title: Engineering Ashbya gossypii strains for de novo lipid production using industrial by-products.
abstract: Ashbya gossypii is a filamentous fungus that naturally overproduces riboflavin, and it is currently exploited for the industrial production of this vitamin. The utilization of A. gossypii for biotechnological applications presents important advantages such as the utilization of low-cost culture media, inexpensive downstream processing and a wide range of molecular tools for genetic manipulation, thus making A. gossypii a valuable biotechnological chassis for metabolic engineering. A. gossypii has been shown to accumulate high levels of lipids in oil-based culture media; however, the lipid biosynthesis capacity is rather limited when grown in sugar-based culture media. In this study, by altering the fatty acyl-CoA pool and manipulating the regulation of the main ∆9 desaturase gene, we have obtained A. gossypii strains with significantly increased (up to fourfold) de novo lipid biosynthesis using glucose as the only carbon source in the fermentation broth. Moreover, these strains were efficient biocatalysts for the conversion of carbohydrates from sugarcane molasses to biolipids, able to accumulate lipids up to 25% of its cell dry weight. Our results represent a proof of principle showing the promising potential of A. gossypii as a competitive microorganism for industrial biolipid production using cost-effective feed stocks.
authors.affiliation: Metabolic Engineering Group, Departamento de Microbiología y Genética, Universidad de Salamanca, Edificio Departamental, Campus Miguel de Unamuno, 37007, Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lozano-Martínez
authors.affiliation: Metabolic Engineering Group, Departamento de Microbiología y Genética, Universidad de Salamanca, Edificio Departamental, Campus Miguel de Unamuno, 37007, Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: Rubén M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Buey
authors.affiliation: Metabolic Engineering Group, Departamento de Microbiología y Genética, Universidad de Salamanca, Edificio Departamental, Campus Miguel de Unamuno, 37007, Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: Rodrigo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ledesma-Amaro
authors.affiliation: Metabolic Engineering Group, Departamento de Microbiología y Genética, Universidad de Salamanca, Edificio Departamental, Campus Miguel de Unamuno, 37007, Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jiménez
authors.affiliation: Metabolic Engineering Group, Departamento de Microbiología y Genética, Universidad de Salamanca, Edificio Departamental, Campus Miguel de Unamuno, 37007, Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: José Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Revuelta
mesh_terms: D001711:Biotransformation; D003470:Culture Media / Q000737:chemistry; D055169:Eremothecium / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005285:Fermentation; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D007220:Industrial Waste; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D060847:Metabolic Engineering; D008965:Molasses; D018505:Waste Management
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D007220:Industrial Waste; D005947:Glucose