Metabolic Engineering of Oleaginous Yeast Rhodotorula toruloides for Overproduction of Triacetic Acid Lactone

AbstractThe plant-sourced polyketide triacetic acid lactone (TAL) has been recognized as a promising platform chemical for the biorefinery industry. However, its practical application was rather limited due to low natural abundance and inefficient cell factories for biosynthesis. Here we report the metabolic engineering of oleaginous yeast Rhodotorula toruloides for TAL overproduction. We first introduced a 2-pyrone synthase gene from Gerbera hybrida (GhPS) into R. toruloides and investigated the effects of different carbon sources on TAL production. We then systematically employed a variety of metabolic engineering strategies to increase the flux of acetyl-CoA by enhancing its biosynthetic pathways and disrupting its competing pathways. We found that overexpression of citrate lyase (ACL1) improved TAL production by 45% compared to the GhPS overexpressing strain, and additional overexpression of acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC1) further increased TAL production by 29%. Finally, we characterized the resulting strain I12-ACL1-ACC1 using fed-batch bioreactor fermentation in glucose or oilcane juice medium with acetate supplementation and achieved a titer of 28 g/L or 23 g/L TAL, respectively. This study demonstrates that R. toruloides is a promising host for production of TAL and other acetyl-CoA-derived polyketides from low-cost carbon sources.Graphical abstractTriacetic acid lactone (TAL) is a promising platform chemical. Cao et al. overexpressed 2-pyrone synthase in oleaginous yeast Rhodotorula toruloides to produce TAL. They systematically evaluated various metabolic gene targets to increase acetyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA levels for TAL production and found that overexpression of both ACL1 and ACC1 led to 28 g/L or 23 g/L of TAL from glucose or oilcane juice with acetate supplementation, respectively, in fed-batch fermentation.