Research

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Synthetic Biology underpins advances in the bioeconomy

Biological systems - including the simplest cells - exhibit a broad range of functions to thrive in their environment. Research in the Imperial College Centre for Synthetic Biology is focused on the possibility of engineering the underlying biochemical processes to solve many of the challenges facing society, from healthcare to sustainable energy. In particular, we model, analyse, design and build biological and biochemical systems in living cells and/or in cell extracts, both exploring and enhancing the engineering potential of biology. 

As part of our research we develop novel methods to accelerate the celebrated Design-Build-Test-Learn synthetic biology cycle. As such research in the Centre for Synthetic Biology highly multi- and interdisciplinary covering computational modelling and machine learning approaches; automated platform development and genetic circuit engineering ; multi-cellular and multi-organismal interactions, including gene drive and genome engineering; metabolic engineering; in vitro/cell-free synthetic biology; engineered phages and directed evolution; and biomimetics, biomaterials and biological engineering.

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Jezierska:2019:10.1007/s10295-019-02234-x,
author = {Jezierska, S and Claus, S and Ledesma-Amaro, R and Van, Bogaert I},
doi = {10.1007/s10295-019-02234-x},
journal = {Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology},
pages = {1697--1706},
title = {Redirecting the lipid metabolism of the yeast Starmerella bombicola from glycolipid to fatty acid production},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10295-019-02234-x},
volume = {46},
year = {2019}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Free fatty acids are basic oleochemicals implemented in a range of applications including surfactants, lubricants, paints, plastics, and cosmetics. Microbial fatty acid biosynthesis has gained much attention as it provides a sustainable alternative for petrol- and plant oil-derived chemicals. The yeast Starmerella bombicola is a microbial cell factory that naturally employs its powerful lipid metabolism for the production of the biodetergents sophorolipids (> 300 g/L). However, in this study we exploit the lipidic potential of S. bombicola and convert it from the glycolipid production platform into a free fatty acid cell factory. We used several metabolic engineering strategies to promote extracellular fatty acid accumulation which include blocking competing pathways (sophorolipid biosynthesis and β-oxidation) and preventing free fatty acid activation. The best producing mutant (Δcyp52m1Δfaa1Δmfe2) secreted 0.933 g/L (± 0.04) free fatty acids with a majority of C18:1 (43.8%) followed by C18:0 and C16:0 (40.0 and 13.2%, respectively). Interestingly, deletion of SbFaa1 in a strain still producing sophorolipids also resulted in 25% increased de novo sophorolipid synthesis (P = 0.0089) and when oil was supplemented to the same strain, a 50% increase in sophorolipid production was observed compared to the wild type (P = 0.03). We believe that our work is pivotal for the further development and exploration of S. bombicola as a platform for synthesis of environmentally friendly oleochemicals.
AU  - Jezierska,S
AU  - Claus,S
AU  - Ledesma-Amaro,R
AU  - Van,Bogaert I
DO  - 10.1007/s10295-019-02234-x
EP  - 1706
PY  - 2019///
SN  - 0169-4146
SP  - 1697
TI  - Redirecting the lipid metabolism of the yeast Starmerella bombicola from glycolipid to fatty acid production
T2  - Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10295-019-02234-x
UR  - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31512095
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/73602
VL  - 46
ER  -
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