Yeast perfume factory: metabolic engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for plant isoprenoid biosynthesis

The production of plant isoprenoids in microbial systems is an environmentally friendly and attractive alternative to the commonly used chemical synthesis and plant extraction. This class of compounds is mainly used by the chemical industry for production of fragrances and aroma chemicals. Isoprenoids represent a diverse class of secondary metabolites, natively present in the metabolic network of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and used to satisfy macromolecule precursor demand for biomass production. Isoprenoids are naturally produced in S. cerevisae through the mevalonate pathway (MVA). Aim of this project is the de-regulation of the MVA pathway in S. cerevisiae to increase the precursor pool for isoprenoid synthesis resulting in an efficient S. cerevisiae cell factory for biosynthesis of target compounds. Yeast is metabolically engineered for isoprenoids accumulation by introducing genetic modifications that enable to channel the flux through the isoprenoid pathway thus increasing the levels of the pathway products. Throughout the project different approaches for optimal isoprenoid production modulating the expression of key metabolic steps are investigated and the production capacity of the engineered strains is evaluated through a fermentation process coupling biochemical production of these compounds to biomass formation.