(+)-Nootkatone is a valuable, functional sesquiterpene that is widely used in food, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, agriculture, and other fields. However, only traces of it accumulate in plants, which is insufficient to meet the market demand. Therefore, commercial (+)-nootkatone is currently synthesized from (+)-valencene. Here, we engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae to achieve high production of (+)-valencene. Employing gene screening, protein engineering and biosynthetic pathway optimization, we achieved 12.4 g/L (+)-valencene production with the mutant strain. This titer was further increased to 16.6 g/L, the highest titer reported to date, by coupling critical factors for cell growth and biochemical pathway induction. Subsequently, (+)-nootkatone was chemically synthesized from bio-fermented (+)-valencene with a yield of 80%. This study achieved efficient microbial synthesis of (+)-valencene, which may be utilized in industrial production and stabilize the supply of (+)-nootkatone.

• PMID: 35296429
• DOI full text
• PubMed
• PubTator

Reference Type

Journal Article | Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Authors

Ye Z, Huang Y, Shi B, Xiang Z, Tian Z, Huang M, Wu L, Deng Z, Shen K, Liu T

Primary Lit For

Additional Lit For

Review For