RNA-seq of mutant Mycobacterium neoaurum producing steroid intermediates compared with wild-type strain

Mycobacterium neoaurum (Mn), an efficient sterol consumer, has been modified to transform sterols to produce valuable steroid intermediates, which can be widely used as precursors in the synthesis of steroid hormones.To deepen our understand of the underlying mechanisms of Mn to the in vitro and in vivo environment during growth on a critical carbon source of sterol and accumulation of valuable steroid intermediates, transcriptome studies were performed to characterize the differences between wide-type Mn and various mutant Mn strains for steroid accumulation. Totally, five Mn strains were investigated, including wide-type Mn ATCC25795 cultured without (Mn-C) and with sterol addition (Mn-CC), mutant Mn ATCC25795 strains producing 9OHAD (Mn-9OHAD), ADD (Mn-ADD), and 1,4-HBC (Mn-HBC), respectively.