Construction of a synthetic Saccharomyces cerevisiae pan-genome neo-chromosome. Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The Synthetic Yeast Genome Project (Sc2.0) represents the first foray into eukaryotic genome engineering and a novel framework for designing and building the next generation of industrial microbes. However, the laboratory strain S288c used lacks many of the genes that provide phenotypic diversity to industrial and environmental isolates. To address this shortcoming, a completely novel, neo-chromosome that contains many of these diverse pan-genomic elements and which is compatible with the Sc2.0 design and test framework has been engineered and constructed. The presence of this neo-chromosome was shown to provide phenotypic plasticity to the Sc2.0 parent strain, including expanding the range of utilizable carbon sources. The induction of programmable structural variation (SCRaMbLE) was also demonstrated as a means of providing genetic diversity on which further adaptive gains could be selected. The presence of this neo-chromosome within the Sc2.0 backbone could therefore provide the means to adapt synthetic strains to a wider variety of environments, a process which will be vital to transitioning Sc2.0 from the laboratory into industrial applications.