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Production of the Artemisinin Precursor Amorpha-4,11-diene by Engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae

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Abstract

The gene encoding for amorpha-4,11-diene synthase from Artemisia annua was transformed into yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae in two fundamentally different ways. First, the gene was subcloned into the galactose-inducible, high-copy number yeast expression vector pYeDP60 and used to transform the Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain CEN·PK113-5D. Secondly, amorpha-4,11-diene synthase gene, regulated by the same promoter, was introduced into the yeast genome by homologous recombination. In protein extracts from galactose-induced yeast cells, a higher activity was observed for yeast expressing the enzyme from the plasmid. The genome-transformed yeast grows at the same rate as wild-type yeast while plasmid-carrying yeast grows somewhat slower than the wild-type yeast. The plasmid and genome-transformed yeasts produced 600 and 100 μg/l of the artemisinin precursor amorpha-4,11-diene, respectively, during 16-days’ batch cultivation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Biomedical Science, University of Kalmar, SE-39182, Kalmar, Sweden

    Ann-Louise Lindahl, Mikael E. Olsson, Per Mercke, Örjan Tollbom, Jenny Schelin, Maria Brodelius & Peter E. Brodelius

Authors
  1. Ann-Louise Lindahl
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  2. Mikael E. Olsson
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  3. Per Mercke
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  4. Örjan Tollbom
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  5. Jenny Schelin
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  6. Maria Brodelius
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  7. Peter E. Brodelius
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter E. Brodelius.

Additional information

Revisions requested 14 November 2005; Revisions received 17 January 2006

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Lindahl, AL., Olsson, M.E., Mercke, P. et al. Production of the Artemisinin Precursor Amorpha-4,11-diene by Engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae . Biotechnol Lett 28, 571–580 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-006-0015-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-006-0015-6

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