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Volume 21 Issue 10, October 2025

Lignan synthesis by mutualistic yeast consortia

Chen, Chen et al. report on synergistic yeast consortia using auxotrophic yeast strains to mimic the collaborative interactions in plant multicellular systems, enabling the de novo biosynthesis of complex natural product lignans. The cover image depicts the synergistic yeast consortia.

See Chen, Chen et al. and News & Views by Gautron et al.

Image: Ruibing Chen, Yongjin J. Zhou, Lei Zhang. Cover design: Alex Wing

Research Highlights

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News & Views

  • Lignans are valuable plant natural products with complex structures hampering their production by chemical synthesis and metabolic engineering. Splitting their biosynthetic pathway in a yeast consortium avoids intermediate hijacking and restores an efficient biosynthetic flux, suggesting a method for their future biotechnological supply.

    • Nicolas Gautron
    • Nicolas Papon
    • Vincent Courdavault
    News & Views
  • The discovery of seven soybean genes completes the biosynthetic pathway to major glyceollins, granting access to heterologous production and exploration of their antimicrobial potential.

    • Lee Marie Raytek
    • Mehran Dastmalchi
    News & Views
  • The mechanistic basis for spreading ferroptosis to neighboring cells remains unclear. Galectin-13, a secreted galectin, is now identified as a pivotal mediator of ferroptosis propagation and a determinant of cancer cell ferroptosis sensitivity.

    • Tiantian Sun
    • Jin Gao
    • Quan Chen
    News & Views
  • Peroxisomes have emerged as ideal compartments for hosting heterologous biochemical reactions. A study establishes a modular chauffeur strategy for functional expression and trafficking of multi-spanning transporters and integral membrane enzymes into the yeast peroxisomal membrane for metabolic engineering.

    • Yuanwei Gou
    • Xiaojing Jiang
    • Jiazhang Lian
    News & Views
  • The discovery of lipoamide offers a unique approach to modulate stress granule dynamics. It will advance studies of stress granule biology and inform the therapeutic modification of these biomolecular condensates as a potential treatment option for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

    • Alicia Dubinski
    • Christine Vande Velde
    News & Views
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Research Briefings

  • We uncovered the function of a cell-bound biosurfactant, a glycine-glucolipid from Alcanivorax borkumensis that is synthesized via an unusual non-ribosomal peptide synthetase pathway. The glycine-glucolipid enhances microbial adhesion to oil droplets, enabling rapid degradation of the oil. Our research provides insights into advanced bioremediation strategies.

    Research Briefing
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Articles

  • Reconstructing the biosynthesis of complex natural products in yeast is challenging. Here the authors construct a yeast consortium with obligate mutualism aiming to alleviate metabolic promiscuity through the multicellular division of labor, similar to plants, for de novo synthesis of complex antiviral lignans.

    • Ruibing Chen
    • Xianghui Chen
    • Lei Zhang
    Article
  • Biosynthesis of antimicrobial phytoalexin glyceollins in soybean is complicated and elusive. Here Xie et al. report a plant chassis for high-yield isoflavonoid production, leading to the identification of six P450s that complete the 15-step biosynthesis of diverse glyceollins, which are critical compounds for plant defense.

    • Jiali Xie
    • Jiayu Tian
    • Ancheng C. Huang
    Article
  • Grayson et al. report the genomic discovery and biochemical characterization of a widely distributed gene cluster family for briarane diterpenoid biosynthesis in metazoans. This study expands our understanding of the metazoan specialized metabolism, revealing the use of biosynthetic gene clusters by octocorals.

    • Natalie E. Grayson
    • Paul D. Scesa
    • Bradley S. Moore
    Article
  • A modular protein engineering strategy was developed to shuttle transporters and integral membrane enzymes folded in the endoplasmic reticulum to the peroxisomal membrane. This approach expands the repertoire of biosynthetic pathways that can be compartmentalized in the peroxisome.

    • Ka-Hei Siu
    • Victoria Lee
    • John E. Dueber
    Article
  • Amari et al. developed a condensate-based approach, named ControLD, for reversible trapping and release of lipid droplets inside living cells, temporarily halting their functions, enabling detailed study of lipid droplet biology and their interactions with other cellular structures.

    • Chems Amari
    • Damien Simon
    • Zoher Gueroui
    Article
  • Temporal oscillations in the abundance of different phospholipid species during the yeast cell cycle are reported, suggesting regulation and interplay of phospholipid synthesis, membrane fluidity and metabolic efficiency during cell division.

    • Sen Yang
    • Yuan Wang
    • Cunqi Ye
    Article
  • A post-translational backbone extension acyl rearrangement (BEAR) reaction has now been developed that converts a ribosomal protein product into a new product containing a β-peptide, γ-peptide or δ-peptide backbone. BEAR reactions represent a general strategy to install extended backbones into genetically encoded proteins and peptides expressed in cells.

    • Leah T. Roe
    • Isabel M. Piper
    • Alanna Schepartz
    Article
  • Alcanivorax borkumensis is a marine, oil-degrading bacterium. Here, the authors describe the synthesis of a cellular biosurfactant. Loss of the biosurfactant affects attachment of mutant cells to the oil–water interface, highlighting its importance for biofilm formation on oil droplets.

    • Jiaxin Cui
    • Maximilian Fassl
    • Peter Dörmann
    Article
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