Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 9, 2025
05:30
Methanol Independent Expression by Pichia Pastoris Employing De-repression Technologies
Published on: January 23, 2019
13.7K
High-level phenol bioproduction by engineered Pichia pastoris in glycerol fed-batch fermentation using an efficient
Ryota Kumokita1, Takahiro Bamba2, Hisashi Yasueda3
1Graduate School of Science, Technology and Innovation, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodai, Nada, Kobe, 657-8501, Japan.
Bioresource Technology
|December 2, 2023
Summary
Researchers engineered the yeast Pichia pastoris for high-level phenol bioproduction from glycerol. A novel pertraction system significantly increased phenol yield to 3304 mg/L, overcoming toxicity challenges.
Area of Science:
- Biotechnology
- Metabolic Engineering
- Microbial Production
Background:
- Phenol is a key industrial chemical with limited sustainable production methods.
- Microbial production of toxic compounds like phenol is challenging due to cellular inhibition.
- Pichia pastoris (Komagataella phaffii) is a robust yeast platform for biotechnological applications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a high-level phenol bioproduction system in Pichia pastoris.
- To overcome phenol toxicity limitations in yeast fermentation.
- To establish a scalable microbial process for phenol synthesis.
Main Methods:
- Metabolic engineering of Pichia pastoris by introducing tyrosine phenol-lyase.
- Development of a Pichia pastoris strain overproducing tyrosine, a phenol precursor.
- Implementation of a phenol pertraction system using hollow fiber membrane contactors and tributyrin.
- Glycerol fed-batch fermentation integrated with the pertraction system.
Main Results:
- Achieved 59 mg/L phenol in initial flask cultures.
- Reached 1052 mg/L phenol in glycerol fed-batch fermentation.
- Demonstrated phenol concentrations >1000 mg/L inhibited yeast growth.
- Integrated pertraction system increased phenol titer by 214% to 3304 mg/L.
Conclusions:
- Metabolic engineering and process optimization enabled high-titer phenol production in Pichia pastoris.
- The developed pertraction system effectively mitigated phenol toxicity, enhancing microbial production.
- This study provides a framework for microbial production of toxic chemicals and materials.
