Description of the Project

In the OLEOBuild project, the oleo- and carotinogenic bacterium Rhodococcus erythropolis (RE) and the oleogenic yeast Rhodotorula glutinis (RG) will be established as a flexible, standardized and robust production platform for hydrophobic building blocks. The basis for this is the use of systems biology, synthetic, structural biology and bioinformatics methods, which allow the development of targeted molecular genetic strategies for the manipulation of RE and RG as well as sustainable fermentation strategies. With these methods, complex recombinant metabolic pathways in both microorganisms for the production of the hydrophobic model compounds ß-ionone (IO), Cembratrien-ol (CBT) and 2-phenethyl alcohol (PEO) will be created. For the efficient biocatalytic production of the model compounds a targeted optimization of the recombinant and endogenous metabolic pathways is necessary and is based on the analysis of the precursors as well as the corresponding metabolic enzymes. In addition, the utilization of lignocellulose-containing by-products, such as wheat bran, should be established in RE and RG. For this purpose, key enzymes of the carbohydrate metabolism will be identified, structurally analyzed and specifically modified for optimal utilization. An important aspect of the project is the utilization of intracellular lipid vesicles, which are intended to serve as endogenous sinks for hydrophobic building blocks in order to avoid end product toxicities and simplify subsequent product recovery. To demonstrate economically relevant production of IO, PEO and CBT, cultivation conditions with high cell density will be established for all production strains. Lipid-vesicle-bound target compounds will be obtained from cell lysates by gravimetric methods and purified by sustainable and scalable separation technologies. IO, PEO and CBT are evaluated in the areas of fragrances and new biodegradable crop protection applications.

Persons: Dr. Norbert Mehlmer (responsible), Selina Engelhart-Straub and Philipp Cavelius