Coordinated synthesis of aromatic amino acid derived pigments in yeast via global transcriptional engineering

Abstract Background Rational metabolic pathway engineering is capable of boosting upstream flux towards downstream synthesis of target products, such as aromatic amino acid derivatives. However, coordinated synthesis of multiple downstream derivatives faces difficulty of combinatorial optimization o...

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Main Authors: Huimin Xue, Mingshan Li, Yuhui Cui, Dongkui Tian, Duo Liu, Hanjie Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2025-07-01
Series:Microbial Cell Factories
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12934-025-02799-6
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author Huimin Xue
Mingshan Li
Yuhui Cui
Dongkui Tian
Duo Liu
Hanjie Wang
author_facet Huimin Xue
Mingshan Li
Yuhui Cui
Dongkui Tian
Duo Liu
Hanjie Wang
author_sort Huimin Xue
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background Rational metabolic pathway engineering is capable of boosting upstream flux towards downstream synthesis of target products, such as aromatic amino acid derivatives. However, coordinated synthesis of multiple downstream derivatives faces difficulty of combinatorial optimization of cellular metabolism. Results We developed a strategy combining metabolic engineering optimization with the global transcriptional regulation of transcription factors (TFs) Spt15p and Gcn4p to optimize the synthesis of aromatic amino acid derivatives in yeast. It is verified that the special mutants of these TFs can respectively improve the biosynthesis of betaxanthin, a tyrosine derived edible pigment. Comparative transcriptome analysis shows that significant transcriptional tuning occurs in glycolysis, pentose phosphate pathway, aromatic amino acid synthesis pathways, etc. In addition, global transcriptional engineering is proved to enhance the coordinated biosynthesis of both tyrosine derived pigment betaxanthin and tryptophan derived pigment violacein by more than 50%. Finally, we obtain an optimized production of 208 mg/L betaxanthin in yeast cells by flask fermentation. Conclusions Our strategy supplies an effective way to optimize the coordinated synthesis of two structurally divergent pigments downstream of the common aromatic amino acid pathway.
format Article
id doaj-art-4e704b2c9e954985966a9bfb35c45b9c
institution Kabale University
issn 1475-2859
language English
publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher BMC
record_format Article
series Microbial Cell Factories
spelling doaj-art-4e704b2c9e954985966a9bfb35c45b9c2025-08-20T04:02:50ZengBMCMicrobial Cell Factories1475-28592025-07-0124111510.1186/s12934-025-02799-6Coordinated synthesis of aromatic amino acid derived pigments in yeast via global transcriptional engineeringHuimin Xue0Mingshan Li1Yuhui Cui2Dongkui Tian3Duo Liu4Hanjie Wang5School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Tianjin Engineering Center of Micro- Nano Biomaterials and Detection-Treatment Technology, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Function and Application of Biological Macromolecular Structures, Tianjin UniversitySchool of Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Tianjin Engineering Center of Micro- Nano Biomaterials and Detection-Treatment Technology, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Function and Application of Biological Macromolecular Structures, Tianjin UniversitySchool of Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Tianjin Engineering Center of Micro- Nano Biomaterials and Detection-Treatment Technology, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Function and Application of Biological Macromolecular Structures, Tianjin UniversityState Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Key Laboratory of Industrial Fermentation Microbiology, Ministry of Education, College of Biotechnology, Tianjin University of Science and TechnologySchool of Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Tianjin Engineering Center of Micro- Nano Biomaterials and Detection-Treatment Technology, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Function and Application of Biological Macromolecular Structures, Tianjin UniversitySchool of Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Tianjin Engineering Center of Micro- Nano Biomaterials and Detection-Treatment Technology, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Function and Application of Biological Macromolecular Structures, Tianjin UniversityAbstract Background Rational metabolic pathway engineering is capable of boosting upstream flux towards downstream synthesis of target products, such as aromatic amino acid derivatives. However, coordinated synthesis of multiple downstream derivatives faces difficulty of combinatorial optimization of cellular metabolism. Results We developed a strategy combining metabolic engineering optimization with the global transcriptional regulation of transcription factors (TFs) Spt15p and Gcn4p to optimize the synthesis of aromatic amino acid derivatives in yeast. It is verified that the special mutants of these TFs can respectively improve the biosynthesis of betaxanthin, a tyrosine derived edible pigment. Comparative transcriptome analysis shows that significant transcriptional tuning occurs in glycolysis, pentose phosphate pathway, aromatic amino acid synthesis pathways, etc. In addition, global transcriptional engineering is proved to enhance the coordinated biosynthesis of both tyrosine derived pigment betaxanthin and tryptophan derived pigment violacein by more than 50%. Finally, we obtain an optimized production of 208 mg/L betaxanthin in yeast cells by flask fermentation. Conclusions Our strategy supplies an effective way to optimize the coordinated synthesis of two structurally divergent pigments downstream of the common aromatic amino acid pathway.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12934-025-02799-6Rational pathway engineeringGlobal transcriptional engineeringAromatic amino acidSPT15GCN4Betaxanthin
spellingShingle Huimin Xue
Mingshan Li
Yuhui Cui
Dongkui Tian
Duo Liu
Hanjie Wang
Coordinated synthesis of aromatic amino acid derived pigments in yeast via global transcriptional engineering
Microbial Cell Factories
Rational pathway engineering
Global transcriptional engineering
Aromatic amino acid
SPT15
GCN4
Betaxanthin
title Coordinated synthesis of aromatic amino acid derived pigments in yeast via global transcriptional engineering
title_full Coordinated synthesis of aromatic amino acid derived pigments in yeast via global transcriptional engineering
title_fullStr Coordinated synthesis of aromatic amino acid derived pigments in yeast via global transcriptional engineering
title_full_unstemmed Coordinated synthesis of aromatic amino acid derived pigments in yeast via global transcriptional engineering
title_short Coordinated synthesis of aromatic amino acid derived pigments in yeast via global transcriptional engineering
title_sort coordinated synthesis of aromatic amino acid derived pigments in yeast via global transcriptional engineering
topic Rational pathway engineering
Global transcriptional engineering
Aromatic amino acid
SPT15
GCN4
Betaxanthin
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s12934-025-02799-6
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