Enhancing erythritol productivity in Yarrowia lipolytica using metabolic engineering

Erythritol (1,2,3,4-butanetetrol) is a four-carbon sugar alcohol with sweetening properties that is used by the agrofood industry as a food additive. In this study, we demonstrated that metabolic engineering can be used to improve the production of erythritol from glycerol in the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica. The best results were obtained using a mutant that overexpressed GUT1 and TKL1, which encode a glycerol kinase and a transketolase, respectively, and in which EYK1, which encodes erythrulose kinase, was disrupted; the latter enzyme is involved in an early step of erythritol catabolism. In this strain, erythritol productivity was 75% higher than in the wild type; furthermore, the culturing time needed to achieve maximum concentration was reduced by 40%. An additional advantage is that the strain was unable to consume the erythritol it had created, further increasing the process's efficiency. The erythritol productivity values we obtained here are among the highest reported thus far.     

Substrate independent ATPase activity may complicate high throughput screening

Inorganic phosphate release, [Pi], is often measured in an enzymatic reaction in a high throughput setting. Based on the published mechanism, we designed a protocol for our screening for inhibitors of SAICAR synthetase (PurC), and we found a gradual increase in [Pi] in positive control samples over the course of the day. Further investigation indicated that hydrolysis of ATP catalyzed by PurC, rather than substrate-related phosphate release, was responsible for a partial contribution to the signals in the control samples. Thus substrate-independent ATPase activity may complicate high throughput screening.     

Adaptation to high throughput batch chromatography enhances multivariate screening

High throughput process development offers unique approaches to explore complex process design spaces with relatively low material consumption. Batch chromatography is one technique that can be used to screen chromatographic conditions in a 96‐well plate. Typical batch chromatography workflows examine variations in buffer conditions or comparison of multiple resins in a given process, as opposed to the assessment of protein loading conditions in combination with other factors. A modification to the batch chromatography paradigm is described here where experimental planning, programming, and a staggered loading approach increase the multivariate space that can be explored with a liquid handling system. The iterative batch chromatography (IBC) approach is described, which treats every well in a 96‐well plate as an individual experiment, wherein protein loading conditions can be varied alongside other factors such as wash and elution buffer conditions. As all of these factors are explored in the same experiment, the interactions between them are characterized and the number of follow‐up confirmatory experiments is reduced. This in turn improves statistical power and throughput. Two examples of the IBC method are shown and the impact of the load conditions are assessed in combination with the other factors explored.     

A high throughput mechanical screening device for cartilage tissue engineering

Articular cartilage enables efficient and near-frictionless load transmission, but suffers from poor inherent healing capacity. As such, cartilage tissue engineering strategies have focused on mimicking both compositional and mechanical properties of native tissue in order to provide effective repair materials for the treatment of damaged or degenerated joint surfaces. However, given the large number design parameters available (e.g. cell sources, scaffold designs, and growth factors), it is difficult to conduct combinatorial experiments of engineered cartilage. This is particularly exacerbated when mechanical properties are a primary outcome, given the long time required for testing of individual samples. High throughput screening is utilized widely in the pharmaceutical industry to rapidly and cost-effectively assess the effects of thousands of compounds for therapeutic discovery. Here we adapted this approach to develop a high throughput mechanical screening (HTMS) system capable of measuring the mechanical properties of up to 48 materials simultaneously. The HTMS device was validated by testing various biomaterials and engineered cartilage constructs and by comparing the HTMS results to those derived from conventional single sample compression tests. Further evaluation showed that the HTMS system was capable of distinguishing and identifying ‘hits’, or factors that influence the degree of tissue maturation. Future iterations of this device will focus on reducing data variability, increasing force sensitivity and range, as well as scaling-up to even larger (96-well) formats. This HTMS device provides a novel tool for cartilage tissue engineering, freeing experimental design from the limitations of mechanical testing throughput.     

高产洛蒙真菌素洛蒙德链霉菌高通量筛选方法的建立与复合育种

[背景]洛蒙德链霉菌S015能生物合成具有广谱抗菌活性的吩嗪类化合物洛蒙真菌素。[目的]因S015菌株的洛蒙真菌素产量较低,将S015菌株经复合诱变育种和基因工程改造,提高洛蒙真菌素产量。[方法]建立洛蒙真菌素产生菌的高通量筛选方法,对出发菌株S0 15进行常压室温等离子体(atmospheric and room temperature plasma,ARTP)技术和紫外复合诱变,筛选得到高产菌株;并在高产菌株上敲除洛蒙真菌素的前体分支酸竟争途径中的关键基因trpE1、trpE2,再过表达全局调控基因afsR。[结果]利用洛蒙真菌素在紫外波长375 nm处的特征吸收峰,以及洛蒙真菌素浓度和375 nm处吸光度值的正相关关系,建立了基于24孔深孔板发酵和酶标仪快速检测的高通量筛选方法。经过6轮ARTP和紫外复合诱变及高通量筛选,从4 320株突变株中筛选得到遗传稳定的高产菌株M6,其洛蒙真菌素的产量为61.33 mg/L,是S015菌株的7.35倍;M6菌株的分支途径基因trpE1、trpE2双敲株的洛蒙真菌素产量为81.89 mg/L,是S015菌株的9.82倍;在该基因工程菌株中过表达全局调控基因afsR,产量为109.53 mg/L,是S015菌株的13.13倍。[结论]建立的高通量筛选方法可以有效筛选高产洛蒙真菌素的突变株,并且操作简单快速。通过ARTP和紫外复合诱变,结合高产株M6的基因工程改造,能进一步提升洛蒙真菌素的产量。     

Multiple gene integration to promote erythritol production on glycerol in Yarrowia lipolytica

Objective

Erythritol (1,2,3,4-butanetetrol) is a 4-carbon sugar alcohol that occurs in nature as a metabolite or storage compound. In this study, a multiple gene integration strategy was employed to enhance erythritol production in Y. lipolytica.

Results

The effects on the production of erythritol in Y. lipolytica of seven key genes involved in the erythritol synthesis pathway were evaluated individually, among which transketolase (TKL1) and transaldolase (TAL1) showed important roles in enhancing erythritol production. The combined overexpression of four genes (GUT1, TPI1, TKL1, TAL1) and disruption of the EYD1 gene (encoding erythritol dehydrogenase), resulted in produce approximately 40 g/L erythritol production from glycerol. Further enhanced erythritol synthesis was obtained by overexpressing the RKI1 gene (encoding ribose 5-phosphate isomerase) and the AMPD gene (encoding AMP deaminase), indicating for the first time that these two genes are also related to the enhancement of erythritol production in Y. lipolytica.

Conclusions

A combined gene overexpression strategy was developed to efficiently improve the production of erythritol in Y. lipolytica, suggesting a great capacity and promising potential of this non-conventional yeast in converting glycerol into erythritol.

     

An image-based assay for high throughput screening of Giardia lamblia

Giardia lamblia is a protozoan parasite that causes widespread gastrointestinal illness. Drugs to treat giardiasis are limited, but efforts to discover new anti-giardial compounds are constrained by the lack of a facile system for cell culture and inhibitor testing. We achieved robust and reproducible growth of G. lamblia in 384-well tissue culture plates in a modified TYI-S-33 medium. A high throughput assay for the screening of potential anti-giardial compounds was developed utilizing the WB strain of G. lamblia and automated optical detection of parasites after growth with tested inhibitors. We screened a library of 1600 known bioactive molecules and identified 12 compounds that inhibited growth of G. lamblia at low- or sub-micromolar concentrations. Our high throughput assay should facilitate evaluation of available chemical libraries for novel drugs to treat giardiasis.     

The application of a high throughput analysis method for the screening of potential biosurfactants from natural sources

The presence of biosurfactants in growth media can be evaluated by a variety of methods, none of which are suitable for high throughput studies. The method described here is based on the effect of meniscus shape on the image of a grid viewed through the wells of a 96-well plate. The efficacy of the method was demonstrated by the selection of a bacterium (producing a biosurfactant able to reduce the surface tension of pure water from 72 to 28.75 mN m^− 1) from a culture collection isolated from aviation fuel-contaminated land. The assay was found to be more sensitive, rapid and easy to perform than other published methods. It does not need specialised equipment or chemicals and excludes the bias which results from the surfactant properties of medium used for bacterial growth.     

Using high throughput screening to define virus clearance by chromatography resins

High throughput screening (HTS) of chromatography resins can accelerate downstream process development by rapidly providing information on product and impurity partitioning over a wide range of experimental conditions. In addition to the removal of typical product and process‐related impurities, chromatography steps are also used to remove potential adventitious viral contaminants and non‐infectious retrovirus‐like particles expressed by rodent cell lines used for production. This article evaluates the feasibility of using HTS in a 96‐well batch‐binding format to study removal of the model retrovirus xenotropic murine leukemia virus (xMuLV) from product streams. Two resins were examined: the anion exchange resin Q Sepharose Fast Flow? (QSFF) and Capto adhere?, a mixed mode resin. QSFF batch‐binding HTS data was generated using two mAbs at various pHs, NaCl concentrations, and levels of impurities. Comparison of HTS data to that generated using the column format showed good agreement with respect to virus retentation at different pHs, NaCl concentrations and impurity levels. Results indicate that NaCl concentration and impurity level, but not pH, are key parameters that can impact xMuLV binding to both resins. Binding of xMuLV to Capto adhere appeared to tolerate higher levels of NaCl and impurity than QSFF, and showed some product‐specific impact on binding that was not observed with QSFF. Overall, the results demonstrate that the 96‐well batch‐binding HTS technique can be an effective tool for rapidly defining conditions for robust virus clearance on chromatographic resins. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2013; 110: 1984–1994. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

High throughput,colorimetric screening of microbial ester biosynthesis reveals high ethyl acetate production from Kluyveromyces marxianus on C5, C6, and C12 carbon sources

Advances in genome and metabolic pathway engineering have enabled large combinatorial libraries of mutant microbial hosts for chemical biosynthesis. Despite these advances, strain development is often limited by the lack of high throughput functional assays for effective library screening. Recent synthetic biology efforts have engineered microbes that synthesize acetyl and acyl esters and many yeasts naturally produce esters to significant titers. Short and medium chain volatile esters have value as fragrance and flavor compounds, while long chain acyl esters are potential replacements for diesel fuel. Here, we developed a biotechnology method for the rapid screening of microbial ester biosynthesis. Using a colorimetric reaction scheme, esters extracted from fermentation broth were quantitatively converted to a ferric hydroxamate complex with strong absorbance at 520 nm. The assay was validated for ethyl acetate, ethyl butyrate, isoamyl acetate, ethyl hexanoate, and ethyl octanoate, and achieved a z‐factor of 0.77. Screening of ethyl acetate production from a combinatorial library of four Kluyveromyces marxianus strains on seven carbon sources revealed ethyl acetate biosynthesis from C5, C6, and C12 sugars. This newly adapted method rapidly identified novel properties of K. marxianus metabolism and promises to advance high throughput microbial strain engineering for ester biosynthesis.     

Enhanced production of insect raw-starch-digesting alpha-amylase accompanied by high erythritol synthesis in recombinant Yarrowia lipolytica fed-batch cultures at high-cell-densities

Recently we reported on raw-starch-digesting ability of alpha-amylase from an insect Sitophilus oryzae (SoAMY) expressed in recombinant Yarrowia lipolytica cells, and demonstrated its usefulness in simultaneous saccharification and fermentation processes with industrial yeasts. In this study we applied fed-batch cultures of Y. lipolytica 4.29 strain reaching high-cell-densities (up to 70 [g_DCW/L]), to enhance SoAMY production. SoAMY activity in the medium reached the peak value of 22,979.23 ± 184 [AU/L], at volumetric productivity of 121.58 ± 1.75 [AU/L/h], and yield of 71.83 ± 3.08 [AU/g_glycerol], constituting roughly 160-fold improvement, compared to the best previous result. The cultivations were accompanied by high production of erythritol (83.58 [g/L]), at the marginal production of mannitol (5.46 [g/L]). Elementary analyses of media constituents, the enzyme and the yeast biomass gave better insight into carbon and nitrogen fluxes distribution. Due to application of genetic engineering and bioprocess engineering strategies, the insect-derived enzyme can be produced at the quantities competitive to microbial catalysts.     

The characterization of Lucilia cuprina acetylcholinesterase as a drug target, and the identification of novel inhibitors by high throughput screening

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE, EC3.1.1.7.) is the molecular target for the carbamate and organophosphate pesticides that are used to combat parasitic arthropods. In this paper we report the functional heterologous expression of AChE from Lucilia cuprina (the sheep blowfly) in HEK293 cells. We show that the expressed enzyme is cell-surface-exposed and possesses a glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol membrane anchor. The substrates acetyl-, propionyl- and butyrylthiocholine (AcTC, PropTC, ButTC), and also 11 further thiocholine and homo-thiocholine derivatives were chemically synthesized to evaluate and compare their substrate properties in L. cuprina AChE and recombinant human AChE. The Michaelis-Menten constants K_M for AcTC, PropTC and ButTC were found to be 3-7-fold lower for the L. cuprina AChE than for the human AChE. Additionally, 2-methoxyacetyl-thiocholine and isobutyryl-thiocholine were better substrates for the insect enzyme than for the human AChE. The AcTC, PropTC and ButTC specificities and the Michaelis-Menten constants for recombinant L. cuprina AChE were similar to those determined for AChE extracted from L. cuprina heads, which are a particularly rich source of this enzyme. The median inhibition concentrations (IC₅₀ values) were determined for 21 organophosphates, 23 carbamates and also 9 known non-covalent AChE inhibitors. Interestingly, 11 compounds were 100- to >4000-fold more active on the insect enzyme than on the human enzyme. The substrate and inhibitor selectivity data collectively indicate that there are structural differences between L. cuprina and human AChE in or near the active sites, suggesting that it may be possible to identify novel, specific L. cuprina AChE inhibitors. To this end, a high throughput screen with 107,893 compounds was performed on the L. cuprina head AChE. This led to the identification of 195 non-carbamate, non-organophosphate inhibitors with IC₅₀ values below 10 ??M. Analysis of the most potent hit compounds identified 19 previously unknown inhibitors with IC₅₀ values below 200 nM, which were up to 335-fold more potent on the L. cuprina enzyme than on the human AChE. Some of these compounds may serve as leads for lead optimization programs to generate fly-specific pesticides.     

A constitutive expression system for high‐throughput screening

To reduce the amount of consumables and number of pipetting steps in high‐throughput screening, a constitutive expression system was developed that comprises four different promoters of varying strength. The system was validated by the expression of different sucrose phosphorylase enzymes from Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium adolescentis in 96‐deep‐ and low‐well plates at three temperatures. Drastically improved soluble expression in mini‐cultures was observed for the enzymes from L. mesenteroides strains by reducing the promoter strength from strong to intermediate and by expressing the proteins at lower temperatures. In contrast, the enzymes from B. adolescentis and L. acidophilus were expressed most efficiently with a strong promoter. The constitutive expression of sucrose phosphorylases in low‐well plates resulted in a level of activity that is equal or even better than what was achieved by inducible expression. Therefore, our plasmid set with varying constitutive promoters will be an indispensable tool to optimize enzyme expression for high‐throughput screening.     

Virtual high throughput screening (vHTS) - A perspective

With the exponential rise in the number of viable novel drug targets, computational methods are being increasingly applied to accelerate the drug discovery process. Virtual High Throughput Screening (vHTS) is one such established methodology to identify drug candidates from large collection of compound libraries. Although it complements the expensive and time consuming High Throughput Screening (HTS) of compound libraries, vHTS possess inherent challenges. The successful vHTS requires the careful implementation of each phase of computational screening experiment right from target preparation to hit identification and lead optimization. This article discusses some of the important considerations that are imperative for designing a successful vHTS experiment.     

高产琥珀酸菌株的通量筛选

以琥珀酸放线杆菌Actinobacillus succinogenes F3—21为出发菌株,分别用吖啶黄、紫外线、紫外线．硫酸二乙酯和亚硝基胍进行诱变,产生突变菌库。用“96孔板培养－HPLC浓缩检测－厌氧瓶复筛”的模式筛选高产突变株。从1056株突变株中,筛选到一株高产菌株Ⅵ-10-C。连续传代10次,产酸水平不变。在5L发酵罐中补料分批发酵72h,Ⅵ－10－C产琥珀酸87．6g／L,生产强度1．22g/（L·h）,糖酸转化率0．66g／g;琥珀酸产量比出发菌提高了30％。代谢通量与关键酶活性分析表明：相比于F3-21,Ⅵ-10-C发酵过程中从磷酸烯醇式丙酮酸节点处流向草酰乙酸的代谢流量增加了28．9％,相对应的磷酸烯醇式丙酮酸羧化激酶（PEPCK）酶活提高了23．5％。结果表明用“96孔板培养-HPLC浓缩检测-厌氧瓶复筛”的模式能快速有效筛选高产琥珀酸菌株。     

全细胞高通量筛选a-氨基酸酯水解酶突变体的方法

【目的】建立高效敏感的高通量筛选方法,用于筛选头孢克洛合成活性提高或热稳定性提高的a-氨基酸酯水解酶。【方法】根据头孢克洛在碱性条件下水解生成的衍生物在340 nm处有特征吸收峰的原理,制作出标准曲线。采用全细胞96孔板紫外分光光度法高通量测定a-氨基酸酯水解酶突变体的头孢克洛合成活性。【结果】头孢克洛含量与△A340?405在0.1?0.6×10?3 mol/L浓度范围内有良好的线性关系, 服从朗伯-比尔定律, 平均回收率为99.8%?101.3％。一轮定点饱和突变产生的2 300个克隆经该方法的筛选, 获得3株kcat提高40%以上, 4株半失活温度较野生型提高5 °C以上的突变体酶。【结论】该方法准确可靠,每天筛选量可达到2 000个反应, 达到高通量筛选要求。     

A novel dual luciferase based high throughput assay to monitor autophagy in real time in yeast S. cerevisiae

BackgroundMacroautophagy is a cellular response to starvation wherein superfluous and damaged cytoplasmic constituents are degraded to provide energy for survival and to maintain cellular homeostasis. Dysfunctional autophagy is attributed to disease progression in several pathological conditions and therefore, autophagy has appeared as a potential pharmacological target for such conditions.ObjectiveIn search of potential drugs that modulate autophagy, identifying small molecule effectors of autophagy is the primary step. The conventional autophagy assays have a limitation that they cannot be scaled down to a high throughput format, therefore, novel sensitive assays are needed to discover new candidate molecules. Keeping this rationale in mind, a dual luciferase based assay was developed in the yeast S. cerevisiae that could measure both selective and general autophagy in real time.MethodsFirefly and Renilla luciferase reporter genes were cloned under POT-1 promoter. Using fatty acid medium the promoter was induced and the luciferase cargo was allowed to build up. The cells were then transferred to starvation conditions to stimulate autophagy and the degradation of luciferase markers was followed with time.Results and conclusionThe assay was more sensitive than conventional assays and could be scaled down to a 384 well format using an automated system. A good Z-factor score indicated that the assay is highly suitable for High Throughput Screening (HTS) of small molecule libraries. Screening of a small molecule library with our assay identified several known and novel modulators of autophagy.