Engineering an Escherichia coli-Saccharomyces cerevisiae consortium for 2-phenylethyl glucosinolate biosynthesis.

Microbial biosynthesis of 2-phenylethyl glucosinolate in E. coli-S. cerevisiae consortium achieves a 10-fold increase in titers through pathway optimization.

• Why it matters: Producing complex glucosinolates like 2PE in microbes is limited by the difficulty of expressing key biosynthetic enzymes, restricting their biotechnological applications in nutrition and agriculture.
• What they did: Researchers engineered a modular co-culture system combining E. coli and S. cerevisiae, optimizing enzyme variants and cofactor availability, including sulfate feeding, to enhance 2PE production from phenylalanine.
• The result: The approach resulted in a significant titer increase and demonstrated the first microbial synthesis of 2PE from phenylalanine, establishing a platform for producing chain-elongated glucosinolates via pathway modularization.