Abstract

Amorpha-4,11-diene is the precursor of artemisinin, an antimalarial drug. The effect of yeast mating types on the production of amorpha-4,11-diene was investigated with the aim of improving the yield of the metabolite in engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A yeast expression vector pYeDP60/GAPDH/ADS harbouring the amorpha-4,11-diene synthase (ADS) gene was transformed into S. cerevisiae W303-1A and W303-1B, which showed a and α (alpha) mating types, respectively. We also investigated the effects of four variables (carbon source, glucose concentration, nitrogen source and pH) on the fermentative production of amorpha-4,11-diene by the different mating types. Only slight differences were observed in the yields of amorpha-4,11-diene produced by the engineered yeasts, W303A[ADS] and W303B[ADS]. There were also no significant differences in the amounts of amorpha-4,11-diene produced under various growth conditions. The data generated in this study suggest that mating types of S. cerevisiae had no influence on amorpha-4,11-diene production levels and, therefore, either of the two mating types could be used as the parent strain of engineered yeasts.

Key words: Amorpha-4,11-diene, engineered yeasts, mating types, Saccharomyces cerevisiae