Publications
Nature communicationsNov 2023 |
14
(
1
),
7754
DOI:
10.1038/s41467-023-43610-7

The oxygen-tolerant reductive glycine pathway assimilates methanol, formate and CO2 in the yeast Komagataella phaffii

Mitic, Bernd M; Troyer, Christina; Lutz, Lisa; Baumschabl, Michael; Hann, Stephan; Mattanovich, Diethard
Product Used
Genes
Abstract
The current climatic change is predominantly driven by excessive anthropogenic CO2 emissions. As industrial bioprocesses primarily depend on food-competing organic feedstocks or fossil raw materials, CO2 co-assimilation or the use of CO2-derived methanol or formate as carbon sources are considered pathbreaking contributions to solving this global problem. The number of industrially-relevant microorganisms that can use these two carbon sources is limited, and even fewer can concurrently co-assimilate CO2. Here, we search for alternative native methanol and formate assimilation pathways that co-assimilate CO2 in the industrially-relevant methylotrophic yeast Komagataella phaffii (Pichia pastoris). Using 13C-tracer-based metabolomic techniques and metabolic engineering approaches, we discover and confirm a growth supporting pathway based on native enzymes that can perform all three assimilations: namely, the oxygen-tolerant reductive glycine pathway. This finding paves the way towards metabolic engineering of formate and CO2 utilisation to produce proteins, biomass, or chemicals in yeast.
Product Used
Genes

Related Publications