Metabolically engineering of Yarrowia lipolytica for the biosynthesis of naringenin from a mixture of glucose and xylose

Xylose-inducible modules simultaneously expressing xylose utilization and naringenin biosynthesis pathways were developed in Yarrowia lipolytica to produce naringenin from a mixture of glucose and xylose. The naringenin synthetic pathway was constructed using a constitutive expression to yield 239.1 ± 5.1 mg/L naringenin. Furthermore, the introduction of an inducible pathway realized the dual function of xylose as a substrate and synthetic inducer, which coupled the xylose utilization with naringenin biosynthesis and increased production. Interestingly, the simultaneous enhancement of xylose reductase and xylose transporter expression along with that of xylitol dehydrogenase and xylulokinase can further improve the xylose utilization ability of Y. lipolytica. As expected, xylose-inducible synthesis of naringenin could achieved a titer of 715.3 ± 12.8 mg/L through the shake-flask cultivation level. Therefore, xylose-induced activation of both the xylose utilization and product biosynthesis pathway is considered to be an effective strategy for the biosynthesis of xylose-derived chemicals in yeast.