title: Production of 1-decanol by metabolically engineered Yarrowia lipolytica.
abstract: Medium-chain alcohols are used to produce solvents, surfactants, lubricants, waxes, creams, and cosmetics. In this study, we engineered the oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica to produce 1-decanol from glucose. Expression of a fatty acyl-CoA reductase from Arabidopsis thaliana in strains of Y. lipolytica previously engineered to produce medium-chain fatty acids resulted in the production of 1-decanol. However, the resulting titers were very low (<10mg/mL), most likely due to product catabolism. In addition, these strains produced small quantities of 1-hexadecanol and 1-octadecanol. Deleting the major peroxisome assembly factor Pex10 was found to significantly increase 1-decanol production, resulting in titers exceeding 500mg/L. It also increased 1-hexadecanoland and 1-octadecanol titers, though the resulting increases were less than those for 1-decanol. These results demonstrate that Y. lipolytica can potentially be used for the industrial production of 1-decanol and other fatty alcohols from simple sugars.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, United States.
authors.forename: Charles D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Rutter
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, United States. Electronic address: cvrao@illinois.edu.
authors.forename: Christopher V
authors.initials: CV
authors.lastname: Rao
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D053898:Biosynthetic Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D005233:Fatty Alcohols / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D024861:Genetic Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D060847:Metabolic Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D000074401:Peroxins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D025062:Yarrowia / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D005233:Fatty Alcohols; D000074401:Peroxins; C029383:n-decyl alcohol; D005947:Glucose
keywords: Medium-chain alcohols; Oleaginous yeast; Unsaturated fatty acids; Yarrowia lipolytica