Analysis of the improved mechanism of Rhodobacter sphaeroides VK-2-3 coenzyme Q10 by reverse metabolic engineering.

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is an essential medicinal ingredient. In this study, we obtained a high-yielding mutant strain of CoQ10, VK-2-3, by subjecting R. sphaeroides V-0 (V-0) to a ¹² C ⁶⁺ heavy ion beam and high-voltage prick electric field treatment. To investigate the mutation mechanism, the complete genomes of VK-2-3 and V-0 were sequenced. Collinearity analysis revealed that the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-dependent dehydrogenase (NAD) gene underwent rearrangement in the VK-2-3 genome. The NAD gene was overexpressed and silenced in V-0, and this construct was named RS.NAD and RS.ΔNAD. The results showed that the titers of CoQ10 in the RS.NAD and RS.ΔNAD increased and decreased by 16.00 and 33.92%, respectively, compared to those in V-0, and these differences were significant. Our results revealed the mechanism by which the VK-2-3 CoQ10 yield increases through reverse metabolic engineering, providing insights for genetic breeding and mechanistic analysis.
Competing Interests: Y-jH, Y-xL, and Z-jT were employed by Shenzhou Biotechnology Co., Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
(Copyright © 2024 Zhang, Wang, Han, Liu, Li, Hu, Tian and Liu.)