Rational and evolutionary engineering approaches uncover a small set of genetic changes efficient for rapid xylose fermentation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Economic bioconversion of plant cell wall hydrolysates into fuels and chemicals has been hampered mainly due to the inability of microorganisms to efficiently co-ferment pentose and hexose sugars, especially glucose and xylose, which are the most abundant sugars in cellulosic hydrolysates. Saccharom...

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Main Authors: Soo Rin Kim, Jeffrey M Skerker, Wei Kang, Anastashia Lesmana, Na Wei, Adam P Arkin, Yong-Su Jin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2013-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3582614?pdf=render
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author Soo Rin Kim
Jeffrey M Skerker
Wei Kang
Anastashia Lesmana
Na Wei
Adam P Arkin
Yong-Su Jin
author_facet Soo Rin Kim
Jeffrey M Skerker
Wei Kang
Anastashia Lesmana
Na Wei
Adam P Arkin
Yong-Su Jin
author_sort Soo Rin Kim
collection DOAJ
description Economic bioconversion of plant cell wall hydrolysates into fuels and chemicals has been hampered mainly due to the inability of microorganisms to efficiently co-ferment pentose and hexose sugars, especially glucose and xylose, which are the most abundant sugars in cellulosic hydrolysates. Saccharomyces cerevisiae cannot metabolize xylose due to a lack of xylose-metabolizing enzymes. We developed a rapid and efficient xylose-fermenting S. cerevisiae through rational and inverse metabolic engineering strategies, comprising the optimization of a heterologous xylose-assimilating pathway and evolutionary engineering. Strong and balanced expression levels of the XYL1, XYL2, and XYL3 genes constituting the xylose-assimilating pathway increased ethanol yields and the xylose consumption rates from a mixture of glucose and xylose with little xylitol accumulation. The engineered strain, however, still exhibited a long lag time when metabolizing xylose above 10 g/l as a sole carbon source, defined here as xylose toxicity. Through serial-subcultures on xylose, we isolated evolved strains which exhibited a shorter lag time and improved xylose-fermenting capabilities than the parental strain. Genome sequencing of the evolved strains revealed that mutations in PHO13 causing loss of the Pho13p function are associated with the improved phenotypes of the evolved strains. Crude extracts of a PHO13-overexpressing strain showed a higher phosphatase activity on xylulose-5-phosphate (X-5-P), suggesting that the dephosphorylation of X-5-P by Pho13p might generate a futile cycle with xylulokinase overexpression. While xylose consumption rates by the evolved strains improved substantially as compared to the parental strain, xylose metabolism was interrupted by accumulated acetate. Deletion of ALD6 coding for acetaldehyde dehydrogenase not only prevented acetate accumulation, but also enabled complete and efficient fermentation of xylose as well as a mixture of glucose and xylose by the evolved strain. These findings provide direct guidance for developing industrial strains to produce cellulosic fuels and chemicals.
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spelling doaj.art-4bb522c52f014d1cbd82abef277c98f42022-12-21T20:07:59ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032013-01-0182e5704810.1371/journal.pone.0057048Rational and evolutionary engineering approaches uncover a small set of genetic changes efficient for rapid xylose fermentation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.Soo Rin KimJeffrey M SkerkerWei KangAnastashia LesmanaNa WeiAdam P ArkinYong-Su JinEconomic bioconversion of plant cell wall hydrolysates into fuels and chemicals has been hampered mainly due to the inability of microorganisms to efficiently co-ferment pentose and hexose sugars, especially glucose and xylose, which are the most abundant sugars in cellulosic hydrolysates. Saccharomyces cerevisiae cannot metabolize xylose due to a lack of xylose-metabolizing enzymes. We developed a rapid and efficient xylose-fermenting S. cerevisiae through rational and inverse metabolic engineering strategies, comprising the optimization of a heterologous xylose-assimilating pathway and evolutionary engineering. Strong and balanced expression levels of the XYL1, XYL2, and XYL3 genes constituting the xylose-assimilating pathway increased ethanol yields and the xylose consumption rates from a mixture of glucose and xylose with little xylitol accumulation. The engineered strain, however, still exhibited a long lag time when metabolizing xylose above 10 g/l as a sole carbon source, defined here as xylose toxicity. Through serial-subcultures on xylose, we isolated evolved strains which exhibited a shorter lag time and improved xylose-fermenting capabilities than the parental strain. Genome sequencing of the evolved strains revealed that mutations in PHO13 causing loss of the Pho13p function are associated with the improved phenotypes of the evolved strains. Crude extracts of a PHO13-overexpressing strain showed a higher phosphatase activity on xylulose-5-phosphate (X-5-P), suggesting that the dephosphorylation of X-5-P by Pho13p might generate a futile cycle with xylulokinase overexpression. While xylose consumption rates by the evolved strains improved substantially as compared to the parental strain, xylose metabolism was interrupted by accumulated acetate. Deletion of ALD6 coding for acetaldehyde dehydrogenase not only prevented acetate accumulation, but also enabled complete and efficient fermentation of xylose as well as a mixture of glucose and xylose by the evolved strain. These findings provide direct guidance for developing industrial strains to produce cellulosic fuels and chemicals.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3582614?pdf=render
spellingShingle Soo Rin Kim
Jeffrey M Skerker
Wei Kang
Anastashia Lesmana
Na Wei
Adam P Arkin
Yong-Su Jin
Rational and evolutionary engineering approaches uncover a small set of genetic changes efficient for rapid xylose fermentation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
PLoS ONE
title Rational and evolutionary engineering approaches uncover a small set of genetic changes efficient for rapid xylose fermentation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
title_full Rational and evolutionary engineering approaches uncover a small set of genetic changes efficient for rapid xylose fermentation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
title_fullStr Rational and evolutionary engineering approaches uncover a small set of genetic changes efficient for rapid xylose fermentation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
title_full_unstemmed Rational and evolutionary engineering approaches uncover a small set of genetic changes efficient for rapid xylose fermentation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
title_short Rational and evolutionary engineering approaches uncover a small set of genetic changes efficient for rapid xylose fermentation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
title_sort rational and evolutionary engineering approaches uncover a small set of genetic changes efficient for rapid xylose fermentation in saccharomyces cerevisiae
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3582614?pdf=render
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