Sustainable production of lipids from cocoa fatty acid distillate fermentation driven by adaptive evolution in Yarrowia lipolytica.

Single cell oil production using oleaginous yeasts is a promising alternative to animal and plant-derived lipids. But substrate costs for microbial fermentation are a major bottleneck. Using side streams as alternative to substrates like glucose, for growing yeast, is a potential cost-effective solution.

Co-culture of and with Product Recovery of 2-Phenylethanol.

Production of 2-phenylethanol (2-PE) via is well-established. However, co-culture with other microbes in combination with product recovery (ISPR) yields improved selectivity and volumetric productivity. Fermentation of (MUCL 53775) with direct inclusion of absorptive polymer Hytrel3548 achieved ISPR, but accumulation of the byproduct phenylethyl acetate (PEA) was strongly favored.

Production of (R)-mandelic acid from styrene, L-phenylalanine, glycerol, or glucose via cascade biotransformations.

(R)-mandelic acid is an industrially important chemical, especially used for producing antibiotics. Its chemical synthesis often uses highly toxic cyanide to produce its racemic form, followed by kinetic resolution with 50% maximum yield. Here we report a green and sustainable biocatalytic method for producing (R)-mandelic acid from easily available styrene, biobased L-phenylalanine, and renewable feedstocks such as glycerol and glucose, respectively.

Biosynthesis of ()- and ()-Phenylethanediol in Yeast Artificial Enzyme Cascades.

Due to oil depletion and global climate change, sustainable manufacturing of fine chemicals from renewable feedstocks has gained increasing attention in the scientific community. In the present study, we attempted to engineer toward  synthesis of ()- or ()-phenylethanediol, an important pharmaceutical intermediate. More specifically, the biocatalytic cascades contain the following: l-phenylalanine undergoes deamination/decarboxylation to styrene by using phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) and ferulic acid decarboxylase (FDC), followed by -selective epoxidation of styrene to give ()-styrene oxide with styrene monooxygenase (SMO); regioselective hydrolysis of ()-styrene oxide with epoxide hydrolase from HXN-200 (SpEH) or from potato (StEH) gives rise to ()- or ()-phenylethanediol.