Construction of plasmids with tunable copy numbers in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and their applications in pathway optimization and multiplex genome integration

The CEN/ARS-based low-copy plasmids and 2 μ-based high-copy plasmids have been broadly used for both fundamental studies and practical applications in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. However, the relative low copy numbers and narrow dynamic range limit their applications in many cases. In this study, the expression level of the selection marker proteins was engineered to increase the plasmid copy numbers. A series of plasmids with step-wise increased copy numbers were constructed. The copy number of the plasmids with engineered dominant markers (5–100 copies per cell) showed a positive correlation with the concentration of antibiotics supplemented to the growth media. Based on this finding, we developed a simple yet highly efficient strategy, named Pathway Optimization by Tuning Antibiotic Concentrations (POTAC) to rapidly balance the flux of multi-gene pathways at the DNA level in S. cerevisiae. As proof of concept, POTAC was used to optimize the lycopene and n-butanol biosynthetic pathways, increasing the production of lycopene and n-butanol by 10- and 100-fold, respectively. Additionally, multiplex genome integration with controllable copy numbers was attempted by combining the engineered dominant markers with the CRISPR/Cas9 system. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2016;113: 2462–2473.