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Engineering ergothioneine production in Yarrowia lipolytica
Author(s) -
Hoek Steven A.,
Rusnák Matej,
Jacobsen Irene Hjorth,
Martínez José L.,
Kell Douglas B.,
Borodina Irina
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1002/1873-3468.14239
Subject(s) - ergothioneine , yarrowia , yeast , biochemistry , neurospora crassa , fermentation , biology , phosphate , chemistry , food science , antioxidant , gene , mutant
Ergothioneine is a naturally occurring antioxidant that has shown potential in ameliorating neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases. In this study, we investigated the potential of the Crabtree‐negative, oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica as an alternative host for ergothioneine production. We expressed the biosynthetic enzymes EGT1 from Neurospora crassa and EGT2 from Claviceps purpurea to obtain 158 mg·L −1 of ergothioneine in small‐scale cultivation, with an additional copy of each gene improving the titer to 205 mg·L −1 . The effect of phosphate limitation on ergothioneine production was studied, and finally, a phosphate‐limited fed‐batch fermentation in 1 L bioreactors yielded 1.63 ± 0.04 g·L −1 ergothioneine in 220 h, corresponding to an overall volumetric productivity of 7.41 mg·L −1 ·h −1 , showing that Y . lipolytica is a promising host for ergothioneine production.