Engineering and transcriptome study of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to produce ginsenoside compound K by glycerol

Synthetic biology-based engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to produce terpenoid natural products is an effective strategy for their industrial application. Previously, we observed that glycerol addition was beneficial for ginsenoside compound K (CK) production in a S. cerevisiae when it was fermented using the YPD medium. Here, we reconstructed the CK synthesis and glycerol catabolic pathway in a high-yield protopanaxadiol (PPD) S. cerevisiae strain. Remarkably, our engineered strain exhibited the ability to utilize glycerol as the sole carbon source, resulting in a significantly enhanced production of 433.1 ± 8.3 mg L