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Title: Enhanced production of sucrose in the fast-growing cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus UTEX 2973

Journal Article · · Scientific Reports

Abstract Cyanobacteria are attractive microbial hosts for production of chemicals using light and CO 2 . However, their low productivity of chemicals is a major challenge for commercial applications. This is mostly due to their relatively slow growth rate and carbon partitioning toward biomass rather than products. Many cyanobacterial strains synthesize sucrose as an osmoprotectant to cope with salt stress environments. In this study, we harnessed the photosynthetic machinery of the fast-growing cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus UTEX 2973 to produce sucrose under salt stress conditions and investigated if the high efficiency of photosynthesis can enhance the productivity of sucrose. By expressing the sucrose transporter CscB, Synechococcus 2973 produced 8 g L −1 of sucrose with a highest productivity of 1.9 g L −1 day −1 under salt stress conditions. The salt stress activated the sucrose biosynthetic pathway mostly via upregulating the sps gene, which encodes the rate-limiting sucrose-phosphate synthase enzyme. To alleviate the demand on high concentrations of salt for sucrose production, we further overexpressed the sucrose synthesis genes in Synechococcus 2973. The engineered strain produced sucrose with a productivity of 1.1 g L −1 day −1 without the need of salt induction. The engineered Synechococcus 2973 in this study demonstrated the highest productivity of sucrose in cyanobacteria.

Research Organization:
Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0019386
OSTI ID:
1619865
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1816890
Journal Information:
Scientific Reports, Journal Name: Scientific Reports Vol. 10 Journal Issue: 1; ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United Kingdom
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 41 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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