Design of Four Small-Molecule-Inducible Systems in the Yeast Chromosome, Applied to Optimize Terpene Biosynthesis

• Published in: ACS synthetic biology Vol. 12; no. 4; pp. 1119 - 1132
• Main Authors: Park, Jong Hyun, Bassalo, Marcelo C., Lin, Geng-Min, Chen, Ye, Doosthosseini, Hamid, Schmitz, Joep, Roubos, Johannes A., Voigt, Christopher A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 21-04-2023
• Subjects: BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; Chromosomes; Chromosomes, Fungal; design-build-test-learn (DBTL) cycle; Escherichia coli Marionette; fungi; genetic circuit; high energy aircraft missile fuel; INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; Metabolic Engineering; Promoter Regions, Genetic - genetics; Saccharomyces cerevisiae - metabolism; synthetic biology; systems biology; Terpenes - metabolism; Xylose - metabolism; systems biology; synthetic biology; genetic circuit; design-build-test-learn (DBTL) cycle; fungi; Escherichia coli Marionette; high energy aircraft missile fuel
• ISSN: 2161-5063; 2161-5063
• DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.2c00607

The optimization of cellular functions often requires the balancing of gene expression, but the physical construction and screening of alternative designs are costly and time-consuming. Here, we construct a strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae that contains a “sensor array” containing bacterial regulators that respond to four small-molecule inducers (vanillic acid, xylose, aTc, IPTG). Four promoters can be independently controlled with low background and a 40- to 5000-fold dynamic range. These systems can be used to study the impact of changing the level and timing of gene expression without requiring the construction of multiple strains. We apply this approach to the optimization of a four-gene heterologous pathway to the terpene linalool, which is a flavor and precursor to energetic materials. Using this approach, we identify bottlenecks in the metabolic pathway. This work can aid the rapid automated strain development of yeasts for the bio-manufacturing of diverse products, including chemicals, materials, fuels, and food ingredients.