Genetic regulation and fermentation strategy for squalene production in Schizochytrium sp.

Squalene, as an important terpenoid, is extensively used in the medicine and health care fields owing to its functions of anti-oxidation, blood lipid regulation and cancer prevention. The marine microalgae, Schizochytrium sp., which acts as an excellent strain with potential of high squalene production was selected as the starting strain. The overexpressed strain with sqs gene got the reduced biomass and lipid, while the squalene titer was increased by 79.6% +/- 4.7% to 12.8 +/- 0.2 mg/L. In order to further increase squalene production, the recombinant strain (HS strain) with sqs and hmgr gene co-overexpression was further constructed. The biomass and squalene titer of the HS strain were increased by 13.6% +/- 1.2% and 88.8% +/- 5.3%, respectively, which indicated the carbon flux of the mevalonate pathway was enhanced for squalene accumulation. Regarding the squalene synthesis is completely coupled with cell growth, fermentation strategy to prolong the logarithmic growth phase was conducive to improve squalene production. Under the condition of optimal composition and concentrated medium, the squalene titer of HS strain was 27.0 +/- 1.3 mg/L, which was 2.0 times that of the basal medium condition (13.5 +/- 0.4 mg/L). This study which combined the metabolic engineering and fermentation strategy provides a new strategy for squalene production in Schizochytrium sp.

Automated summary

This study successfully increased the production of Squalene in Schizochytrium sp. using a combination of metabolic engineering and fermentation strategy. By overexpressing the genes SQS and HMGR, and prolonging the logarithmic growth phase, the content of Squalene was significantly increased.