The Domestication Yeast for Biomanufacturing through Vacuolar Isolation and Related Processes, Kenzo Salazar, UG '27, William Sebastian Gil, UG '27, Dowon Seo, UG '27 (73EFF2AD)
Biomanufacturing is the use of cell machinery to produce high-value chemicals. Although a growing field, used in the production of everyday products such as insulin and Vitamin C, the current methodology for creating new chemicals is a very “ground-up process” with most groups trying to engineer a pathway for a product in a relatively wild strain of cell. The cell, however, is not a machine. Rather it is more similar to an ecosystem, with pathways constantly interacting, changing, and having off-target consequences. This leads many researchers to spend valuable time and money to find novel ways to fix these issues only applicable to their specific situation.
Our project intends to create a strain of genetically engineered yeast with more mechanistic qualities to be used as a starting point for biomanufacturing research, specifically allowing for 1) greater synthesis environment modulation, 2) synthesis with mom-membrane permeable precursors, 3) isolation from confounding natural pathways, 4) cell concentration modulation, and 5) self-lysis of cells for non-invasive product collection.
To produce such a cell, 4 orthogonal systems will be genetically engineered into a strain of yeast:
Isolation of biosynthesis to the yeast vacuole
Endocytosis (active transport into the cell) of non-permeable synthesis precursors
Automatic cell concentration sensing ability (quorum sensing) that facilitates the change from cell growth to chemical production cell states.
Programmed cell death after reaching biosynthesis product capacity.
Stripping the issues plaguing biomanufacturing by providing a standard with which to easily create biomanufacturing pathways has long-reaching ramifications by reducing research and development complexity and streamlining the future of yeast-based biomanufacturing.