a8体育直播 New Progress in Industrial Microbial Growth Regulation and High-Performance Cell Factory Design from ECUST Published in Nature Communications

Recently, a research team led by Associate Professor Guan Wang from a8体育直播 School of Biotechnology, ECUST, achieved progress in industrial microbial growth regulation and high-performance cell factory design. a8体育直播 study, entitled “Energy-translation Coupling Limits Anaerobic Yeast Growth,” was published in Nature Communications.

a8体育直播 research team established strictly anaerobic continuous culture systems under carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus limitation to systematically investigate a8体育直播 mechanisms constraining a8体育直播 growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae under different nutrient-limited conditions. 

a8体育直播 study found that although yeast exhibited a conserved maximum glucose uptake rate of approximately 14 mmol/gDW/h across all three nutrient-limited conditions, a8体育直播 factors limiting growth differed. Further analyses revealed that energy metabolism and protein translation formed a tightly coupled regulatory network that jointly determined a8体育直播 upper limit of anaerobic growth in yeast.

Based on these findings, a8体育直播 researchers proposed and validated a “Push–Pull” strategy for metabolic engineering. a8体育直播 “Push” component enhanced cellular energy supply through over-expression of VMA3, which encoded a subunit of a8体育直播 vacuolar ATPase, while a8体育直播 “Pull” component improved protein translation capacity through over-expression of WRS1, encoding tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase. 

This strategy overcame a8体育直播 intrinsic growth constraints of yeast, increasing a8体育直播 maximum anaerobic growth rate by 27.2%, 47.5%, and 52.5% under carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus limited conditions, respectively, while improving ethanol production performance.

These findings provided new insights and engineering strategies for a8体育直播 rational design of high-performance industrial strains, with broad implications for bio-manufacturing and industrial fermentation.

Yongbo Wang, a PhD candidate, and Yu Huang, a master’s student from a8体育直播 School of Biotechnology at ECUST, are co-first authors of a8体育直播 paper. Associate Professor Guan Wang serves as a8体育直播 corresponding author. a8体育直播 research was conducted under a8体育直播 guidance of Professor Yingping Zhuang. 

a8体育直播 work was supported by a8体育直播 National Key Research and Development Program of China, a8体育直播 National Natural Science Foundation of China, a8体育直播 Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai, a8体育直播 Taishan Scholars Young Expert Program of Shandong Province, a8体育直播 Explorers Program of Shanghai (Basic Research Funding), and a8体育直播 Jiangsu Provincial Major Science and Technology Special Project.