A growth-coupled progesterone-responsive biosensor for high-throughput microfluidic screening in <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i>.

ABSTRACT: Poor aqueous solubility of steroid precursors, such as pregnenolone and progesterone, limits microbial biotransformation and high-throughput strain screening, representing a bottleneck for strain improvement and potential industrial applications. To address this, we developed a growth-coupled progesterone-responsive biosensor in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, integrated with a hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) system to enhance intracellular steroid availability. The biosensor links progesterone formation to cell growth and fluorescence, with selection stringency finely tuned via an IPTG-inducible lac operator and 3-aminotriazole (3-AT) to suppress low-producing cells. Coupled with atmospheric and room temperature plasma (ARTP) mutagenesis, the growth-coupled biosensor-FADS platform

SUBMITTER: Hu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12805089 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature