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Developments in Strain Improvement Technology

Evolutionary Engineering of Industrial Microorganisms Through Gene, Pathway, and Genome Shuffling

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Natural Products

Abstract

The development of an economically viable production processes is a significant hurdle in the commercialization of natural products. A primary method of achieving this goal is through strain engineering. Evolutionary engineering has been practiced for decades in the form of classic strain improvement. The process of genetic diversification and functional screening has now become a powerful means of improving the function of diverse biological systems from genes and enzymes to whole genomes. Gene shuffling is a method for effecting genetic diversification in evolutionary engineering programs that incorporates recombination into the evolutionary algorithm. This approach dramatically accelerates the process of directed evolution and is arguably the most robust method for the purposeful manipulation of biological structure and function. This chapter reviews the theory and practice of gene shuffling-mediated evolutionary engineering in the context of commercial strain improvement. Described are examples of the improvement of commercial natural-product fermentation processes through the shuffling of individual genes, metabolic pathways, and whole genomes.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Codexis, Redwood City, CA

    Stephen B. del Cardayré

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  1. Stephen B. del Cardayré
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China

    Lixin Zhang PhD

  2. SynerZ Pharmaceuticals Inc., Lexington, MA

    Lixin Zhang PhD

  3. Charles A. Dana Research Institute (R.I.S.E.), Drew University, Madison, NJ

    Arnold L. Demain PhD

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© 2005 Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ

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del Cardayré, S.B. (2005). Developments in Strain Improvement Technology. In: Zhang, L., Demain, A.L. (eds) Natural Products. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-976-9_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-976-9_6

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-383-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-976-9

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