{"title":"Biosynthesis of tauro-ursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.","authors":"Seonyun Moon, Michael J Smanski","doi":"10.1186/s12934-025-02829-3","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) is a microbial bile acid known for its diverse yet still largely unexplored biological activities. Traditionally used in Asian medicine, TUDCA and the taurine-free form, ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), share similar therapeutic properties. Recent studies suggest that TUDCA is a promising lead compound for developing neuroprotective agents to prevent neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease. However, sustainable and ethical sources for large-scale TUDCA production remain unavailable. To address this, we are engineering a yeast-based microbial platform capable of producing TUDCA via fermentation. Here we report strains capable of converting the more widely available primary bile acid, chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) into TUDCA. This was achieved by introducing heterologous genes enabling taurine conjugation and taurine biosynthesis, providing a sustainable and scalable approach for TUDCA production.</p>","PeriodicalId":18582,"journal":{"name":"Microbial Cell Factories","volume":"24 1","pages":"212"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Microbial Cell Factories","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12934-025-02829-3","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BIOTECHNOLOGY & APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) is a microbial bile acid known for its diverse yet still largely unexplored biological activities. Traditionally used in Asian medicine, TUDCA and the taurine-free form, ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), share similar therapeutic properties. Recent studies suggest that TUDCA is a promising lead compound for developing neuroprotective agents to prevent neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease. However, sustainable and ethical sources for large-scale TUDCA production remain unavailable. To address this, we are engineering a yeast-based microbial platform capable of producing TUDCA via fermentation. Here we report strains capable of converting the more widely available primary bile acid, chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) into TUDCA. This was achieved by introducing heterologous genes enabling taurine conjugation and taurine biosynthesis, providing a sustainable and scalable approach for TUDCA production.
期刊介绍：
Microbial Cell Factories is an open access peer-reviewed journal that covers any topic related to the development, use and investigation of microbial cells as producers of recombinant proteins and natural products, or as catalyzers of biological transformations of industrial interest. Microbial Cell Factories is the world leading, primary research journal fully focusing on Applied Microbiology.
The journal is divided into the following editorial sections:
-Metabolic engineering
-Synthetic biology
-Whole-cell biocatalysis
-Microbial regulations
-Recombinant protein production/bioprocessing
-Production of natural compounds
-Systems biology of cell factories
-Microbial production processes
-Cell-free systems
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