Enhancement of β-carotene production by over-expression of HMG-CoA reductase coupled with addition of ergosterol biosynthesis inhibitors in recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

In this study, the synergistic effect of overexpressing the 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase gene and adding ergosterol synthesis inhibitor, ketoconazole, on β-carotene production in the recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae was investigated. The results showed that the over-expression of HMG-CoA reductase gene and adding 100 mg/l ketoconazole alone can result in 135.1 and 15.6% increment of β-carotene concentration compared with that of the control (2.05 mg/g dry weight of cells), respectively. However, the combination of overexpressing HMG-CoA reductase gene and adding ketoconazole can achieve a 206.8% increment of pigment content (6.29 mg/g dry weight of cells) compared with that of the control. Due to the fact that over-expression of the HMG-CoA reductase gene can simultaneously improve the flux of the sterol and carotenoid biosynthetic pathway, it can be concluded that under the circumstances of blocking sterol biosynthesis, increasing the activity of HMG-CoA reductase can result in more precursors FPP fluxing into carotenoid branch and obtain a high increment of β-carotene production. The results of this study collectively suggest that the combination of overexpressing HMG-CoA reductase gene and supplying ergosterol synthesis inhibitor is an effective strategy to improve the production of desirable isoprenoid compounds such as carotenoids.