To evaluate the effectiveness of enzymatic assisted extraction (EAE) of lipid from the oleaginous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides in the presence of beta-1,3-glucomannanase at a larger scale, we investigated the effects of enzymatic treatment and extraction conditions on lipid extraction yields at 10-L scale by using the broth of R. toruloides Y4 as the feed and ethyl acetate as the solvent. When it was treated for 0.5 h, the lipid extraction yield reached 71.1%, indicating that the enzymatic treatment process reached similar efficiency to that obtained at 10-mL scale. The inhibitory effect of emulsification was greatly reduced by repeated extraction. After extracted for three times, yields of lipid extraction, solvent recovery and total material recovery reached 92.9%, 87.0% and 94.2% respectively. As it can use the lipid production slurry with good extraction efficiency, EAE technology is promising for industrial production of microbial lipids.
Basidiomycota ; metabolism ; Biofuels ; Bioreactors ; Fermentation ; Industrial Microbiology ; Lipids ; biosynthesis ; isolation & purification ; beta-Mannosidase ; metabolism

Cell growth profiles were evaluated in shake-flask culture to improve sclareol production by the engineered yeast strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae S7. Product formation was tightly coupled with cell growth. High cell density cultures were performed with different carbon sources using a dissolved oxygen level feedback-control strategy in a 3 L bioreactor. The titers of sclareol were 253 mg/L, 386 mg/L and 408 mg/L, respectively, when glucose, ethanol and glucose/ethanol mixture were used as the carbons sources. The maximal titer was 27-fold higher than that obtained under shake-flask culture conditions. The results suggested that the presence of ethanol was beneficial to sclareol production. These results provided useful information for optimization of yeast cell factory and efficient production of terpenoids.
Bioreactors ; Culture Media ; Diterpenes ; metabolism ; Ethanol ; Glucose ; Industrial Microbiology ; methods ; Oxygen ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae ; metabolism

Fatty acid synthase (FAS) catalyses the reaction between acetyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA to produce fatty acids. It is one of the most important enzyme in lipid biosynthesis. FAS of the oleaginous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides has two acyl carrier protein (ACP) domains and a distinct subunit composition compared with FASs of other species. As ACP is a protein cofactor crucial for fatty acid chain elongation, more ACPs in the FAS may facilitate the reaction. To study the biochemical and structural properties of this novel FAS from R. toruloides, plasmids were constructed and transformed into Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). The strain ZWE06 harboring plasmids pET22b-FAS1 and pET24b-FAS2 could co-overexpress the two subunits. The recombinant FAS was purified by sequentially using ammonium sulphate precipitation, sucrose density gradient centrifugation and anion exchange chromatography. The specific activity of the recombinant FAS was 548 mU/mg. The purified complex would be used to study enzyme kinetics and protein structure of FAS, and heterogeneous expression and purification will facilitate revealing the mechanism of this novel FAS with double ACPs.
Acyl Carrier Protein ; Basidiomycota ; enzymology ; Chromatography ; Escherichia coli ; metabolism ; Fatty Acid Synthases ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Fatty Acids ; biosynthesis ; Plasmids ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics

Biofuel is in high demand as an alternative energy source for petroleum and diesel. Fatty acid-based biofuel has higher energy density and better compatibility with existing infrastructures. Microbial fatty acid biosynthetic pathway is important to develop biofuel. In this article, recent progresses on the modification and reconstruction of fatty acid metabolism for the production of biofuel were reviewed, with a focus on micro-diesel, long chain fatty alcohol and alkane. Problems, solutions and directions for further development of fatty acid-based biofuel were also discussed in the respect of synthetic biology.
Alkanes ; metabolism ; Bacteria ; genetics ; metabolism ; Biofuels ; Fatty Acids ; metabolism ; Fatty Alcohols ; metabolism ; Fungi ; genetics ; metabolism ; Genetic Engineering ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae ; genetics ; metabolism

Microbial lipid is a potential raw material for biofuel industry. In this review, we summarized recent progress in microbial lipid production by oleaginous fungi in terms of identifying cheap feedstock, developing robust lipid producer, establishing novel strategies and better culture modes for cellular lipid accumulation, as well as revealing the molecular mechanism of oleaginity. We discussed issues, solutions and directions for further development of microbial lipid technology.
Biofuels ; Cellulose ; metabolism ; Fatty Acids ; analysis ; Fermentation ; Fungi ; cytology ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Industrial Microbiology ; methods ; Lipids ; biosynthesis

The objective of this work is to investigate how dilution rate and carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio affects lipid accumulation by Rhodosporidium toruloides AS 2.138 9 in continuous culture. Under steady-state conditions, the increase in dilution rate led to the decrease in lipid content and lipid yield. The highest lipid yield and lipid content at D = 0.02 h(-1) were 0.18 g lipid/g sugar and 57.1%, respectively, while the highest lipid productivity and biomass productivity were obtained at D = 0.14 h(-1). The increase in C/N ratio led to the increase in lipid content. The highest lipid content of 38% was obtained at C/N = 237. The highest lipid yield of 0.12 g lipid/g sugar was obtained at C/N = 92. However, the highest lipid productivity of 0.12 g/(L x h) was obtained at C/N = 32. No significant changes were observed in terms of fatty acid composition of the lipid produced under different C/N ratios, and these three fatty acids, palmitic acid, stearic acid and oleic acid, took over 85% in all samples.
Basidiomycota ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Batch Cell Culture Techniques ; Carbon ; metabolism ; Culture Media ; Fatty Acids ; metabolism ; Glucose ; metabolism ; Lipids ; biosynthesis ; Nitrogen ; metabolism ; Oleic Acid ; biosynthesis ; Palmitic Acid ; metabolism

To shorten the cultivation time and reduce the consumption of raw materials for microbial lipid production, oleaginous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides AS 2.1389 was cultivated using a two-stage culture mode, in which the cell propagation and lipid accumulation were separated. The yeast cells recovered from the propagation culture were re-suspended in glucose solution for lipid accumulation, through which lipid content over 55% of the dry cell weight was achieved, the longer the propagation stage was, the higher the lipid content. Analysis of the lipid indicated that the long-chain fatty acids with 16 and 18 carbon atoms were major components, suggesting that the lipid can be an alternative feedstock for biodiesel production.
Basidiomycota ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Biofuels ; Cell Culture Techniques ; methods ; Fermentation ; Industrial Microbiology ; methods ; Lipids ; biosynthesis

Sclareol is a member of labdane type diterpenes mostly used as fragrance ingredient. To enable microbial production of sclareol, synthetic pathways were constructed by incorporating labdenediol diphosphate synthase (LPPS) and terpene synthase (TPS) of the plant Salvia sclarea into Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It was found that sclareol production could be benefited by overexpression of key enzyme for precursor biosynthesis, construction of fusion protein for substrate channeling, and removal of signal peptides from LPPS and TPS. Under optimal shake flask culture conditions, strain S6 produced 8.96 mg/L sclareol. These results provided useful information for development of heterologous hosts for production of terpenoids.
Alkyl and Aryl Transferases ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Diterpenes ; metabolism ; Metabolic Engineering ; methods ; Metabolic Networks and Pathways ; genetics ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae ; genetics ; metabolism ; Salvia ; chemistry ; enzymology ; genetics