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Enhancing armeniaspirols production through multi-level engineering of a native Streptomyces producer
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  • Fong Tian Wong,
  • Elena Heng,
  • Yi Wee Lim,
  • Chung Yan Leong,
  • Veronica W. P. Ng,
  • Siew Bee Ng,
  • Yee Hwee Lim
Fong Tian Wong
Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Elena Heng
Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology
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Yi Wee Lim
Institute of Sustainability for Chemicals Energy and Environment
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Chung Yan Leong
Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation
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Veronica W. P. Ng
Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation
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Siew Bee Ng
Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation
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Yee Hwee Lim
Institute of Sustainability for Chemicals Energy and Environment
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Abstract

Nature has provided unique molecular scaffolds for applications including therapeutics, agriculture, and food. Due to differences in ecological environments and laboratory conditions, engineering is often necessary to uncover and utilize the chemical diversity. Although we can efficiently activate and mine these often complex 3D molecules, sufficient production of target molecules for further engineering and application remain a considerable bottleneck. An example of these bioactive scaffolds are armeniaspirols, which are potent polyketide antibiotics against gram-positive pathogens and multi-resistance gram-negative Helicobacter pylori. Here, we examine upregulation of armeniaspirols through engineering of biosynthetic pathways and primary metabolism; including perturbation of genes in biosynthetic gene clusters and regulation for triacylglycerols pool towards armeniaspirol upregulation. With either overexpression of extender unit pathway or late-stage N-methylation, or the deletion of a competing polyketide cluster, we can achieve 7-49-fold upregulation of armeniaspirols production. The most significant upregulation was achieved by expression of heterologous fatty acyl-CoA synthase, where we observed not only a 97-fold increase in production yields compared to wild type, but also an increase in the diversity of observed armeniaspirol analogs.