Engineering S. Cerevisiae Metabolism for Efficient Production of Acetyl-CoA Derived Products

An ideal microbial platform for efficient biosynthesis of valuable chemicals would rapidly convert sugars from biomass directly into a desired chemical compound.  The yeast S. cerevisiae has many attractive features as a biosynthesis platform, however, its inability to convert glucose directly to acetyl-CoA-derived compounds at high glucose concentrations limits its productivity. My research focuses on replacing the endogenous cytoplasmic acetyl-CoA production pathway with an exogenous pathway suited for rapid conversion of glucose to acetyl-CoA-derived compounds. Acetyl-CoA serves as a molecular building block for many important and valuable compounds, and this research will establish a platform with higher productivity for biosynthesis of acetyl-CoA-derived compounds.