Heterologous biosynthesis of resveratrol, genistein and kaempferol from Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In recent years, there is a great interest in exploiting the properties of plant secondary metabolites through biotechnology. Substances that are assumed or proved to possess beneficial actions and have been the target of chemical or biological synthesis include resveratrol, a stilbenoid, genistein, an isoflavone and quercetin, a flavonol, Resveratrol and genistein have been linked to inhibition of many types of cancer and to improvement of plasma lipid ratios in blood. Also they are proven to minimize the symptoms to post-menopausal women. There is also increasing evidence that quercetin is a potential health-protecting component of the human diet due to its high antioxidant capacity. Finally, all three compounds have been shown to act as phytoalexins i.e. antimicrobial agents produced after pathogen attack [reviewed in 1,2]. Three genetically modified YPH499 yeast strains harboring plasmids that permit the biosynthesis of resveratrol, genistein and kaempferol have been constructed. Yeast strains harboring the transcriptionally active heterologous genes were used to analyse the time course pre-cursors and end-product accumulation. Resveratrol concentrations in culture media reached about 4µM and genistein levels reached at least 6µM. The heterologous production of these phenolic compounds paves the way for the biotechnological production of beneficial natural agents.

Acknowledgements: This work is funded by a research grant PENED (O3ED776, co-financed by E.U.-European Social Fund (75%) and the Greek Ministry of Development-GSRT (25%)).

References: 1. Ververidis, F. et al. (2007a) Biotech. J. 2:1214–1234

2. Ververidis, F. et al. (2007b) Biotech. J. 2:1235–1249