Sustainable Bioproduction of natural dyes in the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica

通过这个博士学位，目的是改善耶氏酵母中染料生物合成的工作，并在此过程中研究其他可持续的染色解决方案。Y.将评估解脂菌分解各种废物的能力，以确定色素生物合成的最佳底物。与此同时，影响着色剂生产的基因组目标将通过利用计算建模工具来识别;染料滴度将通过过表达或沉默已识别的基因来最大化，从而增加蓝色染料的碳通量。一旦色素合成过程得到优化，我将集中精力以模块化、系统化的方式实施相关的上游和下游处理技术。对于上游加工，将设计一个涉及分解真菌的单独生物过程，目的是为色素合成有机体提供有价值的原料，以提高该过程的整体循环性。因此，将建立染料提取管道，以最大限度地利用生物质并提高产量。为此，将测试介导染料分泌的转运蛋白作为将染料分子释放到细胞膜外的简单处理途径，从而简化提取方案。由于我计划研究的程序具有高度模块化，因此可以利用基因组挖掘和机器学习算法等计算工具来识别可以用新开发的圆形框架生产的其他天然染料。出于这些原因，我很高兴有机会作为博士生在合成生物空间获得经验，并积极推动该领域的发展。

Through this PhD, the aim is to improve work on dye biosynthesis in Yarrowia and research other sustainable dyeing solutions in the process. Y. lipolytica's ability to break down a wide range of waste products would be assessed to determine the best substrate for pigment biosynthesis. Simultaneously, genomic targets which impact colourant production would be identified by harnessing computational modelling tools;dye titres would be maximised by overexpressing or silencing identified genes, boosting carbonflux towards the blue dye.Once the pigment synthesising process is optimised, I would concentrate my efforts to implement relevant upstream and downstream processing techniques in a modular, systematic manner. For what concerns upstream processing, a separate bioprocess involving decomposing fungi would be devised with the aim to provide valuable feedstock for the pigment synthesising organismand to boost the overall circularity of the process. Consequently, a dye extraction pipeline would be established to maximise biomass utilisation and improve yields. To that end, transporter proteins mediating dye secretion would be tested as an easy processing route to release dye molecules outside of the cell membrane, thus simplifying the extraction protocol. Due to the high modularity of the procedure I plan to study, computational tools such as genome mining and machine learning algorithms would be harnessed to identify other natural dyes that could be produced with the newly developed circular framework. For these reasons, I relish the opportunity to gain experience in the Synthetic Biologyspace as a PhD student and to actively drive the field forward.