FURI | Fall 2022

Engineering Corynebacterium glutamicum with Malonate Pathway for Optimizing Flavonoid Production

This project seeks to address the question: What is the effect of expressing a malonate pathway in C. glutamicum strains on naringenin output? Findings suggest the optimal MatC induction with MatB is between 100 µM to 1 mM, and ideal MatC induction with aTc is between 10–50 ng/mL. Furthermore, low product titer and yield suggested that the naringenin pathway expression may be unoptimized, so RT-PCRs were run to quantify RNA transcripts of the pathway genes. Higher MatB synthase and MatC protein transporter expression levels result in greater conversion of Malonyl-coA to Naringenin. Naringenin can be used as a supplement for farm animals, enabling them to produce healthier offspring and more nutritional products for human consumption at an accelerated rate to match the growing global demand for food.