Monday, August 11, 2008
P34

Improved production of glycolipid biosurfactants, multifunctional and environmentally-friendly surfactants, by basidiomycetous yeast of the genus Pseudozyma

Tomotake Morita, Tokuma Fukuoka, Tomohiro Imura, and Dai Kitamoto. Research Institute for Innovative in Sustainable Chemistry, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), AIST Central 5-2, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Japan

  Biosurfactants (BS) are abundantly produced by a variety of microorganisms from different renewable resources. They show not only high biocompatibility but also various functions including excellent surface-chemical and biochemical activities, and thus have been received increasing attentions as new bio-based materials alternative to petroleum-based chemicals. Mannosylerythritol lipids (MEL), which are produced by a yeast strain of Pseudozyma antarctica, are the most promising BS hitherto known. In order to expand the variety of the MEL producers, the search for a novel producer of MEL was then undertaken based on the information of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences on the yeast strains among the genus Pseudozyma.  Consequently, Pseudozyma tsukubaensis was found to produce mainly a large amount of MEL-B, and Pseudozyma graminicola, Pseudozyma hubeiensis and Pseudozyma shanxiensis produced mainly a large amount of MEL-C from vegetable oil. These strains produced more than 10 g/L of MELs under the optimal condition. Ultimately, the selective production of the MELs (MEL-A, MEL-B and MEL-C) was accomplished with the expanded MEL producers.  In order to provide a powerful tool for the genetic study of the genus Pseudozyma, we improved the conditions of electroporation, and succeeded in attaining the convenient transformation of the Pseudozyma yeasts. The yeast cells were transformed to show hygromycin B resistance using a plasmid derived from U. maydis. The transformants of the Pseudozyma yeasts successfully expressed GFP protein. This study was supported by the Industrial Technology Research Grant Program in 06A17501c from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan.


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