Selected publications
2024
Coordinated reprogramming of ATP metabolism strongly enhances adipic acid production in Escherichia coli
Soo Young Moon, Nan Yeong An, Seung Soo Oh* and Ju Young Lee*
Metabolic Engineering (2024)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymben.2024.10.010
Sustainable production of natural products using synthetic biology: Ginsenosides
So-Hee Son, Jin Kang, YuJin Shin, ChaeYoung Lee, Bong Hyun Sung*, Ju Young Lee*, Wonsik Lee*
Journal of Ginseng Research (2024)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jgr.2023.12.006
Designing microbial cell factories for programmable control of cellular metabolism
Soo Young Moon, So-Hee Son, Seung-Ho Beak and Ju Young Lee*
Current Opinion in Systems Biology (2024)
2023
Harnessing cellular organelles to bring new functionalities into yeast
Soo Young Moon, So-Hee Son, Seung Soo Oh and Ju Young Lee*
Biotechnol. Bioprocess Eng. (2023)
2022
Metabolic recycling of storage lipids promotes squalene biosynthesis in yeast
So-Hee Son, Jae-Eung Kim, Soo Young Moon, In-Seung Jang, Byung Jo Yu and Ju Young Lee*
Biotechnol Biofuels Bioprod., 15(1):108 (2022)
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-022-02208-9
Metabolic rewiring in microbes is an economical and sustainable strategy for synthesizing valuable natural terpenes. In this study, focusing on the recycling of surplus metabolic energy stored in lipid droplets, I show that the metabolic recycling of the surplus energy to acetyl-CoA can increase squalene production in yeast, concomitant with minimizing the metabolic interferences in inherent pathways.
관련기사 : 맞춤형 인공세포 저장능력 30배↑ ‘비스포크 인공세포 소기관’ 개발
헤럴드경제
Chain flexibility of medicinal lipids determines their selective partitioning into lipid droplets
So-Hee Son, Gyuri Park, Junho Lim, Chang Yun Son*, Seung Soo Oh* and Ju Young Lee*
Nature Communications, 13:3612 (2022)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31400-6
Lipid droplets (LDs) are highly dynamic organelles capable of regulating lipid metabolism, storage and transportation. In this article, by combining molecular dynamics simulations and yeast LD engineering, I demonstrate that the structural flexibility of lipids is one of the decisive factors in selective partitioning into LDs. By designing yeast cells with either larger LDs or with a greater number of LDs, I observe that intracellular storage of structurally flexible squalene significantly increases with LD volume expansion, but that of rigid zeaxanthin and β-carotene is enhanced through LD surface broadening.
Metabolite trafficking enables membrane-impermeable-terpene secretion by yeast
So-Hee Son, Jae-Eung Kim, Gyuri Park, Young-Joon Ko, Bong Hyun Sung, Jongcheol Seo, Seung Soo Oh* and Ju Young Lee*
Nature Communications, 13:2605 (2022)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30312-9
The engineering of metabolite secretion from microorganisms could have many applications in synthetic biology. In this article, I engineer a metabolite trafficking system for the secretion of medicinal terpenes. When metabolite-binding proteins are tagged with signal peptides, metabolite trafficking is highly achievable; loaded metabolites can be precisely delivered to a desired location within or outside the cell. To the best of my knowledge, this is the most efficient cognate pathway for selective metabolite secretion in microorganisms, thus enabling intracellularly-accumulated target compounds to pass through otherwise impermeable membranes.
관련기사 : "인공세포에서 바이오원료만 쏙 뽑아낸다”
韓 합성생물학 핵심기술 확보
헤럴드경제
2021
Pairing of orthogonal chaperons with a cytochrome P450 enhances terpene synthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Jae-Eung Kim, So-Hee Son, Seung Soo Oh, Sun Chang Kim and Ju Young Lee*.
Biotechnology J., 16;e20000452 (2021)
2020
Engineering cell wall integrity enables enhanced squalene production in yeast
So-Hee Son, Jae-Eung Kim, Seung Soo Oh and Ju Young Lee*
J. Agric. Food Chem., 68:4922-4929 (2020)
2019
Tailoring the Saccharomyces cerevisiae endoplasmic reticulum for functional assembly of terpene synthesis pathway
Jae-Eung Kim, In-Seung Jang, So-Hee Son, Young-Joon Ko, Byung-Kwan Cho, Sun Chang Kim* and Ju Young Lee*
Metab. Eng., 56:50-59 (2019)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymben.2019.08.013
This study aims to harness yeast endoplasmic reticulum (ER) for functional assembly of challenging metabolic pathways. ER expansion enhances protein synthesis and folding capacity, alleviating metabolic constraints caused by limited enzyme abundance. Harnessing the yeast ER for metabolic engineering, I achieve a 71-fold increase in squalene production and an 8-fold increase in cytochrome P450-mediated protopanaxadiol production.
2018
Rerouting of NADPH synthetic pathways for increased protopanaxadiol production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Jae-Eung Kim, In-Seung Jang, Bong Hyun Sung, Sun Chang Kim and Ju Young Lee*
Sci Rep., 8(1):15820 (2018)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-34210-3
Improving the efficiency of homologous recombination by chemical and biological approaches in Yarrowia lipolytica
In-Seung Jang, Byoung Jo Yu, Ji Yeon Jang, Jonggeon Jegal and Ju Young Lee*
PLOS ONE, 13(3):e0194954 (2018)
Engineering cellular redox balance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae for improved production of L-lactic acid
Ju Young Lee, Chang Duk Kang, Seung Hyun Lee, Young Kyoung Park and Kwang Myung Cho
Biotechnol. Bioeng., 112:751-758. (2015)
https://doi.org/10.1002/bit.25488
Engineering butanol-tolerance in Escherichia coli with artificial transcription factor libraries
Ju Young Lee, Kyung Seok Yang, Su A Jang, Bong Hyun Sung and Sun Chang Kim.
Biotechnol. Bioeng., 108:742-749. (2011)
https://doi.org/10.1002/bit.22989
Phenotypic engineering by reprogramming gene transcription using novel artificial transcription factors in Escherichia coli
Ju Young Lee, Bong Hyun Sung, Byung Jo Yu, Jun Hyoung Lee, Sang Hee Lee, Mi Sun Kim, Michael D. Koob and Sun Chang Kim.
Nucleic Acids Res., 36:e102 (2008)
https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkn449
Now that many genomes have been sequenced and the products of newly identified genes have been annotated, the next goal is to engineer the desired phenotypes in organisms of interest. For the phenotypic engineering of microorganisms, I develop novel artificial transcription factors (ATFs) capable of reprogramming innate gene expression circuits in Escherichia coli. These ATFs are composed of zinc finger DNA-binding proteins, with distinct specificities, fused to an E. coli cyclic AMP receptor protein. Using these ATFs, I induce various phenotypic changes in E. coli and selected for industrially important traits, such as resistance to heat shock, osmotic pressure and cold shock.