GEL DNA: A Cloning-and Polymerase Chain Reaction-Free Method for CRISPR-Based Multiplexed Genome Editing

Even for the genetically accessible yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the CRISPR-Cas DNA editing technology has strongly accelerated and facilitated strain construction. Several methods have been validated for fast and highly efficient single editing events, and diverse approaches for multiplex genome editing have been described in the literature by means of SpCas9 or FnCas12a endonucleases and their associated guide RNAs (gRNAs). The gRNAs used to guide the Cas endonuclease to the editing site are typically expressed from plasmids using native Pol II or Pol III RNA polymerases. These gRNA expression plasmids require laborious, time-consuming cloning steps, which hampers their implementation for academic and applied purposes. In this study, we explore the potential of expressing gRNA from linear DNA fragments using the T7 RNA polymerase (T7RNAP) for single and multiplex genome editing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Using FnCas12a, this work demonstrates that transforming short, linear DNA fragments encoding gRNAs in yeast strains expressing T7RNAP promotes highly efficient single and duplex DNA editing. These DNA fragments can be custom ordered, which makes this approach highly suitable for high-Throughput strain construction. This work expands the CRISPR toolbox for large-scale strain construction programs in S. cerevisiae and promises to be relevant for other less genetically accessible yeast species. Accepted Author ManuscriptBT/Industriele Microbiologi

Exploiting combinatorial cultivation conditions to infer transcriptional regulation

Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc

Exploiting combinatorial cultivation conditions to infer transcriptional regulation

Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc

Exploiting combinatorial cultivation conditions to infer transcriptional regulation

Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc

Prolonged Maltose-Limited Cultivation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Selects for Cells with Improved Maltose Affinity and Hypersensitivity

BiotechnologyApplied Science

New insights into the Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation switch: Dynamic transcriptional response to anaerobicity and glucose-excess

OA FundApplied Science

A Minimal Set of Glycolytic Genes Reveals Strong Redundancies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Central Metabolism

As a result of ancestral whole-genome and small-scale duplication events, the genomes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and many eukaryotes still contain a substantial fraction of duplicated genes. In all investigated organisms, metabolic pathways, and more particularly glycolysis, are specifically enriched for functionally redundant paralogs. In ancestors of the Saccharomyces lineage, the duplication of glycolytic genes is purported to have played an important role leading to S. cerevisiae's current lifestyle favoring fermentative metabolism even in the presence of oxygen and characterized by a high glycolytic capacity. In modern S. cerevisiae strains, the 12 glycolytic reactions leading to the biochemical conversion from glucose to ethanol are encoded by 27 paralogs. In order to experimentally explore the physiological role of this genetic redundancy, a yeast strain with a minimal set of 14 paralogs was constructed (the “minimal glycolysis” [MG] strain). Remarkably, a combination of a quantitative systems approach and semiquantitative analysis in a wide array of growth environments revealed the absence of a phenotypic response to the cumulative deletion of 13 glycolytic paralogs. This observation indicates that duplication of glycolytic genes is not a prerequisite for achieving the high glycolytic fluxes and fermentative capacities that are characteristic of S. cerevisiae and essential for many of its industrial applications and argues against gene dosage effects as a means of fixing minor glycolytic paralogs in the yeast genome. The MG strain was carefully designed and constructed to provide a robust prototrophic platform for quantitative studies and has been made available to the scientific community.BiotechnologyApplied Science

Multiplex genome editing of microorganisms using CRISPR-Cas

Microbial production of chemical compounds often requires highly engineered microbial cell factories. During the last years, CRISPR-Cas nucleases have been repurposed as powerful tools for genome editing. Here, we briefly review the most frequently used CRISPR-Cas tools and describe some of their applications. We describe the progress made with respect to CRISPR-based multiplex genome editing of industrial bacteria and eukaryotic microorganisms. We also review the state of the art in terms of gene expression regulation using CRISPRi and CRISPRa. Finally, we summarize the pillars for efficient multiplexed genome editing and present our view on future developments and applications of CRISPR-Cas tools for multiplex genome editing.BT/Industrial Microbiolog

Growth-rate dependency of de novo resveratrol production in chemostat cultures of an engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain

Introduction: Saccharomyces cerevisiae has become a popular host for production of non-native compounds. The metabolic pathways involved generally require a net input of energy. To maximize the ATP yield on sugar in S. cerevisiae, industrial cultivation is typically performed in aerobic, sugar-limited fed-batch reactors which, due to constraints in oxygen transfer and cooling capacities, have to be operated at low specific growth rates. Because intracellular levels of key metabolites are growth-rate dependent, slow growth can significantly affect biomass-specific productivity. Using an engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain expressing a heterologous pathway for resveratrol production as a model energy-requiring product, the impact of specific growth rate on yeast physiology and productivity was investigated in aerobic, glucose-limited chemostat cultures. Results: Stoichiometric analysis revealed that de novo resveratrol production from glucose requires 13 moles of ATP per mole of produced resveratrol. The biomass-specific production rate of resveratrol showed a strong positive correlation with the specific growth rate. At low growth rates a substantial fraction of the carbon source was invested in cellular maintenance-energy requirements (e.g. 27 % at 0.03 h?1). This distribution of resources was unaffected by resveratrol production. Formation of the by-products coumaric, phloretic and cinnamic acid had no detectable effect on maintenance energy requirement and yeast physiology in chemostat. Expression of the heterologous pathway led to marked differences in transcript levels in the resveratrol-producing strain, including increased expression levels of genes involved in pathways for precursor supply (e.g. ARO7 and ARO9 involved in phenylalanine biosynthesis). The observed strong differential expression of many glucose-responsive genes in the resveratrol producer as compared to a congenic reference strain could be explained from higher residual glucose concentrations and higher relative growth rates in cultures of the resveratrol producer. Conclusions: De novo resveratrol production by engineered S. cerevisiae is an energy demanding process. Resveratrol production by an engineered strain exhibited a strong correlation with specific growth rate. Since industrial production in fed-batch reactors typically involves low specific growth rates, this study emphasizes the need for uncoupling growth and product formation via energy-requiring pathways.BiotechnologyApplied Science

Transcription factor control of growth rate dependent genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: A three factor design

Applied Science