Engineering the leucine biosynthetic pathway for isoamyl alcohol overproduction in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Saccharomyces cerevisiae</Emphasis>

Isoamyl alcohol can be used not only as a biofuel, but also as a precursor for various chemicals. Saccharomyces cerevisiae inherently produces a small amount of isoamyl alcohol via the leucine degradation pathway, but the yield is very low. In the current study, several strategies were devised to overproduce isoamyl alcohol in budding yeast. The engineered yeast cells with the cytosolic isoamyl alcohol biosynthetic pathway produced significantly higher amounts of isobutanol over isoamyl alcohol, suggesting that the majority of the metabolic flux was diverted to the isobutanol biosynthesis due to the broad substrate specificity of Ehrlich pathway enzymes. To channel the key intermediate 2-ketosiovalerate (KIV) towards α-IPM biosynthesis, we introduced an artificial protein scaffold to pull dihydroxyacid dehydratase and α-IPM synthase into the close proximity, and the resulting strain yielded more than twofold improvement of isoamyl alcohol. The best isoamyl alcohol producer yielded 522.76 ± 38.88 mg/L isoamyl alcohol, together with 540.30 ± 48.26 mg/L isobutanol and 82.56 ± 8.22 mg/L 2-methyl-1-butanol. To our best knowledge, our work represents the first study to bypass the native compartmentalized α-IPM biosynthesis pathway for the isoamyl alcohol overproduction in budding yeast. More importantly, artificial protein scaffold based on the feature of quaternary structure of enzymes would be useful in improving the catalytic efficiency and the product specificity of other enzymatic reactions.     

Engineering <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bacillus subtilis</Emphasis> for isobutanol production by heterologous Ehrlich pathway construction and the biosynthetic 2-ketoisovalerate precursor pathway overexpression

In the present work, Bacillus subtilis was engineered as the cell factory for isobutanol production due to its high tolerance to isobutanol. Initially, an efficient heterologous Ehrlich pathway controlled by the promoter P₄₃ was introduced into B. subtilis for the isobutanol biosynthesis. Further, investigation of acetolactate synthase of B. subtilis, ketol-acid reductoisomerase, and dihydroxy-acid dehydratase of Corynebacterium glutamicum responsible for 2-ketoisovalerate precursor biosynthesis showed that acetolactate synthase played an important role in isobutanol biosynthesis. The overexpression of acetolactate synthase led to a 2.8-fold isobutanol production compared with the control. Apart from isobutanol, alcoholic profile analysis also confirmed the existence of 1.21 g/L ethanol, 1.06 g/L 2-phenylethanol, as well as traces of 2-methyl-1-butanol and 3-methyl-1-butanol in the fermentation broth. Under microaerobic condition, the engineered B. subtilis produced up to 2.62 g/L isobutanol in shake-flask fed-batch fermentation, which was 21.3% higher than that in batch fermentation.     

Identification of alcohol stress tolerance genes of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Synechocystis</Emphasis> sp. PCC 6803 using adaptive laboratory evolution

Background

Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 is an attractive organism for the production of alcohols, such as isobutanol and ethanol. However, because stress against the produced alcohol is a major barrier for industrial applications, it is highly desirable to engineer organisms with strong alcohol tolerance.

Results

Isobutanol-tolerant strains of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 were obtained by long-term passage culture experiments using medium containing 2 g/L isobutanol. These evolved strains grew on medium containing 5 g/L isobutanol on which the parental strain could not grow. Mutation analysis of the evolved strains revealed that they acquired resistance ability due to combinatorial malfunctions of slr1044 (mcpA) and slr0369 (envD), or slr0322 (hik43) and envD. The tolerant strains demonstrated stress resistance against isobutanol as well as a wide variety of alcohols such as ethanol, n-butanol, and isopentanol. As a result of introducing an ethanol-producing pathway into the evolved strain, its productivity successfully increased to 142% of the control strain.

Conclusions

Novel mutations were identified that improved the stress tolerance ability of various alcohols in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803.

     

Engineering Corynebacterium glutamicum for isobutanol production

The production of isobutanol in microorganisms has recently been achieved by harnessing the highly active 2-keto acid pathways. Since these 2-keto acids are precursors of amino acids, we aimed to construct an isobutanol production platform in Corynebacterium glutamicum, a well-known amino-acid-producing microorganism. Analysis of this host’s sensitivity to isobutanol toxicity revealed that C. glutamicum shows an increased tolerance to isobutanol relative to Escherichia coli. Overexpression of alsS of Bacillus subtilis, ilvC and ilvD of C. glutamicum, kivd of Lactococcus lactis, and a native alcohol dehydrogenase, adhA, led to the production of 2.6 g/L isobutanol and 0.4 g/L 3-methyl-1-butanol in 48 h. In addition, other higher chain alcohols such as 1-propanol, 2-methyl-1-butanol, 1-butanol, and 2-phenylethanol were also detected as byproducts. Using longer-term batch cultures, isobutanol titers reached 4.0 g/L after 96 h with wild-type C. glutamicum as a host. Upon the inactivation of several genes to direct more carbon through the isobutanol pathway, we increased production by ∼25% to 4.9 g/L isobutanol in a ∆pyc∆ldh background. These results show promise in engineering C. glutamicum for higher chain alcohol production using the 2-keto acid pathways.     

Inactivation of the transcription factor <Emphasis Type="Italic">mig1</Emphasis> (<Emphasis Type="Italic">YGL035C</Emphasis>) in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Saccharomyces cerevisiae</Emphasis> improves tolerance towards monocarboxylic weak acids: acetic,formic and levulinic acid

Toxic concentrations of monocarboxylic weak acids present in lignocellulosic hydrolyzates affect cell integrity and fermentative performance of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In this work, we report the deletion of the general catabolite repressor Mig1p as a strategy to improve the tolerance of S. cerevisiae towards inhibitory concentrations of acetic, formic or levulinic acid. In contrast with the wt yeast, where the growth and ethanol production were ceased in presence of acetic acid 5 g/L or formic acid 1.75 g/L (initial pH not adjusted), the m9 strain (Δmig1::kan) produced 4.06?±?0.14 and 3.87?±?0.06 g/L of ethanol, respectively. Also, m9 strain tolerated a higher concentration of 12.5 g/L acetic acid (initial pH adjusted to 4.5) without affecting its fermentative performance. Moreover, m9 strain produced 33% less acetic acid and 50–70% less glycerol in presence of weak acids, and consumed acetate and formate as carbon sources under aerobic conditions. Our results show that the deletion of Mig1p provides a single gene deletion target for improving the acid tolerance of yeast strains significantly.     

n-Butanol Production from Acid-Pretreated Jatropha Seed Cake by Clostridium acetobutylicum

n-Butanol fermentation using Clostridium strains suffers from low titers due to the inability of the strains to tolerate n-butanol. The current study demonstrates a process to get high titer of n-butanol in a single batch mode from the renewable feedstock jatropha seed cake by employing Clostridium acetobutylicum. Chemical mutagenesis was done for improvement of the strain for better n-butanol tolerance and production. Optimization of the parameters resulted in 13.2 g L^?1 of n-butanol in 120 h using acid-treated jatropha seed cake hydrolysate (7 %?w/v) in anaerobic sugar medium. The process was scaled up to 15 L level, yielding 18.6 g L^?1 of n-butanol in 72 h. The strain was found to be tolerant up to 30 g L^?1 n-butanol under optimized conditions. The n-butanol tolerance was accompanied by over-expression of the stress response protein, GroEL, change in fatty acid profile, and ability to accumulate rhodamine 6G in the strain. The study has a significant impact on economically producing n-butanol from biomass.     

High-flux isobutanol production using engineered <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis>: a bioreactor study with in situ product removal

Promising approaches to produce higher alcohols, e.g., isobutanol, using Escherichia coli have been developed with successful results. Here, we translated the isobutanol process from shake flasks to a 1-L bioreactor in order to characterize three E. coli strains. With in situ isobutanol removal from the bioreactor using gas stripping, the engineered E. coli strain (JCL260) produced more than 50 g/L in 72 h. In addition, the isobutanol production by the parental strain (JCL16) and the high isobutanol-tolerant mutant (SA481) were compared with JCL260. Interestingly, we found that the isobutanol-tolerant strain in fact produced worse than either JCL16 or JCL260. This result suggests that in situ product removal can properly overcome isobutanol toxicity in E. coli cultures. The isobutanol productivity was approximately twofold and the titer was 9% higher than n-butanol produced by Clostridium in a similar integrated system.     

Genome-scale loss-of-function screening with a lentiviral RNAi library

The discovery that RNA interference (RNAi) is functional in mammalian cells led us to form The RNAi Consortium (TRC) with the goal of enabling large-scale loss-of-function screens through the development of genome-scale RNAi libraries and methodologies for their use. These resources form the basis of a loss-of-function screening platform created at the Broad Institute. Our human and mouse libraries currently contain >135,000 lentiviral clones targeting 27,000 genes. Initial screening efforts have demonstrated that these libraries and methods are practical and powerful tools for high-throughput lentivirus RNAi screens.     

Improving isobutanol titers in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Saccharomyces cerevisiae</Emphasis> with over-expressing NADPH-specific glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (Zwf1)

Isobutanol is a more promising biofuel than ethanol due to its higher energy density and lower hygroscopicity. Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as a model eukaryote, has the potential advantage to produce isobutanol because of its greater tolerance to higher alcohols. NADPH is a key cofactor for isobutanol synthesis, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (Zwf1) is one of the main NADPH-supplying sources in S. cerevisiae. In this study, we investigated the effects of over-expressing ZWF1 on isobutanol titers. Our results showed that engineered strain HZAL-7023 produced 6.22 mg isobutanol per g glucose, which increased by 6.64-fold compared with the parent strain, while engineered strain HZAL-7023 22-ZWF1 produced 11.46 mg isobutanol per g glucose, which increased by 1.82-fold compared with engineered strain HZAL-7023. These results suggested that improvement of NADPH supply through over-expressing ZWF1 contributed to isobutanol biosynthesis in S. cerevisiae. These results also verified the proposed concept of increasing isobutanol titers in S. cerevisiae by resolving cofactor imbalance. Finally, this study provides a new strategy for enhancing isobutanol biosynthesis.     

Uncovering the role of branched-chain amino acid transaminases in Saccharomyces cerevisiae isobutanol biosynthesis

Isobutanol and other branched-chain higher alcohols (BCHAs) are promising advanced biofuels derived from the degradation of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs). The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a particularly attractive host for the production of BCHAs due to its high tolerance to alcohols and prevalent use in the bioethanol industry. Degradation of BCAAs begins with transamination reactions, catalyzed by branched-chain amino acid transaminases (BCATs) located in the mitochondria (Bat1p) and cytosol (Bat2p). However, the roles that these transaminases play in isobutanol production remain poorly understood and obscured by conflicting reports in the literature. In this work, we elucidate the influence of BCATs on isobutanol production in two genetic backgrounds (CEN.PK2-1C and BY4741). In the process, we uncover and characterize two competing isobutanol pathways, which can be manipulated by overexpressing or deleting BAT1 or BAT2, and adding or removing valine from the fermentation media. We show that deletion of BAT1 alone increases isobutanol production by 14.2-fold over wild type strains in media lacking valine, and examine how interactions between valine and the regulatory protein Ilv6p affect isobutanol production. Compartmentalizing the five-gene isobutanol biosynthetic pathway in mitochondria of BAT1 deletion strains results in an additional 2.1-fold increase in isobutanol production in the absence of valine. While valine inhibits isobutanol production, it boosts 2-methyl-1-butanol production. This work clarifies the role of transamination activity in BCHA biosynthesis, and develops valuable strategies and strains for future optimization of isobutanol production.     

Improving isobutanol production in metabolically engineered <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis> by co-producing ethanol and modulation of pentose phosphate pathway

Redox imbalance has been regarded as the key limitation for anaerobic isobutanol production in metabolically engineered Escherichia coli strains. In this work, the ethanol synthetic pathway was recruited to solve the NADH redundant problem while the pentose phosphate pathway was modulated to solve the NADPH deficient problem for anaerobic isobutanol production. Recruiting the ethanol synthetic pathway in strain AS108 decreased isobutanol yield from 0.66 to 0.29 mol/mol glucose. It was found that there was a negative correlation between aldehyde/alcohol dehydrogenase (AdhE) activity and isobutanol production. Decreasing AdhE activity increased isobutanol yield from 0.29 to 0.6 mol/mol. On the other hand, modulation of the glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase gene of the pentose phosphate pathway increased isobutanol yield from 0.29 to 0.41 mol/mol. Combination of these two strategies had a synergistic effect on improving isobutanol production. Isobutanol titer and yield of the best strain ZL021 were 53 mM and 0.74 mol/mol, which were 51 % and 12 % higher than the starting strain AS108, respectively. The total alcohol yield of strain ZL021 was 0.81 mol/mol, which was 23 % higher than strain AS108.     

Isobutanol production from cellobiose in Escherichia coli

Converting lignocellulosics into biofuels remains a promising route for biofuel production. To facilitate strain development for specificity and productivity of cellulosic biofuel production, a user friendly Escherichia coli host was engineered to produce isobutanol, a drop-in biofuel candidate, from cellobiose. A beta-glucosidase was expressed extracellularly by either excretion into the media, or anchoring to the cell membrane. The excretion system allowed for E. coli to grow with cellobiose as a sole carbon source at rates comparable to those with glucose. The system was then combined with isobutanol production genes in three different configurations to determine whether gene arrangement affected isobutanol production. The most productive strain converted cellobiose to isobutanol in titers of 7.64?±?0.19 g/L with a productivity of 0.16 g/L/h. These results demonstrate that efficient cellobiose degradation and isobutanol production can be achieved by a single organism, and provide insight for optimization of strains for future use in a consolidated bioprocessing system for renewable production of isobutanol.     

Studies on the production of branched-chain alcohols in engineered Ralstonia eutropha

Wild-type Ralstonia eutropha H16 produces polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) as an intracellular carbon storage material during nutrient stress in the presence of excess carbon. In this study, the excess carbon was redirected in engineered strains from PHB storage to the production of isobutanol and 3-methyl-1-butanol (branched-chain higher alcohols). These branched-chain higher alcohols can directly substitute for fossil-based fuels and be employed within the current infrastructure. Various mutant strains of R. eutropha with isobutyraldehyde dehydrogenase activity, in combination with the overexpression of plasmid-borne, native branched-chain amino acid biosynthesis pathway genes and the overexpression of heterologous ketoisovalerate decarboxylase gene, were employed for the biosynthesis of isobutanol and 3-methyl-1-butanol. Production of these branched-chain alcohols was initiated during nitrogen or phosphorus limitation in the engineered R. eutropha. One mutant strain not only produced over 180?mg/L branched-chain alcohols in flask culture, but also was significantly more tolerant of isobutanol toxicity than wild-type R. eutropha. After the elimination of genes encoding three potential carbon sinks (ilvE, bkdAB, and aceE), the production titer improved to 270?mg/L isobutanol and 40?mg/L 3-methyl-1-butanol. Semicontinuous flask cultivation was utilized to minimize the toxicity caused by isobutanol while supplying cells with sufficient nutrients. Under this semicontinuous flask cultivation, the R. eutropha mutant grew and produced more than 14?g/L branched-chain alcohols over the duration of 50?days. These results demonstrate that R. eutropha carbon flux can be redirected from PHB to branched-chain alcohols and that engineered R. eutropha can be cultivated over prolonged periods of time for product biosynthesis.     

Telomeres acquire distinct heterochromatin characteristics during siRNA-induced RNA interference in mouse cells

Telomeres are protective structures present at the ends of linear chromosomes and consist of simple repeating-DNA sequences and specialized proteins [1, 2]. Integrity of the telomeres is important in maintaining genome stability[1-6]. RNA interference(RNAi) involves short double-stranded RNA (21-23 nucleotides long), termed short interference RNA(siRNA), resulting in the downregulation of genes with cognate sequences [7-9]. During transient siRNA-induced RNAi in mouse fibroblast cultures, we found significant reversible changes related to the telomeres. Telomeres acquired distinct heterochromatin features. There were increased bindings of Argonaute-1 (AGO1), telomeric repeat-binding factor 1(TERF1), and heterochromatin protein 1beta (HP1beta) on the telomeres. Histone H3 (lysine 9) was hypermethylated at the telomeres. The chromosome ends also were associated with an unidentified RNA. During RNAi, expression of a transgene inserted adjacent to the telomere was downregulated.In addition, the concentration of a group of heterogeneous high-molecular-weight RNA containing telomeric repeat sequences was increased, and this RNA formed a small number of transient, discrete nuclear foci. Our findings suggest that telomeres participate actively in the siRNA-induced RNAi process. These responses of telomeres to the RNAi process might partially account for the off-target effects of RNAi.