Open AccessEngineering Mycobacterium smegmatis for testosterone production
Author(s) -
FernándezCabezón Lorena,
Galán Beatriz,
García José L.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
microbial biotechnology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.287
H-Index - 74
ISSN - 1751-7915
DOI - 10.1111/1751-7915.12433
Subject(s) - comamonas testosteroni , mycobacterium smegmatis , metabolic engineering , bacteria , biology , mutant , recombinant dna , mycobacterium , microbiology and biotechnology , synthetic biology , biochemistry , gene , computational biology , genetics , mycobacterium tuberculosis , medicine , tuberculosis , pathology
Summary A new biotechnological process for the production of testosterone ( TS ) has been developed to turn the model strain Mycobacterium smegmatis suitable for TS production to compete with the current chemical synthesis procedures. We have cloned and overexpressed two genes encoding microbial 17β‐hydroxysteroid: NADP 17‐oxidoreductase, from the bacterium Comamonas testosteroni and from the fungus Cochliobolus lunatus . The host strains were M. smegmatis wild type and a genetic engineered androst‐4‐ene‐3,17‐dione ( AD ) producing mutant. The performances of the four recombinant bacterial strains have been tested both in growing and resting‐cell conditions using natural sterols and AD as substrates respectively. These strains were able to produce TS from sterols or AD with high yields. This work represents a proof of concept of the possibilities that offers this model bacterium for the production of pharmaceutical steroids using metabolic engineering approaches.