The complete genome sequence of the nitrile biocatalyst Rhodocccus rhodochrous ATCC BAA-870

BACKGROUND: Rhodococci are industrially important soil-dwelling Gram-positive bacteria that are well known for both nitrile hydrolysis and oxidative metabolism of aromatics. Rhodococcus rhodochrous ATCC BAA-870 is capable of metabolising a wide range of aliphatic and aromatic nitriles and amides. The genome of the organism was sequenced and...

Evolutionary engineering in chemostat cultures for improved maltotriose fermentation kinetics in saccharomyces pastorianus lager brewing yeast

The lager brewing yeast Saccharomyces pastorianus, an interspecies hybrid of S. eubayanus and S. cerevisiae, ferments maltotriose, maltose, sucrose, glucose and fructose in wort to ethanol and carbon dioxide. Complete and timely conversion ("attenuation") of maltotriose by industrial S. pastorianus strains is a key requirement for process...

Comparative assessment of native and heterologous 2-oxo acid decarboxylases for application in isobutanol production by Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Background: Decarboxylation of ?-ketoisovalerate to isobutyraldehyde is a key reaction in metabolic engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for isobutanol production with published studies relying on overexpression of either the native ARO10 gene or of the Lactococcus lactis kivD decarboxylase gene resulting in low enzymatic activities. Here, we...

Increasing ATP conservation in maltose consuming yeast, a challenge for industrial organic acid production in non-aerated reactors

Functional characterization of a Penicillium chrysogenum mutanase gene induced upon co-cultivation with Bacillus subtilis

Background Microbial gene expression is strongly influenced by environmental growth conditions. Comparison of gene expression under different conditions is frequently used for functional analysis and to unravel regulatory networks, however, gene expression responses to co-cultivation with other microorganisms, a common occurrence in nature, is...

Genome-scale analyses of butanol tolerance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae reveal an essential role of protein degradation

Background n-Butanol and isobutanol produced from biomass-derived sugars are promising renewable transport fuels and solvents. Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been engineered for butanol production, but its high butanol sensitivity poses an upper limit to product titers that can be reached by further pathway engineering. A better understanding of...

De novo production of the flavonoid naringenin in engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Background Flavonoids comprise a large family of secondary plant metabolic intermediates that exhibit a wide variety of antioxidant and human health-related properties. Plant production of flavonoids is limited by the low productivity and the complexity of the recovered flavonoids. Thus to overcome these limitations, metabolic engineering of...

De novo sequencing, assembly and analysis of the genome of the laboratory strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae CEN.PK113-7D, a model for modern industrial biotechnology

Saccharomyces cerevisiae CEN.PK 113-7D is widely used for metabolic engineering and systems biology research in industry and academia. We sequenced, assembled, annotated and analyzed its genome. Single-nucleotide variations (SNV), insertions/deletions (indels) and differences in genome organization compared to the reference strain S. cerevisiae...

Resolving Phenylalanine Metabolism Sheds Light on Natural Synthesis of Penicillin G in Penicillium chrysogenum

The industrial production of penicillin G by Penicillium chrysogenum requires the supplementation of the growth medium with the side chain precursor phenylacetate. The growth of P. chrysogenum with phenylalanine as the sole nitrogen source resulted in the extracellular production of phenylacetate and penicillin G. To analyze this natural pathway...

Functional characterization of the oxaloacetase encoding gene and elimination of oxalate formation in the β-lactam producer Penicillium chrysogenum

Penicillium chrysogenum is widely used as an industrial antibiotic producer, in particular in the synthesis of ß-lactam antibiotics such as penicillins and cephalosporins. In industrial processes, oxalic acid formation leads to reduced product yields. Moreover, precipitation of calcium oxalate complicates product recovery. We observed oxalate...

Involvement of Vacuolar Sequestration and Active Transport in Tolerance of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to Hop Iso-?-Acids

The hop plant, Humulus lupulus L., has an exceptionally high content of secondary metabolites, the hop -acids, which possess a range of beneficial properties, including antiseptic action. Studies performed on the mode of action of hop iso--acids have hitherto been restricted to lactic acid bacteria. The present study investigated molecular...

Identity of the Growth-Limiting Nutrient Strongly Affects Storage Carbohydrate Accumulation in Anaerobic Chemostat Cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

OA Fund TU Delft Accumulation of glycogen and trehalose in nutrient-limited cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is negatively correlated with the specific growth rate. Additionally, glucose-excess conditions (i.e., growth limitation by nutrients other than glucose) are often implicated in high-level accumulation of these storage carbohydrates....