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Summary Whole‐cell bioconversion of technical lignins using Pseudomonas putida strains overexpressing amine transaminases (ATAs) has the potential to become an eco‐efficient route to produce phenolic amines. Here, a novel cell growth‐based screening method to evaluate the in vivo activity of recombinant ATAs towards vanillylamine in P. putida KT2440 was developed. It allowed the identification of the native enzyme Pp‐SpuC‐II and ATA from Chromobacterium violaceum (Cv‐ATA) as highly active towards vanillylamine in vivo. Overexpression of Pp‐SpuC‐II and Cv‐ATA in the strain GN442ΔPP_2426, previously engineered for reduced vanillin assimilation, resulted in 94‐ and 92‐fold increased specific transaminase activity, respectively. Whole‐cell bioconversion of vanillin yielded 0.70 ± 0.20 mM and 0.92 ± 0.30 mM vanillylamine, for Pp‐SpuC‐II and Cv‐ATA, respectively. Still, amine production was limited by a substantial re‐assimilation of the product and formation of the by‐products vanillic acid and vanillyl alcohol. Concomitant overexpression of Cv‐ATA and alanine dehydrogenase from Bacillus subtilis increased the production of vanillylamine with ammonium as the only nitrogen source and a reduction in the amount of amine product re‐assimilation. Identification and deletion of additional native genes encoding oxidoreductases acting on vanillin are crucial engineering targets for further improvement., In this study, Pseudomonas putida was engineered for whole‐cell conversion of ferulic acid and vanillin to vanillylamine with ammonium as nitrogen source. Furthermore, a novel growth‐based screening method to select for recombinant vanillin transaminases was developed and used to identify SpuC‐II and Cv‐ATA as suitable enzymes for in vivo biocatalysis with P. putida.

Background Capsaicinoids are produced by plants in the Capsicum genus and are the main reason for the pungency of chili pepper fruits. They are strong agonists of TRPV1 (the transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member 1) and used as active ingredients in pharmaceuticals for the treatment of pain. The use of bioengineered microorganisms in a fermentation process may be an efficient route for their preparation, as well as for the discovery of (bio-)synthetic capsaicinoids with improved or novel bioactivities. Results Saccharomyces cerevisiae was engineered to over-express a selection of amide-forming N-acyltransferase and CoA-ligase enzyme cascades using a combinatorial gene assembly method, and was screened for nonivamide production from supplemented vanillylamine and nonanoic acid. Data from this work demonstrate that Tyramine N-hydroxycinnamoyl transferase from Capsicum annuum (CaAT) was most efficient for nonivamide formation in yeast, outcompeting the other candidates including AT3 (Pun1) from Capsicum spp. The CoA-ligase partner with highest activity from the ones evaluated here were from Petunia hybrida (PhCL) and Spingomonas sp. Ibu-2 (IpfF). A yeast strain expressing CaAT and IpfF produced 10.6 mg L−1 nonivamide in a controlled bioreactor setup, demonstrating nonivamide biosynthesis by S. cerevisiae for the first time. Conclusions Baker’s yeast was engineered for production of nonivamide as a model capsaicinoid, by expressing N-acyltransferases and CoA-ligases of plant and bacterial origin. The constructed yeast platform holds potential for in vivo biocatalytic formation of capsaicinoids and could be a useful tool for the discovery of novel drugs.

Capsaicinoids are bioactive alkaloids produced by the chili pepper fruit and are known to be the most potent agonists of the human pain receptor TRPV1 (Transient Receptor Potential Cation Channel Subfamily V Member 1). They are currently produced by extraction from chili pepper fruit or by chemical synthesis. Transfer of the biosynthetic route to a microbial host could enable more efficient capsaicinoid production by fermentation and may also enable the use of synthetic biology to create a diversity of new compounds with potentially improved properties. This review summarises the current state of the art on the biosynthesis of capsaicinoid precursors in baker's yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and discusses bioengineering strategies for achieving total synthesis from sugar.

A control point for keeping redox homeostasis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae during fermentative growth is the dynamic regulation of transcription for the glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase 2 (GPD2) gene. In this study, the possibility to steer the activity of the GPD2 promoter was investigated by placing it in strains with different ability to reoxidise NADH, and applying different environmental conditions. Flow cytometric analysis of reporter strains expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) under the control of the GPD2 promoter was used to determine the promoter activity at the single-cell level. When placed in a gpd1Δgpd2Δ strain background, the GPD2 promoter displayed a 2-fold higher activity as compared to the strong constitutive glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (TDH3). In contrast, the GPD2 promoter was found to be inactive when cells were cultivated in continuous mode at a growth rate of 0.3 h−1 and in conditions with excess oxygen (i.e. with an aeration of 2.5 vvm, and a stirring of 800 rpm). In addition, a clear window of operation where the gpd1Δgpd2Δ strain can be grown with the same efficiency as wild type yeast was identified. In conclusion, the flow cytometry mapping revealed conditions where the GPD2 promoter was either completely inactive or hyperactive, which has implications for its implementation in future biotechnological applications such as for process control of heterologous gene expression.

Background Production of second-generation bioethanol and other bulk chemicals by yeast fermentation requires cells that tolerate inhibitory lignocellulosic compounds at low pH. Saccharomyces cerevisiae displays high plasticity with regard to inhibitor tolerance, and adaptation of cell populations to process conditions is essential for reaching efficient and robust fermentations. Results In this study, we assessed responses of isogenic yeast cell populations in different physiological states to combinations of acetic acid, vanillin and furfural at low pH. We found that cells in early stationary phase (ESP) exhibited significantly increased tolerance compared to cells in logarithmic phase, and had a similar ability to initiate growth in the presence of inhibitors as pre-adapted cells. The ESP cultures consisted of subpopulations with different buoyant cell densities which were isolated with flotation and analysed separately. These so-called quiescent (Q) and non-quiescent (NQ) cells were found to possess similar abilities to initiate growth in the presence of lignocellulosic inhibitors at pH 3.7, and had similar viabilities under static conditions. Therefore, differentiation into Q-cells was not the cause for increased tolerance of ESP cultures. Flow cytometry analysis of cell viability, intracellular pH and reactive oxygen species levels revealed that tolerant cell populations had a characteristic response upon inhibitor perturbations. Growth in the presence of a combination of inhibitors at low pH correlated with pre-cultures having a high frequency of cells with low pHi and low ROS levels. Furthermore, only a subpopulation of ESP cultures was able to tolerate lignocellulosic inhibitors at low pH, while pre-adapted cell populations displayed an almost uniform high tolerance to the adverse condition. This was in stark contrast to cell populations growing exponentially in non-inhibitory medium that were uniformly sensitive to the inhibitors at low pH. Conclusions ESP cultures of S. cerevisiae were found to have high tolerance to lignocellulosic inhibitors at low pH, and were able to initiate growth to the same degree as cells that were pre-adapted to inhibitors at a slightly acidic pH. Carbon starvation may thus be a potential strategy to prepare cell populations for adjacent stressful environments which may be beneficial from a process perspective for fermentation of non-detoxified lignocellulosic substrates at low pH. Furthermore, flow cytometry analysis of pHi and ROS level distributions in ESP cultures revealed responses that were characteristic for populations with high tolerance to lignocellulosic inhibitors. Measurement of population distribution responses as described herein may be applied to predict the outcome of environmental perturbations and thus can function as feedback for process control of yeast fitness during lignocellulosic fermentation.

The potential of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for biocatalytic whole-cell transamination was investigated using the kinetic resolution of racemic 1-phenylethylamine (1-PEA) to (R)-1-PEA as a model reaction. As native yeast do not possess any ω-transaminase activity for the reaction, a recombinant yeast biocatalyst was constructed by overexpressing the gene coding for vanillin aminotransferase from Capsicum chinense. The yeast-based biocatalyst could use glucose as the sole co-substrate for the supply of amine acceptor via cell metabolism. In addition, the biocatalyst was functional without addition of the co-factor pyridoxal-5′-phosphate (PLP), which can be explained by a high inherent cellular capacity to sustain PLP-dependent reactions in living cells. In contrast, external PLP supplementation was required when cell viability was low, as it was the case when using pyruvate as a co-substrate. Overall, the results indicate a potential for engineered S. cerevisiae as a biocatalyst for whole-cell transamination and with glucose as the only co-substrate for the supply of amine acceptor and PLP.

Despite traditionally regarded as identical, cells in a microbial cultivation present a distribution of phenotypic traits, forming a heterogeneous cell population. Moreover, the degree of heterogeneity is notably enhanced by changes in micro-environmental conditions. A major development in experimental single-cell studies has taken place in the last decades. It has however not been fully accompanied by similar contributions within data analysis and mathematical modeling. Indeed, literature reporting, for example, quantitative analyses of experimental single-cell observations and validation of model predictions for cell property distributions against experimental data is scarce. This study focuses on the experimental and mathematical description of the dynamics of cell size and cell cycle position distributions, of a population of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, in response to the substrate consumption observed during batch cultivation. The good agreement between the proposed multi-scale model (a population balance model [PBM] coupled to an unstructured model) and experimental data (both the overall physiology and cell size and cell cycle distributions) indicates that a mechanistic model is a suitable tool for describing the microbial population dynamics in a bioreactor. This study therefore contributes towards the understanding of the development of heterogeneous populations during microbial cultivations. More generally, it consists of a step towards a paradigm change in the study and description of cell cultivations, where average cell behaviors observed experimentally now are interpreted as a potential joint result of various co-existing single-cell behaviors, rather than a unique response common to all cells in the cultivation.

Background Saccharomyces cerevisiae can be engineered to perform a multitude of different chemical reactions that are not programmed in its original genetic code. It has a large potential to function as whole-cell biocatalyst for one-pot multistep synthesis of various organic molecules, and it may thus serve as a powerful alternative or complement to traditional organic synthetic routes for new chemical entities (NCEs). However, although the selectivity in many cases is high, the catalytic activity is often low which results in low space-time-yields. In the case for NADH-dependent heterologous reductive reactions, a possible constraint is the availability of cytosolic NADH, which may be limited due to competition with native oxidative enzymes that act to maintain redox homeostasis. In this study, the effect of increasing the availability of cytosolic NADH on the catalytic activity of engineered yeast for transamination-reduction coupled asymmetric one-pot conversion was investigated. Results A series of active whole-cell biocatalysts were constructed by over-expressing the (S)-selective ω-transaminase (VAMT) from Capsicum chinense together with the NADH-dependent (S)-selective alcohol dehydrogenase (SADH) originating from Rhodococcus erythropolis in strains with or without deletion of glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenases 1 and 2 (GPD1 and GPD2). The yeast strains were evaluated as catalysts for simultaneous: (a) kinetic resolution of the racemic mixture to (R)-1-phenylethylamine, and (b) reduction of the produced acetophenone to (S)-1-phenylethanol. For the gpd1Δgpd2Δ strain, cell metabolism was effectively used for the supply of both amine acceptors and the co-factor pyridoxal-5′-phosphate (PLP) for the ω-transaminase, as well as for regenerating NADH for the reduction. In contrast, there was nearly no formation of (S)-1-phenylethanol when using the control strain with intact GPDs and over-expressing the VAMT-SADH coupling. It was found that a gpd1Δgpd2Δ strain over-expressing SADH had a 3-fold higher reduction rate and a 3-fold lower glucose requirement than the strain with intact GPDs over-expressing SADH. Conclusions Overall the results demonstrate that the deletion of the GPD1 and GPD2 genes significantly increases activity of the whole-cell biocatalyst, and at the same time reduces the co-substrate demand in a process configuration where only yeast and sugar is added to drive the reactions, i.e. without addition of external co-factors or prosthetic groups. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12934-016-0430-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background The conversion of vanillin to vanillylamine is a key step in the biosynthetic route towards capsaicinoids in pungent cultivars of Capsicum sp. The reaction has previously been annotated to be catalysed by PAMT (putative aminotransferase; [GenBank: AAC78480.1, Swiss-Prot: O82521]), however, the enzyme has previously not been biochemically characterised in vitro. Results The biochemical activity of the transaminase was confirmed by direct measurement of the reaction with purified recombinant enzyme. The enzyme accepted pyruvate, and oxaloacetate but not 2-oxoglutarate as co-substrate, which is in accordance with other characterised transaminases from the plant kingdom. The enzyme was also able to convert (S)-1-phenylethylamine into acetophenone with high stereo-selectivity. Additionally, it was shown to be active at a broad pH range. Conclusions We suggest PAMT to be renamed to VAMT (vanillin aminotransferase, abbreviation used in this study) as formation of vanillin from vanillylamine could be demonstrated. Furthermore, due to high stereoselectivity and activity at physiological pH, VAMT is a suitable candidate for biocatalytic transamination in a recombinant whole-cell system.

Background Traditionally average values of the whole population are considered when analysing microbial cell cultivations. However, a typical microbial population in a bioreactor is heterogeneous in most phenotypes measurable at a single-cell level. There are indications that such heterogeneity may be unfavourable on the one hand (reduces yields and productivities), but also beneficial on the other hand (facilitates quick adaptation to new conditions - i.e. increases the robustness of the fermentation process). Understanding and control of microbial population heterogeneity is thus of major importance for improving microbial cell factory processes. Results In this work, a dual reporter system was developed and applied to map growth and cell fitness heterogeneities within budding yeast populations during aerobic cultivation in well-mixed bioreactors. The reporter strain, which was based on the expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) under the control of the ribosomal protein RPL22a promoter, made it possible to distinguish cell growth phases by the level of fluorescence intensity. Furthermore, by exploiting the strong correlation of intracellular GFP level and cell membrane integrity it was possible to distinguish subpopulations with high and low cell membrane robustness and hence ability to withstand freeze-thaw stress. A strong inverse correlation between growth and cell membrane robustness was observed, which further supports the hypothesis that cellular resources are limited and need to be distributed as a trade-off between two functions: growth and robustness. In addition, the trade-off was shown to vary within the population, and the occurrence of two distinct subpopulations shifting between these two antagonistic modes of cell operation could be distinguished. Conclusions The reporter strain enabled mapping of population heterogeneities in growth and cell membrane robustness towards freeze-thaw stress at different phases of cell cultivation. The described reporter system is a valuable tool for understanding the effect of environmental conditions on population heterogeneity of microbial cells and thereby to understand cell responses during industrial process-like conditions. It may be applied to identify more robust subpopulations, and for developing novel strategies for strain improvement and process design for more effective bioprocessing.

In this study, the production of enantiomerically pure (1R,4S,6S)-6-hydroxy-bicyclo[2.2.2]octane-2-one ((−)-2) through stereoselective bioreduction was used as a model reaction for the comparison of engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae and engineered Escherichia coli as biocatalysts. For both microorganisms, over-expression of the gene encoding the NADPH-dependent aldo-keto reductase YPR1 resulted in high purity of the keto alcohol (−)-2 (>99% ee, 97–98% de). E. coli had three times higher initial reduction rate but S. cerevisiae continued the reduction reaction for a longer time period, thus reaching a higher conversion of the substrate (95%). S. cerevisiae was also more robust than E. coli, as demonstrated by higher viability during bioreduction. It was also investigated whether the NADPH regeneration rate was sufficient to supply the over-expressed reductase with NADPH. Five strains of each microorganism with varied carbon flux through the NADPH regenerating pentose phosphate pathway were genetically constructed and compared. S. cerevisiae required an increased NADPH regeneration rate to supply YPR1 with co-enzyme while the native NADPH regeneration rate was sufficient for E. coli.

Reduction of bicyclo[2.2.2]octane-2,6-dione to (1R, 4S, 6S)-6-hydroxy-bicyclo[2.2.2]octane-2-one by whole cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was improved using an engineered recombinant strain and process design. The substrate inhibition followed a Han-Levenspiel model showing an effective concentration window between 12 and 22 g/l, in which the activity was kept above 95%. Yeast growth stage, substrate concentration and a stable pH were shown to be important parameters for effective conversion. The over-expression of the reductase gene YDR368w significantly improved diastereoselectivity compared to previously reported results. Using strain TMB4110 expressing YDR368w in batch reduction with pH control, complete conversion of 40 g/l (290 mM) substrate was achieved with 97% diastereomeric excess (de) and >99 enantiomeric excess (ee), allowing isolation of the optically pure ketoalcohol in 84% yield.

Traditionally, microbial populations in optimization studies of fermentation processes have been considered homogeneous. However, research has shown that a typical microbial population in fermentation is heterogeneous. There are indications that this heterogeneity may be both beneficial (facilitates quick adaptation to new conditions) and harmful (reduces yields and productivities)[1,2]. Typically, gradients of e.g. dissolved oxygen, substrates, and pH are observed in industrial scale fermentation processes. Consequently, microbial cells circulating throughout a bioreactor experience rapid environmental changes, which might pose stress on the cells, affect their metabolism and consequently influence the level of heterogeneity of the population. To gain a deeper understanding of population heterogeneity and the triggering phenomena, a Saccharomyces cerevisiae growth reporter strain based on the expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) was constructed which enable to perform single cell analysis, and thereby provides a tool to map population heterogeneity. A factorial design experiment followed by multivariate data analysis demonstrated a highly dynamic behavior with regard to subpopulation distribution during different growth stages. To further simulate which effect gradients have on population heterogeneity, glucose and ethanol perturbations during continuous cultivation were performed. Physiological changes were analyzed on single cell level by using flow cytometry followed by cell sorting of different subpopulations. Furthermore the expression of the reporter gene was examined by qPCR. It could be demonstrated that pulses had a clear influence on population distribution. In conclusion, we now have a tool to study the effect environmental gradients have on population heterogeneity.

Background One-pot multi-step biocatalysis is advantageous over step-by-step synthesis as it reduces the number of process operation units, leading to significant process intensification. Whole-cell biocatalysis with metabolically active cells is especially valuable since all enzymes can be co-expressed in the cell whose metabolism can be exploited for supply of co-substrates and co-factors. Results In this study, a heterologous enzymatic system consisting of ω-transaminase and ketone reductase was introduced in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and evaluated for one-pot stereo-selective conversion of amines to alcohols. The system was applied for simultaneous kinetic resolution of racemic 1-phenylethylamine to (R)-1-phenylethylamine and reduction of the ketone intermediate to (R)-1-phenylethanol. Glucose was used as sole co-substrate for both the supply of amine acceptor and the regeneration of NADPH in the reduction step. Conclusions The whole-cell biocatalyst was shown to sustain transaminase-reductase-catalyzed enantioselective conversion of amines to alcohols with glucose as co-substrate. The transamination catalyzed by recombinant vanillin aminotransferase from Capsicum chinense proved to be the rate-limiting step as a three-fold increase in transaminase gene copy number led to a two-fold increased conversion. The (R)-selective NADPH-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase from Lactobacillus kefir proved to be efficient in catalyzing the reduction of the acetophenone generated in the transamination reaction.

Background Whole-cell biocatalysis based on metabolically active baker’s yeast with engineered transamination activity can be used to generate molecules carrying a chiral amine moiety. A prerequisite is though to express efficient ω-transaminases and to reach sufficient intracellular precursor levels. Results Herein, the efficiency of three different ω-transaminases originating from Capsicum chinense, Chromobacterium violaceum, and Ochrobactrum anthropi was compared for whole-cell catalyzed kinetic resolution of racemic 1-phenylethylamine to (R)-1-phenylethylamine. The gene from the most promising candidate, C. violaceum ω-transaminase (CV-TA), was expressed in a strain lacking pyruvate decarboxylase activity, which thereby accumulate the co-substrate pyruvate during glucose assimilation. However, the conversion increased only slightly under the applied reaction conditions. In parallel, the effect of increasing the intracellular pyridoxal-5′-phosphate (PLP) level by omission of thiamine during cultivation was investigated. It was found that without thiamine, PLP supplementation was redundant to keep high in vivo transamination activity. Furthermore, higher reaction rates were achieved using a strain containing several copies of CV-TA gene, highlighting the necessity to also increase the intracellular transaminase level. At last, this strain was also investigated for asymmetric whole-cell bioconversion of acetophenone to (S)-1-phenylethylamine using l-alanine as amine donor. Although functionality could be demonstrated, the activity was extremely low indicating that the native co-product removal system was unable to drive the reaction towards the amine under the applied reaction conditions. Conclusions Altogether, our results demonstrate that (R)-1-phenylethylamine with >99% ee can be obtained via kinetic resolution at concentrations above 25 mM racemic substrate with glucose as sole co-substrate when combining appropriate genetic and process engineering approaches. Furthermore, the engineered yeast strain with highest transaminase activity was also shown to be operational as whole-cell catalyst for the production of (S)-1-phenylethylamine via asymmetric transamination of acetophenone, albeit with very low conversion. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12934-016-0615-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.