Project description:The High-β-Carotene (HBC) mutant identified from EMS mutagenized population of cultivar Arka Vikas and the biochemical studies revealed that mutant fruits contain four times higher level of β-Carotene in comparison to Wild type (cv. Arka Vikas). We have developed whole genome microarray expression profiling as a discovery platform to identify differentially expressed genes in fruits containing High-β-Carotene mutant in comparison to Wild type (cv. Arka Vikas). Tomato fruit tissue samples from different stages of fruit ripening like Mature green, Breaker, Turning and Ripening stages of High-β-Carotene (HBC) mutant and Wild type (cv. Arka VIkas) were used for microarray gene expression analysis. Carotenoid pathway analysis of both mutant and wild type reveals that the high expression of chromoplast specific lycopene- β-cyclase gene in the HBC mutant, which is involved in the conversion of lycopene to β-carotene, but in wild type the expression of this gene, was low. Four genes (PSY, PDS, CRTISO, CYCB) of the carotenoid pathway was quantified in the same RNA samples by real-time PCR, confirming that the variation of the gene expression in HBC mutant.
Project description:Optimization of microbial production is essential for the application of synthetic biology in industrial and sustainable biosynthesis. β-carotene is a high-value compound that can be heterologously produced in budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, providing an alternative to natural extraction. However, intelligent design of strain and process to reduce the production cost remains a great challenge. In this study, we aimed to enhance β-carotene production by integrating systems biology and machine learning-guided strain design of the β-carotene-producing yeast. We identified transcriptional alterations in the β-carotene-producing yeast including genes associated iron deficiency, while no significant changes in the mevalonate (MVA) pathway. We then fine-tuned gene expression of rate-limiting enzymes in the mevalonate pathway through combinatorial construction of promoters and terminators. XGBoost training was applied in the DBTL cycle to facilitate rapid optimization. In the second DBTL cycle, fine-tuning MVA gene expression resulted in a 139% improvement in β-carotene titer. We then supplemented β-carotene production with iron, guided by transcriptional insights in alternations of genes related to iron uptake in β-carotene-producing yeast, resulting in an 70.54% improvement in β-carotene titer at 48 hours. Moreover, integrating the fine-tuned MVA cassette with iron supplementation yielded up to 72.07 mg/L of β-carotene at 72 hours, representing a 67.79% increase compared to that of the parent strain without MVA gene adjustments and iron supplementation. Our study highlights the potential of combining machine learning and omics approaches with synthetic biology to enhance non-native biochemical production in yeast.
Project description:The enzyme lycopene β-cyclase (LYCB) is responsible for the synthesis of β-carotene, a valuable component of the human diet. To understand the effect of the high β-Carotene content accumulation on plants carotenoid biosynthesis and global genes expression,a tomato engineered to constitutively express Lycb-1 accumulated a high level of β-carotene was used in this reasearch.Microarray analysis in the ripe stage revealed that the constitutive expression of Lycb-1 differentially regulated a number of genes involved in the synthesis of fatty acids, flavones, flavonols, flavonoids and phenylpropanoids, in the degradation of limonene and pinene, in starch and sucrose metabolism and in photosynthesis.
Project description:Molecular mechanisms triggered by high dietary beta-carotene (BC) intake in liver are largely unknown. We performed microarray gene expression analysis on liver tissue of BC supplemented beta-carotene 15,150-monooxygenase 1 knockout (Bcmo1-/-) mice, which are—like humans—able to accumulate BC. This was compared with litter mates being wild-type (Bcmo1+/+) mice, and we analysed both males and females, as we previously showed that in lung tissue we observed opposite gene regulation between males and females (Van Helden et al., CMLS 2011).