(Press-News.org) For economic and sustainable biomanufacturing, the oleaginous yeast Rhodotorula toruloides has emerged as a promising platform for producing biofuels and other valuable chemicals. However, its genetic manipulation has been limited by its high GC content and the lack of a replicating plasmid, necessitating gene integration.
To address these challenges, researchers at the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), a Department of Energy-funded Bioenergy Research Center, developed the RT-EZ toolkit (R. toruloides Efficient Zipper). This versatile tool, based on Golden Gate assembly, is designed to streamline R. toruloides engineering with improved efficiency and flexibility.
The RT-EZ toolkit simplifies vector construction by incorporating new features such as bidirectional promoters and 2A peptides, color-based screening using RFP, and sequences optimized for both Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation (ATMT) and easy linearization, enabling straightforward selection and transformation. A series of vectors were tested in R. toruloides to validate the Golden Gate assembly, promoter functionality, and fluorescent protein expression. The multigene expression was validated using 2A peptides.
Validation experiments demonstrated the toolkit’s functionality through successful fluorescent protein expression using monodirectional and bidirectional promoters, as well as effective multigene expression using 2A peptides. Notably, it can construct an expression cassette with four different genes in one assembly reaction, significantly improving vector construction speed and efficiency. The toolkit’s capability was further showcased by the biosynthesis of arachidonic acid, achieved through the efficient coexpression of four pathway enzymes.
This toolkit provides a streamlined method for addressing genetic engineering challenges in R. toruloides, reducing the time and effort required for complex metabolic engineering projects and unlocking the full biotechnological potential of this oleaginous yeast.
END
RT-EZ: A golden gate assembly toolkit for streamlined genetic engineering of rhodotorula toruloides
2025-07-02
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Stem Cell Reports announces five new early career editors
2025-07-02
The ISSCR has selected five distinguished early career scientists to serve as new Early Career Editors for Stem Cell Reports, the peer-reviewed, open access, online journal of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR).
During their term, Early Career Editors provide strategic advice, participate in the editorial review process, and receive mentorship from current editors. They join other Early Career Editors currently working with the journal.
The new Early Career Editors are:
Harsha Devalla, Ph.D., Amsterdam University Medical ...
Support networks may be the missing link for college students who seek help for excessive drinking
2025-07-02
College students who want help overcoming high-risk drinking could benefit from a two-pronged approach that combines an individual-focused psychological theory with social network analysis.
That’s according to a new study from Texas A&M University School of Public Health Assistant Professor Benjamin Montemayor and former doctoral student Sara Flores, both in the Department of Health Behavior.
High-risk drinking is defined as drinking resulting in a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% or higher, the legal threshold for intoxication in the United ...
The New England Journal of Medicine shines spotlight on forensic pathology
2025-07-02
Forensic pathologists play a unique role in monitoring and responding to public health threats and advancing our understanding of human disease and injury, according to a new review article published July 3 in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Recognizing that there is little understanding about this key medical subspecialty among the public and even among physicians, the journal asked several forensic pathology leaders to write an overarching review of the field.
“Many people may picture forensic ...
Scientists discover protein that helps lung cancer spread to the brain
2025-07-02
Researchers at McMaster University, Cleveland Clinic and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center have uncovered how a protein long associated with Alzheimer’s disease helps lung cancer spread to the brain – a discovery that offers hope that existing Alzheimer’s drugs could be repurposed in preventing cancer’s spread.
The study, published in Science Translational Medicine on July 2, 2025, details how the protein (BACE1) is instrumental in the development of brain metastases – tumours that ...
Perceived social status tied to cardiovascular risks in women but not in men
2025-07-02
Women who see themselves as having lower social status are more likely than other people to show early signs of heart stress linked to future disease risk, according to a new study led by researchers at McGill and Concordia universities.
“One in three women in North America die from heart disease. Yet, women are less likely to receive important cardiac interventions or therapies than men. This highlights the need to rethink how we assess cardiovascular risk in women,” said co-lead author Dr. Judy Luu, Assistant Professor in McGill’s Department of Medicine ...
Brain tumor growth patterns may help inform patient care management
2025-07-02
As brain tumors grow, they must do one of two things: push against the brain or use finger-like extensions to invade and destroy surrounding tissue.
Previous research found tumors that push — or put mechanical force on the brain — cause more neurological dysfunction than tumors that destroy tissue. But what else can these different tactics of tumor growth tell us?
Now, the same team of researchers from the University of Notre Dame, Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital, and Boston University has developed a technique for measuring a brain tumor’s mechanical force and a new model to estimate how much brain tissue a patient has ...
This might be America's first campus tree inventory
2025-07-02
Ask anyone what comes to mind when they think of Northern Arizona University and they’ll probably say something about the trees. NAU's Flagstaff mountain campus is home to an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 trees—most of them ponderosa pines.
This precious resource is worth protecting. That’s why, this summer, students, faculty and staff at NAU are working together to take stock of the campus tree collection. Slowly but surely, a team of forestry and environmental scientists will collect information about the health, ...
Emoji use may impact relationship outcomes
2025-07-02
The use of emojis in text messaging improves perceived responsiveness and thereby enhances closeness and relationship satisfaction, according to a study published July 2, 2025, in the open-access journal PLOS One by Eun Huh from The University of Texas at Austin, U.S.
Text-based messaging is a primary use of smartphones, with near-universal adoption across age groups. The use and variety of emojis in such messages have also surged, particularly among young adults. Defined as digital representations of emotions and ideas, emojis enrich text-based communication by conveying emotional nuance and increasing expressiveness. ...
Individual merit, not solidarity, prioritized by early childhood education policies
2025-07-02
Do we climb the social ladder alone or with help from our communities? Early childhood education (ECE) policies are betting on the former, according to a study published July 2, 2025, in the open-access journal PLOS One by Katarzyna Bobrowicz from the University of Luxembourg and University of Liège in Belgium, and colleagues. A 53-country survey of global ECE policies indicates favoritism of competition over cooperation, individualism over solidarity and talent over luck.
Recent decades have seen a rising belief in meritocracy: a 1950s-era Western ideal that one’s individual merit (i.e., their skill and talent), begets success rather ...
Preclinical study unlocks a mystery of rapid mouth healing
2025-07-02
Your mouth is a magician. Bite the inside of your cheek, and the wound may vanish without a trace in a couple of days. A preclinical study co-led by Cedars-Sinai, Stanford Medicine and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), has discovered one secret of this disappearing act. The findings, if confirmed in humans, could one day lead to treatments that enable rapid, scarless recovery from skin wounds on other parts of the body.
The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Translational Medicine.
“Our research began with two ...