evidently,glycerol productivity was decreased,and the mel gene was expressed stabilized in the host cell.No impact on the cell character was appeared after introduced extrinsic gene,but the cells were flocculate when growing.When compared with parent industrial S. cerevisiae Y to ferment with corn powder and wheat starch as raw substrates,ethanol productivity was increased,glycerol productivity was decreased,and the melibiose in the broth was exhausted completely detected by HPLC analysis.