Xylose-specific Transporter Research Articles

Metabolic engineering of Halomonas bluephagenesis to metabolize xylose for poly-3-hydroxybutyrate production

Halomonas bluephagenesis is an essential host for next generation industrial biotechnology (NGIB) due to its ability to grow under high-salt and alkali conditions. In this study, H. bluephagenesis TD01 was engineered to metabolize xylose. Firstly, four different xylose-specific transporters were introduced yet xylose cannot be consumed. Further expression of xylose isomerase from Escherichia coli enabled cell growth on xylose and poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) accumulation of 0.39 g/L. Additional overexpression of xylulose kinase to direct carbon flux into pentose phosphate pathway decreased PHB production. Subsequently, the ribulose-1-phosphate pathway was constructed by introducing enzymes including D-tagatose-3-epimerase, fuculokinase, and fuculose-phosphate aldolase. The recombinant strain reached 2.09 g/L cell dry weight with 0.87 g/L PHB production. Finally, another carbon-efficient phosphoketolase pathway was introduced through the overexpression of exogenous phosphoketolase, which improved cell dry weight and PHB titer to 8.81 g/L and 5.37 g/L, respectively. This is the first report on xylose utilization by H. bluephagenesis and would provide helpful engineering strategies for the industrial polyhydroxyalkanoate production using xylose.

Heterologous expression of xylose specific transporter improves xylose utilization by recombinant Zymomonas mobilis strain in presence of glucose

Zymomonas mobilis is an exceptional ethanologen; however, rate of xylose utilization, by the engineered strains, lags far behind glucose. In the present study, an array of various potential candidate xylose specific transporters from Escherichia coli was constructed, under the influence of two different native Z. mobilis promoters. Effect of heterologous plasmid mediated expression of all the selected transporters in an evolved xylose utilizing Zymomonas strain, AD50, was screened towards improved co-utilization of glucose and xylose. Introduction of the xylose transporters, especially an ABC type transporter system, enhances the rate of xylose utilization by 48.9 %, in presence of glucose by the novel engineered Z. mobilis strain, as compared to the control strain leading to notably reduced fermentation time and co-utilization of glucose and xylose coupled with improved ethanol production. The specific utilization rate of xylose in presence glucose was found to be 2.04 g g−1 h−1, which is comparable to that of glucose (2.49 g g−1 h−1). The ethanol titer was observed to be 47.4 g L−1, with productivity and yield of 1.97 g L−1 h−1 and 0.472 g g−1, respectively. The phenotypic response of the best performing strain was marked to be consistent under scale up conditions in a bioreactor.

Release of glucose repression on xylose utilization in Kluyveromyces marxianus to enhance glucose-xylose co-utilization and xylitol production from corncob hydrolysate

BackgroundLignocellulosic biomass is one of the most abundant materials for biochemicals production. However, efficient co-utilization of glucose and xylose from the lignocellulosic biomass is a challenge due to the glucose repression in microorganisms. Kluyveromyces marxianus is a thermotolerant and efficient xylose-utilizing yeast. To realize the glucose–xylose co-utilization, analyzing the glucose repression of xylose utilization in K. marxianus is necessary. In addition, a glucose–xylose co-utilization platform strain will facilitate the construction of lignocellulosic biomass-utilizing strains.ResultsThrough gene disruption, hexokinase 1 (KmHXK1) and sucrose non-fermenting 1 (KmSNF1) were proved to be involved in the glucose repression of xylose utilization while disruption of the downstream genes of cyclic AMP-protein kinase A (cAMP-PKA) signaling pathway or sucrose non-fermenting 3 (SNF3) glucose-sensing pathway did not alleviate the repression. Furthermore, disruption of the gene of multicopy inhibitor of GAL gene expression (KmMIG1) alleviated the glucose repression on some nonglucose sugars (galactose, sucrose, and raffinose) but still kept glucose repression of xylose utilization. Real-time PCR analysis of the xylose utilization related genes transcription confirmed these results, and besides, revealed that xylitol dehydrogenase gene (KmXYL2) was the critical gene for xylose utilization and stringently regulated by glucose repression. Many other genes of candidate targets interacting with SNF1 were also evaluated by disruption, but none proved to be the key regulator in the pathway of the glucose repression on xylose utilization. Therefore, there may exist other signaling pathway(s) for glucose repression on xylose consumption. Based on these results, a thermotolerant xylose–glucose co-consumption platform strain of K. marxianus was constructed. Then, exogenous xylose reductase and xylose-specific transporter genes were overexpressed in the platform strain to obtain YHY013. The YHY013 could efficiently co-utilized the glucose and xylose from corncob hydrolysate or xylose mother liquor for xylitol production (> 100 g/L) even with inexpensive organic nitrogen sources.ConclusionsThe analysis of the glucose repression in K. marxianus laid the foundation for construction of the glucose–xylose co-utilizing platform strain. The efficient xylitol production strain further verified the potential of the platform strain in exploitation of lignocellulosic biomass.

Engineered Kluyveromyces marxianus for pyruvate production at elevated temperature with simultaneous consumption of xylose and glucose

Xylose and glucose from lignocellulose are sustainable sources for production of pyruvate, which is the starting material for the synthesis of many drugs and agrochemicals. In this study, the pyruvate decarboxylase gene (KmPDC1) and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene (KmGPD1) of Kluyveromyces marxianus YZJ051 were disrupted to prevent ethanol and glycerol accumulation. The deficient growth of PDC disruption was rescued by overexpressing mutant KmMTH1-ΔT. Then pentose phosphate pathway and xylitol dehydrogenase SsXYL2-ARS genes were overexpressed to obtain strain YZB053 which produced pyruvate with xylose other than glucose. It produced 24.62g/L pyruvate from 80g/L xylose with productivity of 0.51g/L/h at 42°C. Then, xylose-specific transporter ScGAL2-N376F was overexpressed to obtain strain YZB058, which simultaneously consumed 40g/L glucose and 20g/L xylose and produced 29.21g/L pyruvate with productivity of 0.81g/L/h at 42°C. Therefore, a platform for pyruvate production from glucose and xylose at elevated temperature was developed.

Xylitol production by Saccharomyces cerevisiae overexpressing different xylose reductases using non-detoxified hemicellulosic hydrolysate of corncob.

Xylitol production was compared in fed batch fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains overexpressing xylose reductase (XR) genes from Candida tropicalis, Pichia stipitis, Neurospora crassa, and an endogenous gene GRE3. The gene encoding a xylose specific transporter (SUT1) from P. stipitis was cloned to improve xylose transport and fed batch fermentation was used with glucose as a cosubstrate to regenerate NADPH. Xylitol yield was near theoretical for all the strains in fed batch fermentation. The highest volumetric (0.28 gL−1 h−1) and specific (34 mgg−1 h−1) xylitol productivities were obtained by the strain overexpressing GRE3 gene, while the control strain showed 7.2 mgg−1 h−1 specific productivity. The recombinant strains carrying XR from C. tropicalis, P. stipitis, and N. crassa produced xylitol with lower specific productivity of 14.3, 6.8, and 6.3 mgg−1 h−1, respectively, than GRE3 overexpressing strain. The glucose fed as cosubstrate was converted to biomass and ethanol, while xylose was only converted to xylitol. The efficiency of ethanol production was in the range of 38–45 % of the theoretical maximum for all the strains. Xylitol production from the non-detoxified corncob hemicellulosic hydrolysate by recombinant S. cerevisiae was reported for the first time. Xylitol productivity was found to be equivalent in the synthetic xylose as well as hemicellulosic hydrolysate-based media showing no inhibition on the S. cerevisiae due to the inhibitors present in the hydrolysate. A systematic evaluation of heterologous XRs and endogenous GRE3 genes was performed, and the strain overexpressing the endogenous GRE3 gene showed the best xylitol productivity.

Simultaneous fermentation of glucose and xylose at elevated temperatures co-produces ethanol and xylitol through overexpression of a xylose-specific transporter in engineered Kluyveromyces marxianus

Engineered Kluyveromyces marxianus strains were constructed through over-expression of various transporters for simultaneous co-fermentation of glucose and xylose. The glucose was converted into ethanol, whereas xylose was converted into xylitol which has higher value than ethanol. Over-expressing xylose-specific transporter ScGAL2-N376F mutant enabled yeast to co-ferment glucose and xylose and the co-fermentation ability was obviously improved through increasing ScGAL2-N376F expression. The production of glycerol was blocked and acetate production was reduced by disrupting gene KmGPD1. The obtained K. marxianus YZJ119 utilized 120g/L glucose and 60g/L xylose simultaneously and produced 50.10g/L ethanol and 55.88g/L xylitol at 42°C. The yield of xylitol from consumed xylose was over 98% (0.99g/g). Through simultaneous saccharification and co-fermentation at 42°C, YZJ119 produced a maximal concentration of 44.58g/L ethanol and 32.03g/L xylitol or 29.82g/L ethanol and 31.72g/L xylitol, respectively, from detoxified or non-detoxified diluted acid pretreated corncob.

Identification of an important motif that controls the activity and specificity of sugar transporters.

Efficient glucose-xylose co-utilization is critical for economical biofuel production from lignocellulosic biomass. To enable glucose-xylose co-utilization, a highly active xylose specific transporter without glucose inhibition is desirable. However, our understanding of the structure-activity/specificity relationship of sugar transporters in general is limited, which hinders our ability to engineer xylose-specific transporters. In this study, via homology modeling and analysis of hexose sugar transporter HXT14 mutants, we identified a highly conserved YYX(T/P) motif that plays an important role in controlling the activity and specificity of sugar transporters. We demonstrated that mutating the two tyrosine residues of the motif to phenylalanine, respectively, improved glucose transport capacity across several different sugar transporters. Furthermore, we illustrated that by engineering the fourth position in the YYX(T/P) motif, the sugar specificity of transporters was significantly altered or even reversed towards xylose. Finally, using the engineered sugar transporter, genuine glucose-xylose co-fermentation was achieved. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2016;113: 1460-1467. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Activating and Elucidating Metabolism of Complex Sugars in Yarrowia lipolytica.

The oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica is an industrially important host for production of organic acids, oleochemicals, lipids, and proteins with broad biotechnological applications. Albeit known for decades, the unique native metabolism of Y. lipolytica for using complex fermentable sugars, which are abundant in lignocellulosic biomass, is poorly understood. In this study, we activated and elucidated the native sugar metabolism in Y. lipolytica for cell growth on xylose and cellobiose as well as their mixtures with glucose through comprehensive metabolic and transcriptomic analyses. We identified 7 putative glucose-specific transporters, 16 putative xylose-specific transporters, and 4 putative cellobiose-specific transporters that are transcriptionally upregulated for growth on respective single sugars. Y. lipolytica is capable of using xylose as a carbon source, but xylose dehydrogenase is the key bottleneck of xylose assimilation and is transcriptionally repressed by glucose. Y. lipolytica has a set of 5 extracellular and 6 intracellular β-glucosidases and is capable of assimilating cellobiose via extra- and intracellular mechanisms, the latter being dominant for growth on cellobiose as a sole carbon source. Strikingly, Y. lipolytica exhibited enhanced sugar utilization for growth in mixed sugars, with strong carbon catabolite activation for growth on the mixture of xylose and cellobiose and with mild carbon catabolite repression of glucose on xylose and cellobiose. The results of this study shed light on fundamental understanding of the complex native sugar metabolism of Y. lipolytica and will help guide inverse metabolic engineering of Y. lipolytica for enhanced conversion of biomass-derived fermentable sugars to chemicals and fuels.

Directed evolution of xylose specific transporters to facilitate glucose‐xylose co‐utilization

A highly active xylose specific transporter without glucose inhibition is highly desirable in cost-effective production of biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass. However, currently available xylose specific transporters suffer from low overall activity and most are inhibited by glucose. In this study, we applied a directed evolution strategy to engineer the xylose specific transporter AN25 from Neurospora crassa with improved xylose transportation capacity. After four rounds of directed evolution using two different strategies, we obtained an AN25 mutant AN25-R4.18 with 43-fold improvement in terms of xylose transportation capacity while maintaining its high xylose specificity. In addition, glucose inhibition was almost completely eliminated in the final evolved mutant. We demonstrated that improved xylose transportation of AN25 mutants in the exponential growth phase led to significant improvement of xylose consumption in high cell-density fermentation. Finally, we showed that AN25 mutant AN25-R4.18 can enable relatively efficient glucose-xylose co-utilization in high concentrations of mixed sugars.

Engineered xylose utilization enhances bio-products productivity in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

Hydrolysis of plant biomass generates a mixture of simple sugars that is particularly rich in glucose and xylose. Fermentation of the released sugars emits CO2 as byproduct due to metabolic inefficiencies. Therefore, the ability of a microbe to simultaneously convert biomass sugars and photosynthetically fix CO2 into target products is very desirable. In this work, the cyanobacterium, Synechocystis 6803, was engineered to grow on xylose in addition to glucose. Both the xylA (xylose isomerase) and xylB (xylulokinase) genes from Escherichia coli were required to confer xylose utilization, but a xylose-specific transporter was not required. Introduction of xylAB into an ethylene-producing strain increased the rate of ethylene production in the presence of xylose. Additionally, introduction of xylAB into a glycogen-synthesis mutant enhanced production of keto acids. Isotopic tracer studies found that nearly half of the carbon in the excreted keto acids was derived from the engineered xylose metabolism, while the remainder was derived from CO2 fixation.

Improved xylose uptake inSaccharomyces cerevisiaedue to directed evolution of galactose permease Gal2 for sugar co-consumption

Saccharomyces cerevisiae does not express any xylose-specific transporters. To enhance the xylose uptake of S. cerevisiae, directed evolution of the Gal2 transporter was performed. Three rounds of error-prone PCR were used to generate mutants with improved xylose-transport characteristics. After developing a fast and reliable high-throughput screening assay based on flow cytometry, eight mutants were obtained showing an improved uptake of xylose compared to wild-type Gal2 out of 41 200 single yeast cells. Gal2 variant 2·1 harbouring five amino acid substitutions showed an increased affinity towards xylose with a faster overall sugar metabolism of glucose and xylose. Another Gal2 variant 3·1 carrying an additional amino acid substitution revealed an impaired growth on glucose but not on xylose. Random mutagenesis of the S. cerevisiae Gal2 led to an increased xylose uptake capacity and decreased glucose affinity, allowing improved co-consumption. Random mutagenesis is a powerful tool to evolve sugar transporters like Gal2 towards co-consumption of new substrates. Using a high-throughput screening system based on flow-through cytometry, various mutants were identified with improved xylose-transport characteristics. The Gal2 variants in this work are a promising starting point for further engineering to improve xylose uptake from mixed sugars in biomass.

Expression of a xylose-specific transporter improves ethanol production by metabolically engineered Zymomonas mobilis.

Zymomonas mobilis is a promising organism for biofuel production as it can produce ethanol from glucose at high rates. However, Z. mobilis does not natively ferment C5 sugars such as xylose. While it has been engineered to do so, the engineered strains do not metabolize these sugars at high rates. Previous research has identified some of the bottlenecks associated with xylose metabolism in Z. mobilis. In this work, we investigated transport as a possible bottleneck. In particular, we hypothesized that the slow uptake of xylose through the promiscuous Glf transporter may limit the efficiency of xylose metabolism in Z. mobilis. To test this hypothesis, we expressed XylE, the low-affinity xylose transporter from Escherichia coli, in a xylose-utilizing strain of Z. mobilis. Our results show that the expression of this pentose-specific transporter improves the rate of xylose utilization in Z. mobilis; however, this enhancement is seen only at high xylose concentrations. In addition, we also found that overexpression of the promiscuous Z. mobilis transporter Glf yielded similar results, suggesting that the transport bottleneck is not due to the specificity, but rather the capacity for sugar uptake.

Construction and characterization of recombinant Bacillus subtilis JY123 able to transport xylose efficiently

It has been known that wild type Bacillus subtilis cannot grow rapidly in a minimal medium containing xylose as a sole carbon source because it does not have a xylose-specific transporter. In this study, the arabinose:H+ symporter, AraE protein from B. subtilis was expressed in B. subtilis 168 in order to transport xylose efficiently. The AraE expression cassette was constructed to contain the xylose-inducible xylA promoter, araE gene and fba terminator, and integrated into the chromosomal amyE gene in B. subtilis 168. Batch cultures in a defined medium with xylose only or a mixture of xylose and glucose showed that expression of AraE led to fast and complete consumption of initially added xylose and hence a considerable increase in cell growth of the recombinant B. subtilis JY123 expressing AraE. Considering the systematic analysis of cell growth, sugar consumption, respiratory quotient and xylulokinase activity, it was certain that AraE protein could transport xylose into B. subtilis efficiently.