Jay Keasling: Essence of hops and cannabis: engineering yeast to produce some of the better things in life

Isoprenoids are one of the most diverse groups of natural products in nature. In plants they range from essential and relatively universal primary metabolites, such as sterols, carotenoids, quinones, and hormones, to more unique and sometimes species-specific secondary metabolites that may serve in roles such as plant defense and communication. Isoprenoids are synthesized from universal precursors and are classified into groups according to the number of carbons they contain; monoterpenes (C10), sesquiterpenes (C15) and diterpenes (C20). Many terpenoids have been found to exhibit potent biological activity, with several of them in development or in use therapeutically. The anti-malarial drug artemisinin and the anti-cancer agent Taxol serve to illustrate the clinical importance of sesquiterpenoids and diterpenoids, respectively. Others have found use as flavors and fragrances, cleaners and disinfectants, and even biofuels. Microbial synthesis of complex isoprenoids takes advantage of natural biosynthetic pathways without the need for long synthetic routes and toxic chemicals. Over the last 20 years, my laboratory has engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Escherichia coli, and assorted other microorganisms to produce isoprenoid natural products. In my talk, I will describe the tools and methods we have developed for engineering microorganisms to produce some important plant isoprenoids and some not-so-natural isoprenoid derivatives, discuss the challenges and opportunities ahead, and discuss our successes in scaling and commercializing a few molecules.

Irina Borodina: Yeast cell factories for sustainable food production

As the world population keeps increasing, we are facing the challenge to produce more food and, at the same time, reduce our environmental footprint. Yeasts, our oldest microbial pets, come to rescue. Using the modern genome editing toolbox, the yeasts can be engineered to produce healthy food and feed supplements and biocontrol substances for agriculture. In my talk, I will present several examples of engineering oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica for the production of high-value specialty chemicals for food, feed, and agriculture. Y. lipolytica has been used as single cell protein in animal feed for many years and it has recently been approved for human food as well. It possesses a remarkable ability to accumulate high levels of lipids and is thus highly suitable to produce other compounds that derive from fatty acid metabolism. We have engineered Y. lipolytica to produce red carotenoids for fish and poultry feed, lactone flavours that can be used in food and cosmetics, and insect sex pheromones for environmentally friendly pest control in agriculture. The barriers and perspectives for commercialization of novel yeast-based products will be discussed as well.