Because of their superb metabolic plasticity and stress resistance, eukaryotic microbes such as oleaginous yeasts are extensively used for the conversion of complex feedstocks. Our efforts are devoted to develop tools, platform strains and eventually advanced cell factories for lipid products. Key topics include:
1) Engineering of oleaginous yeasts
2) Creation of synthetic biosystems
Articles:
1. Lyu LT*, Chu YD, Zhang SF, Zhang Y, Huang QT, Wang S, Zhao ZK*. “Engineering the oleaginous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides for improved resistance against inhibitors in biomass hydrolysates” Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. 2021, 9, 768934.
2. Jiao X, Zhang Y, Liu XJ, Zhang Q, Zhang SF*, Zhao ZK*. “Developing a CRISPR/Cas9 system for genome editing in the basidiomycetous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides” Biotechnol. J. 2019, 14, 1900036.
3. Wang YN, Zhang SF*, Zhu ZW, Shen HW, Lin XP, Jin X, Jiao X, Zhao ZK*. “Systems analysis of phosphate-limitation induced lipid accumulation by the oleaginous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides” Biotechnol. Biofuels 2018, 11, 148.
4. Zhu ZW, Zhou YJ, Krivoruchko A, Grininger M, Zhao ZK*, Nielsen J*. “Expanding the product ortfolio of fungal type I fatty acid synthases” Nat. Chem. Biol. 2017, 13(4), 360–362. (Cover Article)
5. Guo J, Zhou YJ, Hillwig ML, Shen Y, Yang L, Wang YJ, Zhang XN, Liu WJ, Peters RJ*, Chen XY, Zhao ZK*, Huang LQ*. “CYP76AH1 catalyzes turnover of miltiradiene in tanshinones biosynthesis and enables heterologous production of ferruginol in yeasts”Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2013, 110(29), 12108–12113.
6. Zhu ZW, Zhang SF, Liu HW, Shen HW, Lin XP, Yang F, Zhou YJ, Jin GJ, Ye ML, Zou HF*, Zhao ZK*. “A multi-omic map of the lipid-producing yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides” Nat. Commun. 2012, 3, 1112. Data
7. Zhou YJ, Gao W, Rong QX, Jin GJ, Chu HY, Liu WJ, Yang W, Zhu ZW, Li GH, Zhu GF, Huang LQ*, Zhao ZK*. “Modular pathway engineering of diterpenoid synthases and the mevalonic acid pathway for miltiradiene production” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134(6), 3234–3241.