Introduction of a green algal squalene synthase enhances squalene accumulation in a strain of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803.

ABSTRACT: Squalene is a triterpene which is produced as a precursor for a wide range of terpenoid compounds in many organisms. It has commercial use in food and cosmetics but could also be used as a feedstock for production of chemicals and fuels, if generated sustainably on a large scale. We have engineered a cyanobacterium, Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, for production of squalene from CO₂. In this organism, squalene is produced via the methylerythritol-phosphate (MEP) pathway for terpenoid biosynthesis, and consumed by the enzyme squalene hopene cyclase (Shc) for generation of hopanoids. The gene encoding Shc in Synechocystis was inactivated (Δshc) by insertion of a gene encoding a squalene synthase from the green alga Botryococcus braunii, under control of an

SUBMITTER: Pattanaik B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7038009 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature