Tryptophan accumulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae under the influence of an artificial yeast TRP gene cluster

Plasmid pME559, carrying all five yeast TRP genes, was constructed. This plasmid is a yeast/Escherichia coli shuttle vector based on pBR322 and 2 μm-DNA sequences derived from plasmid pJDB207. We studied in yeast (i) the stability of the plasmid under selective and non-selective conditions, (ii) expression of all five TRP genes and (iii) tryptophan accumulation in yeast transformants. These studies were conducted in comparison with an earlier construction, pME554, which differs from plasmid pME559 in the expression of the TRP1 gene and which carries the TRP2 wild type instead of the TRP2^fbr mutant allele. For stable maintenance of the plasmids in yeast a selection was necessary. Plasmid pME559 displayed normal expression of all TRP genes, and enzyme levels on average 23-fold higher than in the wild type strain were found. In comparison, the maximal tryptophan flux observed in such a plasmid-carrying strain was about ten-fold higher than the maximal flux capacity in the wild type strain.